Tuesday, April 20 News broke that an explosion occurred at 11 p.m. EST on BP's Deepwater Horizon oilrig in the Gulf of Mexico, 52 miles southeast of the Louisiana port of Venice. According to the Coast Guard, 11 to 15 crewmembers were reported missing, of the total 126 workers aboard the rig at the time of the blast. The rig was drilling, but not in production.
Wednesday, April 22 Helicopters and ships resumed the search for 11 missing workers. The oilrig is still burning, leaving a huge plume of smoke that is more than 30 miles long. Later that day, the fire was extinguished, after which the oilrig sank. The LA Times reports that this could "could shape up to be one of the worst U.S. offshore oil accidents in a generation." NASA images of the oil spill show aerial photos of the pluming, boiling black smoke. Environmental damage is believed to be minimal, due to the fact that Deepwater Horizon is an exploration rig, as opposed to a production rig.
Monday, April 26 Search-and-rescue operations have been suspended with 11 people still missing (they died), while underwater robots have discovered at least two leaks that are dumping an estimated 1,000 barrels of oil per day in the sea. Officials warn it could take "months" to stop what is technically a "leak," as opposed to a "spill." Weather keeps oil from moving to coast, but shrimpers and oyster farmers begin to fear for the season's catches, as Bluefin tuna spawning season in the area also encroaches
Wednesday, April 28 Stopping the leak is so technically challenging that experts realize it could take months. U.S. Coast Guard was to suggest best possible solution is to set the oil slick on fire. Later, they do so, releasing a huge plume into the sky.
Thursday, April 29 It is discovered that the leak is not spewing the equivalent of 1,000 barrels of oil per day, but rather 5,000. By end of day, the oil slick has reached the Mississippi Delta.
Friday, April 30 The Times-Picayune reports that "The state departments of Health and Hospitals and Environmental Quality said the strong odor blanketing much of coastal Louisiana and the metro New Orleans area is 'possibly' the result of the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico." Meanwhile, Obama puts a halt on any new offshore drilling and an oil-industry luncheon awarding "offshore drilling safety" is postpones. BP was reported to be a finalist.
Saturday, May 1stSkyTruth, a small non-profit, analyzed radar and satellite imagery and estimated that the oil was leaking much faster than the original official estimates. The initial figure was 1,000 barrels/day, which they successfully challenged with a new estimate of 5,000 barrels/day.
Monday, May 3rd BP is trying to install a shutoff valve on one of the three underwater leaks, but this is a complicated operation that might not succeed. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said the oil slick appears to be drifting toward the Alabama and Florida coasts, including the Chandeleur Islands off Louisiana's southern tip.
Wednesday, May 5th BP says that it succeeded in plugging one of the three leaks, but we're not out of the woods yet. Tomorrow, if all goes well, they're going to lower a 100-ton metal containment dome on one of the other leaks to siphon the oil.
Saturday, May 8 The plan to stop one of the oil leaks with a containment dome was a failure. The dome was removed and now BP has to figure out what to do.
Wednesday, May 12th BP finally decided to release pictures of the underwater oil leak, allowing independent scientists and engineers to have a look. Executives from BP, Transocean and Halliburton appear at congressional hearings and blame each other for the fiasco.
Friday, May 14th BP tries to intubate one of the oil leaks with a smaller pipe to siphon off the oil. Meanwhile, many people are starting to wonder if the official estimate of 5,000 barrels/day is accurate, and if BP isn't hiding that much more oil is leaking in the Gulf of Mexico.
Sunday, May 16th BP succeeds in inserting a tube into the leaking riser pile of the well and capturing some oil and gas, but not that much compared to what is still leaking out.
Monday, May 24th BP keeps delaying a "top kill" operation that could potentially plug the oil well and stop the flow of oil. Some start to wonder what a rough hurricane season could mean to the oil clean up operations.
Thursday, May 27th The "top kill" is finally attempted, and at first it looked like it was working (a U.S. Coast Guard admiral said as much). But after a few days of efforts, the "top kill" is abandoned. BP will have to try something else...
Tuesday, June 1st Contradicting the findings of many scientists, BP denies the existence of underwater oil plumes. Scientists claim they have found more than one oil plume, one of them "22 miles long, six miles wide and more than a thousand feet deep". BP CEO, Tony Hayward, was quoted saying: ""I'd Like My Life Back".
Wednesday, June 2nd Some experts say that under a worst-case scenario, the oil leak could last until Christmas. Things would have to go really wrong for that to happen, but so far, not much has gone right.
4 June Attempts to place a cap over the valves that were meant to prevent the rig from leaking show signs of success.
6 June BP announces the containment cap is capturing 10,000 barrels of oil a day; approximately half the total amount being leaked.
12 June Scientists double their estimate of the scale of the spill to 40,000 barrels a day
16 June BP agrees to a $20 billion downpayment towards compensation for victims of the oil spill.
30 June Hurricane Alex causes heavy seas, disrupting BP's clean-up efforts.
11 July BP begins their latest attempt to seal the leak. Robots remove a leaking cap from the well, to allow a replacement containment system to be installed.
12 July With the latest attempt to stem the leak reportedly going well, BP shares rise.
13 July BP successfully installs a new, more tightly fitting containment cap on the ruptured wellhead. The next step is to test the internal pressure in the well to establish whether the flow has been stopped.
26 July The BP chief executive, Tony Hayward, is to leave the company, to be replaced by Bob Dudley, a BP veteran overseeing the clean-up.
1 October Bob Dudley takes over as chief executive of BP following the departure of Tony Hayward.