Economic effects of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill
This article covers the effect of the Deepwater Horizon disaster and the resulting oil spill on global and national economies and the energy industry.
Weeks after the event, and while it was still in progress, the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill was being discussed as a disaster with far reaching consequences sufficient to impact global economies, marketplaces and policies.
An Outer Continental Shelf safety review board within the Department of the Interior is to provide recommendations for conducting drilling activities in the Gulf.
By this amendment he wants to ban BP from leasing any additional offshore area for seven years because of "extensive record of serious worker safety and environmental violations".
[8] On 28 April, the National Energy Board of Canada, which regulates offshore drilling in the Canadian Arctic and along the British Columbia Coast, issued a letter to oil companies asking them to explain their argument against safety rules which require same-season relief wells.
Until this incident loss of an entire semi-submersible rig in this way was considered "an unprecedented tragedy"[21] with an underwriter at Pritchard Capital commenting "It's never happened that a semi could burn into the sea and completely sink.
"[21] The Organization for International Investment, a Washington-based advocate for overseas investment into the U.S., warned in early July that the political rhetoric surrounding the disaster is potentially damaging the reputation of all British companies with operations in the U.S.[22] and sparked a wave of U.S. protectionism that has restricted British firms from; winning government contracts, making political donations, and lobbying.
[23] In BP's Initial Exploration Plan, dated 10 March 2009, it said that "it is unlikely that an accidental spill would occur" and "no adverse activities are anticipated" to fisheries or fish habitat.
[26] By 30 April, the USCG received reports that oil had begun washing up to wildlife refuges and seafood grounds on the Louisiana Gulf Coast.
[27] On 22 May 2010, the Louisiana Seafood Promotion and Marketing Board stated said 60 to 70% of oyster and blue crab harvesting areas and 70 to 80% of fin-fisheries remained open.
[30][31] By 21 June, NOAA had increased the area under closure over a dozen times, encompassing by that date 86,985 square miles (225,290 km2), or approximately 36% of Federal waters in the Gulf of Mexico, and extending along the coast from Atchafalaya Bay, Louisiana to Panama City, Florida.
[37] On 31 August, a Boston lab hired by the United Commercial Fishermen's Association to analyze coastal fishing waters said it found dispersant in a seafood sample taken near Biloxi, Miss., almost a month after BP said it had stopped using the chemical.
[41] A Florida TV station sent frozen Gulf shrimp to be tested for petroleum by-products after recent reports showed scientists disagreed on whether it is safe to eat after the oil spill.
[43][44] On 20 April, NOAA reopened 1,041 square miles (2,700 km2) of Gulf waters immediately surrounding the Deepwater Horizon wellhead to commercial and recreational fishing of fish, oysters, crabs and shrimp after testing results found that 99 percent of samples contained no detectable dispersant residues or oil-related compounds, and the few samples that did contain residues showed levels more than 1000 times lower than FDA levels of concern.
[46] In July 2011 BP released a report[47] claiming that the economy had recovered and there was no reason to believe that anyone would suffer future losses from the spill, with the limited exception of oyster harvesters.
Dr Ed Cake, a biological oceanographer and a marine and oyster biologist, said that many of the Gulf fisheries have collapsed and "If it takes too long for them to come back, the fishing industry won't survive".
[50] Although many people cancelled their vacations due to the spill, hotels close to the coasts of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama reported dramatic increases in business during the first half of May 2010.
The Bay Area Tourist Development Council bought digital billboards showing recent photos from the gulf coast beaches as far north as Nashville, Tennessee and Atlanta.
Fishermen took precautions by traveling further away to fish, although it caused a larger economic impact (Harrison 2019).The health concerns humans faced were because the chemical that was used to disperse the oil.
The impact the Deepwater Horizon oil spill had on fishermen in the Gulf of Mexico and New Orleans area was economical and health based.
They suffered through these conditions because of a lack of care and consideration by BP and government to black and brown people in the New Orleans and Gulf of Mexico area.
The real estate prices and a number of transactions in the Gulf of Mexico area decreased significantly during the period of the oil spill.
[57] BP - at the time the United Kingdom's largest corporation[58] and a major business in the UK investment world - came under intense popular, media, and political pressure to cancel its 2010 dividends in their entirety.
[69] On 4 September 2014, when BP was found guilty of gross negligence and willful misconduct under the Clean Water Act (CWA), which could see it liable for up to $18 billion in additional fines, the company's shares lost 6 percent of their value.
