Final answer:
The majority of oil spills in oil production occur during the extraction and transportation phases, like the Deepwater Horizon and Exxon Valdez incidents, leading to long-term environmental impacts and costly cleanup efforts.
Step-by-step explanation:
In the oil production process, the phase responsible for the majority of oil spills is typically the extraction and transportation phase. Notable examples like the Deepwater Horizon oil drilling rig explosion in 2010 illustrate that when things go wrong during drilling, the consequences can be catastrophic. Moreover, transporting oil by tankers has led to disastrous spills, such as the Exxon Valdez spill. Both these phases — extraction and transportation — have proven to be vulnerable to accidents that result in significant spills.
Oil spills lead to oil floating on the surface due to its lower density compared to water. Cleanup methods like skimming and the use of dispersants are employed to handle spills, yet they can only mitigate the impact. The damaging effects on marine and coastal ecosystems from oil spills can be extensive, affecting wildlife and human livelihoods for years. In addition, cleanup efforts are often costly and the environmental impacts are long-lasting, with some regions still recovering many years later.