Why is Oil in the oceans so frightening?:
[The oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico] is currently spilling an estimated 200,000 gallons of oil into the gulf of Mexico every day.
In other words, every day, a new 125,000 square kilometers (or 50,000 square miles) of ocean will eventually get coated in oil when it finishes spreading out
An excellent article describing how oil spreads through water and its frightening impact.
