1. Whereas Ixtoc was aproximately 160 below the surface of the ocean, human divers can dive that deep and it still took 10 months to stop it.
The current GOG is aproximately 1 mile below the surface of the water and inherently more difficult to stop.
2.The GOG is closer to the main conveyor belt of the Gulf current flow spreading it's oil over a much larger area.
3. The volume of oil released by Ixtoc with a high of 30,000 reduced to 20,000 and 10,000 barrels being a fraction of that from the GOG with anywhere from 60,000 to 100,000 or more.
4. I don't know whether Ixtoc released much if any methane, but apparently the GOG is.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x8621266http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ixtoc_I_oil_spillIxtoc I was an exploratory oil well being drilled by the semi-submersible drilling rig Sedco 135-F in the Bay of Campeche of the Gulf of Mexico, about 100 km (62 mi) northwest of Ciudad del Carmen, Campeche
in waters 50 m (160 ft) deep.<2> On 3 June 1979, the well suffered a blowout resulting in the fourth largest oil spill and the third largest accidental spill in history.<3><4>
Volume and extent of spill
In the initial stages of the spill, an estimated 30,000 barrels of oil per day were flowing from the well. In July 1979, the pumping of mud into the well reduced the flow to 20,000 barrels per day, and early in August the pumping of nearly 100,000 steel, iron, and lead balls into the well reduced the flow to 10,000 barrels per day. Pemex claimed that half of the released oil burned when it reached the surface, a third of it evaporated, and the rest was contained or dispersed.<7> Mexican authorities also drilled two relief wells into the main well to lower the pressure of the blowout, however the oil continued to flow for three months following the completion of the first relief well.<8>
<snip>
In the next nine months, experts and divers including Red Adair were brought in to contain and cap the oil well.<7> An average of approximately ten thousand to thirty thousand barrels per day were discharged into the Gulf until it was finally capped on 23 March 1980, nearly 10 months later.<9> Aftermath
Prevailing currents carried the oil towards the Texas coastline. The US government had two months to prepare booms to protect major inlets. Pemex spent $100 million to clean up the spill and avoided paying compensation by asserting sovereign immunity.<10>
The oil slick surrounded Rancho Nuevo, in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas, which is one of the few nesting sites for Kemp's Ridley sea turtles. Thousands of baby sea turtles were airlifted to a clean portion of the Gulf of Mexico to help save the rare species.
Thanks for the thread, scheming daemons.