As the standard of living has increased in developed countries over the past 50 years, so has the consumption of oil. We rely on petroleum-based products to help fuel our cars, heat our homes and even package the food that we buy. But this huge demand for oil means that vast amounts are extracted and transported across our oceans each year. There are 184 offshore oil rigs in the North Sea alone and in 2015, 59 billion barrels a day were transported via maritime routes, this accounts for 61% of the world's total. But the consequences of such large production have been clear. Since the 1970's we have seen some of the worst oil spills, most notably the 1991 Gulf War spill and the Deep-water Horizon spill of 2010 which released approximately 200 million gallons of oil into the ocean.
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