Civil Liability and Compensation for Marine Pollution - Lessons to be Learned for Offshore Oil Spills
Article from: OGEL 3 (2010), in Oil Spills
Introduction
US oil consumption is much higher than its production, which makes it very dependent upon foreign suppliers. The import of oil into the United States is primarily carried out by sea though vessels. In addition, a substantial domestic movement of oil takes place. On 20 April 2010, the mobile deepwater offshore oil rig Deepwater Horizon exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, and spilled an estimate of 4.9 million barrels of oil. The estimated damages from several sources vary but in June were thought to be in the range of $1 and $3.5 billion. Costs are now 11.5 billion so far and ...