Where does the Deep Water Horizon oil spill rank on the world largest oil spills?

Where does the Deep Water Horizon oil spill rank on the world largest oil spills?

• A. 1st
• B. 2nd
• C. 3rd
• D. 4th

Answer: (B)

When you rank world oil spills by the amount of oil released, Deepwater Horizon sits in second place. The 2010 incident dumped roughly 4.9 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico over several months. The largest spill on record is the Persian Gulf War spill in 1991, when Iraqi forces released oil into the Persian Gulf, with estimates commonly around 5–6 million barrels. Other major spills, like Ixtoc I in 1979, released about 3.3 million barrels, which is less than Deepwater Horizon. So the Deepwater Horizon disaster is generally considered the second-largest oil spill in history.

When you rank world oil spills by the amount of oil released, Deepwater Horizon sits in second place. The 2010 incident dumped roughly 4.9 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico over several months. The largest spill on record is the Persian Gulf War spill in 1991, when Iraqi forces released oil into the Persian Gulf, with estimates commonly around 5–6 million barrels. Other major spills, like Ixtoc I in 1979, released about 3.3 million barrels, which is less than Deepwater Horizon. So the Deepwater Horizon disaster is generally considered the second-largest oil spill in history.