# How much oil leaks into the ocean naturally?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-oil-leaks-into-the-ocean-naturally/543458>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [June 16, 2010, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-oil-leaks-into-the-ocean-naturally/543458 "2010-06-16T19:58:05Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\
**Post date:** [June 16, 2010, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-oil-leaks-into-the-ocean-naturally/543458/1 "2010-06-16T19:58:05Z")

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The BP Oil Spill is a tragedy but I’m trying to put it into context. How does it compare to the amount that leaks into the ocean naturally without any man made intervention?

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**Author:** ![Grey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b782af/32.png) [@Grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grey)\
**Post date:** [June 16, 2010, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-oil-leaks-into-the-ocean-naturally/543458/2 "2010-06-16T21:02:31Z")

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[This article](http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=10388&page=191) from the National Academies Press page says that

> [@](#):
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> reasonable seep rate for the entire Gulf is about double the northern Gulf estimate, giving a total Gulf of Mexico seep rate of about 140,000 tonnes per year (ranging from 80,000 to 200,000 tonnes per year)

The current debacle in the Gulf is going at a rate between 5,600 to 9,500 cubic meters (wiki) a day or 2 million to 3.5 million cubic meters per year. With a density around 850 kg/m[sup]3[/sup] that would give around 1,700,00 to 3,000,000 tonnes of oil a year or ~10/20 times the natural rate.

And note that it is concentrated from a single source not multiple smaller seeps across the Gulf.

Someone better check my math though 🙂

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**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\
**Post date:** [June 16, 2010, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-oil-leaks-into-the-ocean-naturally/543458/3 "2010-06-16T21:13:58Z")

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That number wouldn’t be a good context for the spill even if it were much larger. Tens of thousands of tons of meteorite dust hit the earth every year, but that does no damage. Concentrate even a large fraction of that into a meteor and you have a catastrophe. Same with water in floods, and snow in blizzards, and wind in tornadoes and any number of other items.

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**Author:** ![Grey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b782af/32.png) [@Grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grey)\
**Post date:** [June 17, 2010, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-oil-leaks-into-the-ocean-naturally/543458/4 "2010-06-17T02:29:02Z")

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True. The article mentions ~60 natural leeks which if only in the north cold be extended to 100 overall. That means that the specific well in question is actually pumping out 1000 times the typical seabed floor leek.

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**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\
**Post date:** [June 17, 2010, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-oil-leaks-into-the-ocean-naturally/543458/5 "2010-06-17T02:39:40Z")

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Here is a similar thread: [Does oil ever come up naturally from the ocean floor?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=564759).