In the next nine months , experts and divers including Red Adair were brought in to contain and cap the oil well . An average of approximately per day were discharged into the Gulf until it was finally capped on 23 March 1980 , nearly 10 months later . In similarity to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill 31 years later , the list of methods attempted to remediate the leak included lowering a cap over the well , plugging the leak with mud and " junk " , use of dispersants , and spending months attempting to drill relief wells
Deepwater Horizon oil spill
Deepwater Horizon oil spill
Ixtoc I oil spill