The 13-day old British Petroleum (BP) oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico after the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon  rig is potentially becoming the worst offshore environment disaster ever and is likely to eclipse the Exxon Valdez oil spill of 1989, which till now was considered the worst oil disaster in US history.

The spill occurred after an explosion followed by fire on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, owned by Transocean Ltd. operated by BP, which killed 11 workers.
The rig capsized and sank two days later, and the oil began to seep into coastal waters, threatening beaches, marshes, marine mammals, fishing grounds and recreational activities among others.

Engineers of the London-based BP have since been working around the clock trying to figure out how to stop approximately 200,000 gallons of oil gushing out each day 5,000 feet below on the ocean floor beyond the reach of divers.

The gush of oil will continue until the company is able to activate the blow-out preventer or it comes up with another method to stop oil spewing, which will soon overtake the Exxon Valdez tanker spill of 1989 that spilled 11 million gallons off the Alaska coast to become the worst oil disaster in US history.

BP said that it is continuing with its efforts to stem the flow of oil from the well, currently estimated at up to 200,000 gallons a day, by using six remotely-operated vehicles (ROVs) in an attempt to activate the blow out preventer on the sea bed.

BP has already deployed 180,000 feet of boom already in the water, an additional 300,000 feet is in the process of being deployed, with more on the way to protect and clean the shorelines of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida.

On Saturday, BP Group chief executive Tony Hayward said, ''We are doing absolutely everything in our power to eliminate the source of the leak and contain the environmental impact of the spill. We are determined to fight this spill on all fronts, in the deep waters of the Gulf, in the shallow waters and, should it be necessary, on the shore.''

By this weekend the Transocean Development Driller III is scheduled to drill a relief well intended to secure the existing well, but drilling of this well is expected to take two to three months.

BP is also working on a sub-sea collection system capable of operating in deep water to funnel leaking oil to the surface for treatment. This it said, is expected to be ready for deployment in the next few weeks.

BP said yesterday that it hoped to contain the spill within six to eight days by lowering huge steel boxes constructed to put over the spewing column of oil.
The cost of the oil spill is escalating day by day. BP said that it is spending $6 million each day taking the total cost to date at $150 million and an additional$100 million to drill a relief well.

This will be apart from the costs it will have to pay to the various US agencies involved in restricting the oil spill from hitting any of the shores in the US as well the billions it will have to pay in damages to costs to coastal fishermen, tourism businesses and local residents, not to mention the litigation costs also.

The costs will be borne by BP, which will pay 65 per cent of these costs, its lease partners Anadarko Petroleum and Mitsui will pay 25 and 10 per cent respectively.
The US President Barack Obama went yesterday to visit the site of the spill that is now 9 miles off the coast of southeastern Louisiana, where more than 2,000 people from different US agencies have been deployed to tackle the spill.

Obama said, ''As I said yesterday, BP is ultimately responsible under the law for paying the costs of response and cleanup operations, but we are fully prepared to meet our responsibilities to any and all affected communities. And that's why we've been working closely with state and local authorities since the day of the explosion.''

Outlining what the US government is doing to manage the environment disaster, President Obama said that there are five staging areas to protect sensitive shorelines; approximately 1,900 federal response personnel are in the area; and more than 300 response vessels and aircraft on the scene 24/7.