3.1 Finance - Deepwater Horizon Case Study On April 20th, 2010, BP's Deepwater Horizon offshore drilling rig experienced a blowout caused
by an explosion. The explosion ignited a fireball and killed 11 workers. The fires raged and were
inextinguishable causing the rig to sink two days later. This left a well gushing at the seabed
causing the largest marine
oil spill in history, leaking an estimated 210 million gallons of crude
oil into the Gulf of Mexico. It is one of the largest environmental disasters in American history,
The oil spill caused tens of billions of dollars worth of damage. The cost of the oil spill to BP was
around $40 billion. To partly pay for this, BP sold its stake in Pan American Energy in December
2010 for $7 billion.
1. What sources of finance did BP use to pay off the $40 billion?
a. They sold their stake in Pan American Energy for $7 billion.
2. Where these internal sources of finance or external?
a
3. What are at least two other possible costs associated with the BP disaster for the
company?
a
4. What are at least two other possible costs for people/areas/companies affected by the oil
spill?