Annual average number of global oil spills per decade 1970-2023

There was an average of 1.3 large oil spills from tanker incidents every year in the decade from 2020 onward. In 2023, one oil spill was reported in which more than 700 metric tons of oil leaked. In the years since the 1970's the number of oil tanker spills has been notably reduced from an excess of 20 large oil spills per year.

Largest ever oil spills

The Gulf war oil spill in January 1991 is the largest global oil spill to ever take place since commercial drilling took off. An estimated 380 to 520 million gallons of oil were intentionally dumped into the ocean by the Iraqi government, which had invaded Kuwait and was trying to prevent the arrival of a UN-coalition navy force. The second largest oil spill is also one of the more recent disasters, the Deepwater Horizon wellhead blowout in 2010. Over 200 million gallons of oil were released into the Gulf of Mexico, while 11 people were killed in the accident.

Oil tanker spill causes

Oil tankers are the prevailing means of transporting the commodity over distances greater than can be covered by pipelines. Running aground is the most common cause of large oil spills from tankers. 32 percent of large oil tanker spills occurring between 1970 and 2023 were due to grounding.