How much oil is estimated to have been spilled by the blowout of MC252 in the Gulf of Mexico?

How much oil is estimated to have been spilled by the blowout of MC252 in the Gulf of Mexico?

• A. 50 million gallons
• B. 206 million gallons
• C. 400 million gallons
• D. 800 million gallons

Answer: (B)

Oil spill volumes are usually given in barrels, and gallons are found by multiplying by 42 gallons per barrel. For the Deepwater Horizon spill, about 4.9 million barrels of crude were released. Converting to gallons: 4.9 million × 42 ≈ 205.8 million gallons, which is commonly rounded to 206 million gallons. This is the widely cited figure used by official assessments and industry reporting, so it’s the best-supported estimate of the spill size. The other numbers would correspond to either much smaller or much larger releases than the standard estimate.

Oil spill volumes are usually given in barrels, and gallons are found by multiplying by 42 gallons per barrel. For the Deepwater Horizon spill, about 4.9 million barrels of crude were released. Converting to gallons: 4.9 million × 42 ≈ 205.8 million gallons, which is commonly rounded to 206 million gallons. This is the widely cited figure used by official assessments and industry reporting, so it’s the best-supported estimate of the spill size. The other numbers would correspond to either much smaller or much larger releases than the standard estimate.