--- description: The rig blew on April 20, 2010, and spewed 172 million gallons of oil into the Gulf title: BP Oil Spill Left Rhode Island-Sized 'Bathtub Ring' on Seafloor image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt54e1fbfecadd7925/698762f38e060100ea457eea/bp-oil-spill.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Disaster](/tag/disaster/) ## Disaster Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # BP Oil Spill Left Rhode Island-Sized 'Bathtub Ring' on Seafloor by [NBC News](/author/nbc-news/) ## NBC News Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Oct 27, 2014 9:01 PM CUT  BP announced that it is ending its "active cleanup" on the Louisiana coast from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill on April 19, 2014 in Grand Isle, Louisiana. The Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded on April 20, 2010, killing 11 workers and spilling millions of gallons of oil. BP announced that it is ending its "active cleanup" on the Louisiana coast from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill on April 19, 2014 in Grand Isle, Louisiana. The Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded on April 20, 2010, killing 11 workers and spilling millions of gallons of oil.Sean Gardner—Getty Images by [NBC News](/author/nbc-news/) ## NBC News Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Oct 27, 2014 9:01 PM CUT New research shows that the BP oil spill left an oily “bathtub ring” on the sea floor that’s about the size of Rhode Island. The study by UC Santa Barbara’s David Valentine, the chief scientist on the federal damage assessment research ships, estimates that about 10 million gallons of oil coagulated on the floor of the Gulf of Mexico around the damaged Deepwater Horizons oil rig. Valentine said the spill left other splotches containing even more oil. The rig blew on April 20, 2010, and spewed 172 million gallons of oil into the Gulf through the summer. Scientists are still trying to figure where… [Read the rest of the story from our partners at NBC News](http://www.nbcnews.com/science/environment/bp-oil-spill-left-rhode-island-sized-bathtub-ring-seafloor-n234961?cid=par-time-article%5F20141002 "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3542186/bp-oil-spill-seafloor-damage/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3542186/bp-oil-spill-seafloor-damage/"},"headline":"BP Oil Spill Left Rhode Island-Sized 'Bathtub Ring' on Seafloor","datePublished":"2014-10-27T21:01:14.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T11:02:28.264Z","description":"The rig blew on April 20, 2010, and spewed 172 million gallons of oil into the Gulf","url":"https://time.com/3542186/bp-oil-spill-seafloor-damage/","keywords":["Disaster","Environment","Accident"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt54e1fbfecadd7925/698762f38e060100ea457eea/bp-oil-spill.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"NBC News","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/nbc-news/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt54e1fbfecadd7925/698762f38e060100ea457eea/bp-oil-spill.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"BP announced that it is ending its \"active cleanup\" on the Louisiana coast from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill on April 19, 2014 in Grand Isle, Louisiana. The Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded on April 20, 2010, killing 11 workers and spilling millions","caption":"BP announced that it is ending its \"active cleanup\" on the Louisiana coast from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill on April 19, 2014 in Grand Isle, Louisiana. The Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded on April 20, 2010, killing 11 workers and spilling millions","creditText":"Sean Gardner—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/disaster/","name":"Disaster"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3542186/bp-oil-spill-seafloor-damage/","name":"BP Oil Spill Left Rhode Island-Sized 'Bathtub Ring' on Seafloor"}}]}] ```