The 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill occurred in which body of water?

The 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill occurred in the Gulf of Mexico. The blowout happened at BP’s Macondo Prospect, about 64 kilometers southeast of the Louisiana coast in the United States’ section of the Gulf.

On 20 April 2010, methane gas escaping from the well ignited on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig. The explosions killed 11 workers and injured 17 others. The rig burned for roughly two days before sinking on 22 April, leaving oil to flow from the damaged wellhead on the seafloor.

The leak continued for 87 days and released an estimated 4.9 million barrels of crude oil. It became the largest accidental marine oil spill in the petroleum industry and severely affected Gulf Coast fisheries, wetlands, beaches, birds, turtles, dolphins, and other wildlife.

The Gulf of Mexico is sometimes confused with the Atlantic Ocean because it connects to the Atlantic through the Straits of Florida and the Caribbean Sea. Geographically, however, the spill site was within the Gulf, off the coast of Louisiana.