The largest oil spills in the U.S. Coastal Pollution Tutorial

Largest Oil Spills Affecting U.S. Waters - 1969-2017. Note: M/V is an abbreviation for “Motor Vessel,” and M/T is an abbreviation for “Motor Tanker.” (Credit: NOAA). — Largest Oil Spills Affecting U.S. Waters — 1969-2024. Note: M/V is an abbreviation for “Motor Vessel,” and M/T is an abbreviation for “Motor Tanker.” (Credit: NOAA). View and print this infographic and see the description below.

There are three oil spills that stand out in American history, each of which was the largest oil spill into American waterways at the time. In 1969, a blowout on an offshore platform off the coast of Santa Barbara, California, spilled over four million gallons of oil. In 1989, the Exxon Valdez oil tanker ran aground in Prince William Sound in Alaska, spilling over 11 million gallons of oil. The largest marine oil spill in all of U.S. history was the Deepwater Horizon spill in 2010, which spilled 134 million gallons of oil.

These oil spills are the largest that occurred in "modern" times, but there were thousands of large spills that occurred during the 20th century that did not result in much environmental awareness. During World War II, hundreds of tankers sank off the East and Gulf Coast, as well as other maritime casualties, resulting in oil spills. Few people paid attention to these incidents, however.

One additional significant oil spill of the 20th century was the sinking of the Argo Merchant. On December 15, 1976, the Liberian tanker Argo Merchant ran aground off the Massachusetts coast. The tanker was scheduled to deliver a winter's supply of fuel to a power plant in Salem, Massachusetts, but it ran aground due to navigational errors. Investigators found that the vessel was 24 miles off course, and carrying two unqualified crew as helmsman, outdated maps, and inaccurate and broken navigational equipment. This spill led to the formation of NOAA's Emergency Response Division.

Infographic Description

This graphic is a map of the U.S. and surrounding waters, with circles of representative size indicating the amount of oil spilled in each of the largest oil spills affecting U.S. waters. The spills depicted are as follows:

Largest Oil Spills Affecting U.S. Waters Since 1969
Date	Incident Name	Location	Gallons	Barrels	Incident Type	Oil Type
4/20/2010	Deepwater Horizon	Gulf of Mexico	133,980,000	3,190,000	Exploratory Well	Crude
6/3/1979	Ixtoc 1[i]	Gulf of Mexico	126,000,000	3,000,000	Exploratory Well	Crude
2/26/1977	Hawaiian Patriot	Hawaii	31,000,000	738,095	Tanker	Crude
1/31/1975	Epic Colocotronis	Puerto Rico	18,000,000	428,571	Tanker	Crude
3/24/1989	Exxon Valdez	Alaska	11,000,000	261,905	Tanker	Crude
11/1/1979	Burmah Agate	Galveston, TX	10,700,000	254,762	Tanker	Crude
1/31/1975	Corinthos	Delaware River	10,500,000	250,000	Tanker	Crude
2/27/1971	Texaco Oklahoma	Cape Hatteras	7,900,000	188,095	Tanker	Crude
12/15/1976	Argo Merchant	Nantucket, MA	7,700,000	183,333	Tanker	#6
6/22/1972	Schuylkill River Spill	Douglassville, PA	7,000,000	166,667	Hurricane	Waste Oil
8/30/2005	Hurricane Katrina	Louisiana	7,000,000	166,667	Hurricane	Crude
6/8/1990	Mega Borg	Offshore, TX	5,100,000	121,429	Tanker	Crude
1/28/1969	Santa Barbara	California	4,000,000	95,238	Oil Platform	Crude
1/4/1988	Ashland Petroleum	Monongahela River	3,800,000	90,476	Storage Tank	#2
6/14/1971	Santa Augusta	St. Croix, USVI	3,300,000	78,571	Tanker	Crude
7/30/1984	Alvenus	Calcasieu, LA	2,800,000	66,667	Tanker	Crude
2/10/1970	Chevron Main Pass Block 41	Offshore, LA	2,730,000	65,000	Well	Crude
1/6/1972	USS General M.C. Meigs	Cape Flattery, WA	2,300,000	54,762	Troop Ship	Bunker
5/26/1976	Wellen Oil Company	Hackensack River, NJ	2,000,000	47,619	Tank Farm	#6
12/26/1988	UMTB 283	Shumagin Is, AK	2,000,000	47,619	Barge	#2
11/11/2005	DBL 152	Gulf of Mexico	1,900,000	45,238	Barge	Bunker
6/19/2006	Citgo Refinery	Lake Charles, LA	2,268,000	54,000	Refinery	Waste Oil
3/18/1973	Zoe Colocotroni	Puerto Rico	1,500,000	35,714	Tanker	Crude
1/13/1974	Zannis	Guayanilla, PR	1,500,000	35,714	Tanker	Crude
10/31/1984	Puerto Rican	San Francisco, CA	1,500,000	35,714	Tanker	Bunker
12/17/1976	Sansinena	Los Angeles, CA	1,260,000	30,000	Tanker	Crude
7/26/2010	Kalamazoo River	Michigan	1,100,000	26,190	Pipeline	Crude
9/17/1989	Hurricane Hugo	St. Croix, USVI	1,008,000	24,000	Tank Farm	#6
2004	Taylor Energy Platform[iv]	Gulf of Mexico	1,000,000	23,809	Oil Platform	Crude
7/26/1996	Reedy River	Simpsonville, SC	957,000	22,786	Pipeline	#2
1/18/1971	Oregon Standard	San Francisco, CA	840,000	20,000	Collision	Bunker Fuel
1/19/1996	North Cape	Rhode Island	828,000	19,714	Tank Barge	Diesel
1/7/1994	Morris J. Berman	Puerto Rico	800,000	19,047	Tank Barge	Bunker
3/6/1990	Cibro Savannah	Linden, NJ	700,000	16,667	Barge	#2
7/28/1990	Apex Barges	Galveston, TX	692,000	16,476	Barge	Feed Stock
10/13/2017	Mississippi Canyon 209	Offshore Louisiana	672,000	16,000	Pipeline	Crude
7/13/1988	Nord Pacific	Corpus Christi, TX	650,000	15,476	Tanker	Crude
12/7/2022	Mill Creek Pond Inland Oil Spill	Devon, KS	588,000	14,000	Pipeline	Diluted Bitumen
3/6/1991	Vista Bella[ii]	USVI and Puerto Rico	570,000	13,571	Barge	Bunker
1/1/1990	Exxon Bayway	Arthur Kill, NJ	567,000	13,500	Pipeline	#2
11/28/2000	Westchester	Buras, LA	554,000	13,190	Tanker	Crude
12/4/1986	Amazon Venture	Savannah River, SC	500,000	11,905	Tanker	#6
5/10/2019	Bayport Channel Collision	Houston Ship Channel, TX	462,000	11,000	Collision	Reformate
1/23/2010	Eagle Otome	Port Arthur, TX	462,000	11,000	Tanker	Crude
12/19/1978	Peck Slip	Puerto Rico	460,000	10,952	Barge	Bunker
7/22/1991	Tenyo Maru[iii]	Cape Flattery, WA	450,000	10,714	Fishing Vessel	Mixed
9/28/1985	Grand Eagle	Marcus Hook, PA	435,000	10,357	Tanker	Crude
7/23/2008	DM932	New Orleans, LA	420,000	10,000	Barge	#6

The graphic also includes an inset with text reading: Even relatively small oil spills can cause major harm, depending on location, season, environmental sensitivity, and type of oil. The following spills are examples:

Refugio - 2015 - CA
M/V Cosco Busan - 2007 - CA
M/V Selendang Ayu - 2004 - AK
M/T Athos I - 2004 - NJ/PA
M/V New Carissa - 1999 - OR

[i] Occurred in Mexico waters but oil traveled to US waters

[ii] Occurred in Canadian waters but oil traveled to US waters

[iii] Occurred in the Federation of Saint Kitts and Nevis but oil traveled to US waters

[iv] The Taylor Energy spill has been ongoing since 2004 and the volume isn't known at this time. Detailed flow rate monitoring in 2018 indicated the release of approximately 900 gallons per day. 1M gallons were collected via a containment system 2019-2022.

https://darrp.noaa.gov/oil-spills/taylor-energy

Disclaimer: While every effort has been made to develop a complete list, there may be incidents that NOAA was not involved in and therefore are not represented here. This list is also focused on spills on or into navigable waters. There have been large terrestrial and underground spills that are not listed here. Also note that spill volumes may be inexact as some of these incidents involved fires, sinkings, hurricanes, and other conditions causing uncertainty.