Since the dawn of modern oil exploitation in the 19^th century, a sad but inevitable truth has rung true: accidents happen and oil spills. The ten biggest oil disasters in the oil and gas industry and gas industry in this list amount to a cumulative hydrocarbons loss of 40.8 million barrels and cost 53 lives:

3. Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill

When: April 22, 2010
Where: Gulf of Mexico
Casualties: 11 dead
Amount spilled: An estimated 4.9 million barrels (140 million gallons)

A wellhead blowout and subsequent explosion aboard the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig set in motion the worst oil disaster in the history of the Gulf of Mexico. A rupture in the 5,000 foot deep Macondo 252 high pressure high temperature well entrained an oil jet of as much 60,000 barrels of oil per day pumping into the Gulf.

After several unsuccessful attempts to kill the well, it was finally capped on July 15^th, 2010.

At its greatest extent the slick covered as much as 180,000 km² of the Gulf’s surface, with the great majority of oil remaining submerged after the use of 1.82 million gallons of dispersant.

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RELATED: Oil & Gas Special Report: Macondo Deepwater Horizon "Never Say Never Again"

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