7.2 Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill.4.2 Maritime boundary delimitation agreements.The Gulf of Mexico is one of the most important offshore petroleum-production regions in the world, making up one-sixth of the United States' total production. The volume of water in the basin is roughly 2.4 ×10 6 cubic kilometers (5.8 ×10 5 cubic miles). Almost half of the basin consists of shallow continental-shelf waters. The size of the Gulf basin is approximately 1.6 million km 2 (615,000 sq mi). Because of its narrow connection to the Atlantic Ocean, the Gulf experiences very small tidal ranges. and Cuba, and with the Caribbean Sea via the Yucatán Channel between Mexico and Cuba. It is connected to part of the Atlantic Ocean through the Florida Straits between the U.S. Its floor consists of sedimentary rocks and recent sediments. The Gulf of Mexico basin is roughly oval in shape and is approximately 810 nautical miles (1,500 km 930 mi) wide. The Gulf of Mexico took shape approximately 300 million years ago as a result of plate tectonics.

states of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida, which border the Gulf on the north, are often referred to as the ' Third Coast' of the United States (in addition to its Atlantic and Pacific coasts). It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States on the southwest and south by the Mexican states of Tamaulipas, Veracruz, Tabasco, Campeche, Yucatan, and Quintana Roo and on the southeast by Cuba. The Gulf of Mexico ( Spanish: Golfo de México) is an ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent.

Gulf of mexico fire