BP's well cap now containing 15,000 barrels of oil a day

[BelgianMadCow]

Source: Marketwatch

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- BP PLC moved closer Monday to bringing to heel the Gulf of Mexico gusher that ranks as the worst spill in U.S. history, but officials acknowledged that more equipment is needed to process the huge flow of oil and natural gas coming from the ruptured well.

U.S. Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen said BP is now capturing about 15,000 barrels of oil a day from a containment cap lowered onto the riser pipe late last week, but more oil continues to billow out into the water from unclosed vents on the cap, as well as from broken parts of the seal.
...
Last month, a team of scientists led by the U.S. Geological Survey put the top end of the projected daily rate of flow at 25,000 barrels. But when BP cut the riser pipe to prepare it for the containment cap last week, officials said the move would have the effect of undoing a crimp in the pipe and increase the flow by up to 20% more.
Allen said the government's flow rate technical group is now working on a revised estimate of the size of the spill in order to assess penalties that BP will have to pay. The massive spill began after the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded on April 20, killing 11 workers and triggering an environmental disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. The rig
sank two days later.

Read more: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/bp-eyes-containment-shortfall-on-gulf-well-report-2010-06-07?reflink=MW_news_stmp

---

The headline (and similar BP-spinned ones) fails to point out THEY HAVE BEEN LYING AGAIN about the spill size. :nuke:

This is from a belgian newspaper - sourced to a BP employee and the NYT, translation mine:

"BP has been pumping 10.000 bopd the last couple of days. That while four vents on the cap are still open, which causes the majority of oil to escape. The idea was to close these vents, reducing leakage to some 20%, but that's impossible, says a BP employee on the site, because we don't have the capacity. The man called the NYT on condition of anonimity.
...
The first announcements, about 5 weeks ago, mentioned 1000 bopd. Ten days later, that became 5000 barrels per day. Start of last week, it was 12000 bopd. End of last week, that became 19000 bopd. During the latest press conferences, 25000 is being reported.
...
So we are going to the number the BP top mentioned during the first senate hearings: 60.000 barrels per day. A number that corresponds to what scientists told Planet Watch on the 15th of May
...
The source of the New York Times within BP says that BP itself is "surprised" about the well and the power with which it's leaking oil - "one hell of a well, like a raging undersea beast".

more:

http://www.demorgen.be/dm/nl/5397/Milieu/article/detail/1115075/2010/06/07/Euforie-getemperd-koepel-over-olielek-blijkt-nuloperatie.dhtml

[thewiseguy]

1. They said 10,000 this morning.

I am not sure where the 15,000 number is coming from.

[Pirate Smile]

4. I thought he said 11,000 BPD this morning. Yesterday it was 10,500. I haven't heard the 15,000 #

before this.

[BelgianMadCow]

17. what the fuck - the headline has changed, says 11.000 bopd now indeed

I just copy-pasted the headline, so I'm sure 15 was what it read. Someone made a typo 10500-15000?

[petronius]

18. The LA Times page still says 15,000 barrels per day

It's probably such a wild estimate that any number (including zero) could be plugged in with equal precision...

[BelgianMadCow]

25. tyvm - so I wasn't seeing things - link

http://www.latimes.com/news/science/la-na-oil-spill-cap-20100608,0,4247188.story

SNIP
Reporting from Washington —
The cap that was installed last week on the leaking oil well in the Gulf of Mexico is recovering 15,000 barrels of oil per day, with that rate expected to increase to 20,000 barrels in the near future, Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen told reporters at a Monday-morning briefing.

SNIP
"I don't think any plan envisioned it would get out that far and disaggregate,"
-------
disaggregate? That what dispersant DOES, moron. Or wait, can't believe you actually don't know.

[Pirate Smile]

40. I just saw the following over on The Oil Drum:

Reno_Dave on June 7, 2010 - 7:26pm Permalink | Subthread | Comments top Interesting.

BP just issued an update covering the twelve hour period between Midnight last night and today:

Subsea operational update:

• From 12:00am to 12:00pm on June 7th, a total of 7,541 barrels of oil were collected and 15 million cubic feet of natural gas was flared.

• Operations during this period were stable.

• The next update will be provided at 9:00am CDT on June 8, 2010.

June 7, 2010 5:30 pm CDT / 11:30 pm BST

http://www.bp.com/extendedsectiongenericarticle.do?categoryId=40&content...

That's a 15K/day rate.

It also looks like a greater percentage of gas in the mix.


http://www.theoildrum.com/node/6569#comments_top

[mikelgb]

19. You are all wrong. It is a brazilian barrels a day. bp sez so.

yup

[wordpix]

2. fucking assess the penalties fast, before BP pays out its billion$ to investors

Then they will claim they have no money left between that, hiding their money in offshore accts and paying as few claims to the victims as they can. There will be nothing for cleanup or wildlife reclamation and the US will be holding the bag of bills

[Botany]

3. So how many barrels per day are really being leaked?

1,000 or 5,000 or 12,000 or 19,000 or 25,000 or 60,000?

[obxhead]

6. I doubt we will ever be told the truth.

[Karenina]

16. It's about the FINE per barrel.

A barrel is 42 gallons. The numbers are being released willy-nilly in barrels, gallons and liters to PURPOSELY obfuscate.

I do love standardization. REMEMBER THE HUBBLE!

[BelgianMadCow]

21. DING

ding :-(

"...will pay all legitimate claims..." - Tony Baloney

Legitimate (liability) = corresponding to size (lie, obfuscate, disperse) + number of dead animals (block press, hide, disperse).

You just KNOW they knew THAT on day one.

The fact that EPA allows further Corexit use and that NOAA didn't enforce a correct estimate right away ("irrelevant because wouldn't change the containment effort or even detract (??) from it" versus their own SOP for accidents, p2: determine spill size.) I find pretty telling - and depressing really.

[obxhead]

27. yes, even our official gov spokesman

switches from gallons to barrels repeatedly. It's also why we have the massive use of dispersant. What you don't see isn't there according to BP.

[eowyn_of_rohan]

10. 500,000 to 1 million gallons of crude is believed to be leaking daily.

Meanwhile, newly disclosed internal Coast Guard documents from the day after the explosion aboard the Deepwater Horizon rig indicated that U.S. officials were warning of a leak of 336,000 gallons per day of crude from the well in the event of a complete blowout.

The volume turned out to be much closer to that figure than the 42,000 gallons per day that BP first estimated. Weeks later that was revised to 210,000 gallons. Now, an estimated 500,000 to 1 million gallons of crude is believed to be leaking daily.

The Center for Public Integrity, which initially reported the Coast Guard logs, said it obtained them from Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., ranking Republican on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/06/04/national/main6546959.shtml

[Nite Owl]

5. It sure looks like a lot

still coming out...

http://www.bp.com/liveassets/bp_internet/globalbp/globalbp_uk_english/homepage/STAGING/local_assets/bp_homepage/html/rov_stream.html

[SkyDaddy7]

7. I know!

I saw the camera view and said the same thing! Either twice as much as they are claiming is coming out or they are lying about what they are capturing...I vote they are lying about both!

[wordpix]

8. me, too---my own eyes say nothing is slowing down in that spew

[obxhead]

26. yeah, it seems the more they draw off the faster it can just

spew out of that pipe.

It's all a show. The only thing that will work is a relief well. Every attempt to date has been for a recovery of some oil for profit and for the cameras pointed at them.

[joanmj]

9. Absolutely!

[SILVER__FOX52]

11. Why would anybody believe.....

a God damn, thing that they say.

[Imalittleteapot]

12. This morning I heard 462,000 on c-span. Am I confused?

At this morning’s White House press briefing, Coast Guard Chief Adm. Thad Allen said the cap on the oil well is now collecting up to 462,000 gallons of oil a day.

http://www.c-span.org/

[Demstud]

14. How many gallons in a barrel? - nt

[Statistical]

48. Depends on the product. For oil.... 42 gallons. For beer 43 gallons. n/t

[BelgianMadCow]

15. 462.000 gallons = 11000 bopd, so you probably got it right - and they keep doing the gallons/barrels

obfuscating imho

[wordpix]

13. even WH.gov is not issuing an oil capture number

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/06/06/ongoing-administration-wide-response-deepwater-bp-oil-spill-june-5-and-june-6-2010

snip: In the Past 24 Hours

BP Continues to Capture Some Oil and Gas Using Containment Device
BP continues to capture some oil and burn some gas at the surface using its containment dome technique, which is being executed under the federal government’s direction. After cutting off a portion of the riser, BP placed a containment device over it in order to capture oil at its source.

snip:

Approximately 15.5 million gallons of an oil-water mix have been recovered.

[gateley]

28. Here's the link to Admiral Allen's press conference this morning -

he explains why they don't have an exact rate yet -- but they will be able to determine that soon.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/press-briefing-press-secretary-robert-gibbs-and-national-incident-commander-admiral

[Roland99]

20. Look for yourselves here >>>>>

http://www.bp.com/liveassets/bp_internet/globalbp/globalbp_uk_english/incident_response/STAGING/local_assets/html/Skandi_ROV2.html

Whatever they're capturing, there's still a SHITLOAD spewing into the Gulf.

[BelgianMadCow]

23. in all fairness, because of the cap, you will get a "wall" of oil leaking from the sides

what is happening inside that cilinder is still another matter, as I've read on theoildrum. I don't have high hopes atm since we know the vents are still open, but we can hope that is due to limited processing capacity at the surface - so when they up that, closing the vents becomes an option. Since the stress on the BOP is a major concern, the engineers will be understandably reluctant to close them - increading the back pressure and consequently that in the BOP is dangerous.

Another link with all feeds: http://bp.isevil.org

[robbob]

22. NPR keeps reporting on the recovered oil

As if this is some great triumph; not ONCE did I hear any reporting of how much oil is NOT being recovered, or even what percentage of the total daily spillage 10-15 thousand barrels would represent.

The media we have is such a farce; isn't that the most obvious question to ask; how much oil is still spewing into the gulf? WTF is wrong with these people? This is NPR, the so-called left leaning edge of news reporting. It makes me sick.

[gateley]

24. They're still estimates, I think. Allen said they are getting closer to

being able to determine an exact flow rate (gave the technical explanation of the process but it was over my head). The GOOD news is, BP isn't involved in determining the rate at all any more -- it's the government who is in charge of that statistic.

Here's the transcript of the presser. Lots of good, informative, educational info:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/press-briefing-press-secretary-robert-gibbs-and-national-incident-commander-admiral

[BelgianMadCow]

31. I very strongly agree BP being out of the press conf is good news, but

THE time to get a correct estimate was just after the riser cut imho. The situation now is terrible to measure. Vents closing improve on that, but the cilinder flowing at the sides is again something hard to measure. High-speed video of the billowing outside is a good start, but you need the inside view as well - hard.

"Let me give two answers to that, and I think we’re going to have to get more fidelity on this as we get the actual flow rate established. We have two models for a flow out of the wellhead that were done by our Flow Rate Technical Group under Marcia McNutt of the U.S. Geological Survey. One was a range of 12,000 to 19,000 barrels a day. The other one was a range of 12,000 to 25,000 barrels a day. We are now approaching production that will get up around 15,000 barrels a day.

I think once we know the production flow and we’re able to seal off the vents and then assess the leakage around the seal, we will have a hard, fast number that will tell us where within that range that flow rate lies, and allow us to kind of, I would say, narrow the range from the outside and get greater fidelity. Once we do that, then we can actually back that in for the number of days this spill has been ongoing, and get a better overall estimate of the overall amount of oil that's been spilled."

Thank you for keeping the discussion based on facts :-)

Did you see the DUAL output 12-19 and 12-25 of the Flow Rate Technical Group - hadn't seen that in official print yet.

The fact Allen says the new estimate will be applied "backwards", accounting for what has leaked as well, is another biggie!

[Mister Thorne]

29. Obama's Failure to Act

YEARS AGO

I was a sailor on an aircraft carrier, and I was standing watch in a place known as Central Control.

I was sitting at a small desk. Its top was a Plexiglas plate. Beneath the plate was an array of notices and warnings. There was an intercom box mounted in the far right corner.

I was looking at the wall before me — a dozen pale blue panels, each about four feet wide and 12 feet tall. One panel was full of water-pressure gauges. The next was a nested array of black push buttons and red lights, white switches and green lights.

A dozen other men were sitting at similar desks, looking at other panels full of lights and gauges and switches, and three officers sitting on a raised section in the center of the control room were watching over us.

Things were as quiet as usual, and then something happened. A man watching the Main Dash — the panels in the center of the forward wall used to track the status of the engines — said something in a loud clear voice: “the pressure in SH 3A is 1275 and rising.” In other words, there was a significant problem in Engine Room #3.

We all double-checked the panels before us; the officers got up and started asking several of the men quick questions. And then a loud clear voice said, “the pressure in SH 3A is 1310 and rising.”

A few minutes later, the Chief Engineer appeared. He reviewed the Main Dash, and he ordered the officers to check this and do that. Maybe ten minutes after it began, the emergency — one that could have led to an explosion that might have taken the life of every man in Engine Room #3 — was reduced to just another exciting story.



TODAY

The tragedy in the Gulf seems like an enormous, slow moving version of the problem in Engine Room #3, and the most striking difference to me is this — no one’s in control. No one. The president says he’s responsible — I heard him say it — but he’s not acting like he is. As oil conquers more beach and kills more marsh, he appears next to useless.

What a pity: a failure every bit as pitiful as W’s when Katrina struck.

I feel very confident in saying this — if someone like the Chief Engineer were in charge (i.e., if the president told him to handle the situation), we wouldn’t see images of oil slopping through Louisiana’s marshes or lapping up on Florida’s white beaches, and here’s why: the Chief Engineer wouldn’t let that happen.

I’m sure he’d make a simple calculation – “if there’s this much oil being added to the Gulf every hour, we need to collect that much or more every hour to contain things.” And then he’d make it so.

Tanker ships would be loading oil sucked up from the surface of the Gulf; they’d take the watery oil to large oil storage tanks located along the Gulf coast, and then they’d repeat this process. They’d do it until after the spill was stopped.

Tar balls would appear here and there, but not much more.

Unfortunately, the Chief Engineer’s not in charge. BP is. There are boats skimming small portions of the spill, but that’s it: there’s no great effort to collect the oil.

What’s happening (or not happening, I should say) is outrageous.



TOMORROW

The president acts as if oily beaches and marshes are simply inevitable, rather than something to be prevented at all costs. He says he’s responsible for the cleanup effort (which BP is managing), but that effort is totally inadequate — a bunch of little boats corralling little pools of oil.

Instead, he acts like there’s nothing to do. He visits soccer players, attends fund raisers, sings along as Paul McCartney serenades Michelle, and I imagine Nero playing his fiddle, or the bandleader on the Titanic keeping the entertainment going as the great ship sinks*.

“Let’s let BP handle it.” That seems to be the president’s plan.

I voted for Obama. The night we elected him, the Mrs. and I threw quite a party to celebrate.

But I don’t suppose I’ll ever vote for Obama again (not unless he’s running against someone as vacuous as Sarah Palin or as ill tempered as John McCain) — not after seeing his pathetic response to an emergency he claims responsibility for.

I’m outraged by the president’s pitiful response to a national emergency.

______

* I can assure you – in this kind of emergency, the Chief Engineer wouldn’t so much as grin until the situation was well under control.

[boppers]

30. If the oil well was a tiny aircraft carrier, your analogy would make sense.

Seeing as how they have nothing in common, well, that's where it falls flat.

Huge tankers are already sucking up liquid like mad, but you know what? Compared to the flow, they're just "a bunch of little boats corralling little pools of oil". The scale of this thing is much, much, larger than anybody has the equipment to handle.

[Mister Thorne]

36. Seeing as how they have nothing in common . . .

They're both emergencies requiring immediate attention to limit great damage.

[sfwriter]

32. I agree...where is the anger? Where is the intensity?

Where are the navy and the experts in shaped explosives from Los Alamos.

As to the cleanup, where is the order to divert every BP tanker to the task.


I guess he was never intense, so why expect it now, but I never expected him to take compromise to this level.

If I were him, this would be ground floor on an Energy oriented Manhattan project. This is an energy and environmental 9/11 and he acts like it is a hurricane, to be expected and weathered.

But I'll end up voting for him, because you know what, the other side is STILL just rephrasing drill baby drill.

[gateley]

33. Check out the press release transcripts and reports on the WH site -

many of your questions are answered there. Allen said this morning different tankers address different types of oil to scoop up, so maybe BP's tankers are in the area where they are most needed? How are you sure there hasn't been an order to divert BP's tankers?

Agree, it is not Obama's nature to engage in histrionics (my brother is the same way, whereas I would be throwing things and cussing up a storm). Regardless, I think he's good and pissed and disgusted with BP. Whenever a problem is brought to his attention, he addresses it right away.

This is becoming more complicated daily. It's heartbreaking.

And I'll be happy to vote for him next time.

[sfwriter]

43. I haven't seen BP forced to do much yet...

I have seen states, like Florida clamoring that BP is dragging its feet.

I haven't seen a statement that we'll be going after maximum damages.

[Mister Thorne]

37. Where are the navy and the experts in shaped explosives

Explosives?

You can't use explosives to clean up an oil spill!

[sfwriter]

42. But you can use it to close an oil spill...

The shaped charges cause shock waves collapsing the borehole.

The Russians did it with a Nuke. We don't need to be that extreme.

The spilled oil is spilled I'm afraid. This would just stop the continuing spill.

[wordpix]

45. Three Stooges with nukes 1 mile down---great idea

:sarcasm: Are you an expert at explosives a mile under the ocean to be proposing this? There WAS an expert on KO a few nights ago who said this is a wacko idea.

I'm sure if it were a tried and true technology, it would have been done.

All we need are Three Stooges with nukes doing a grad experiement a mile down.

[gateley]

34. You're mistaken. The government has already pulled BP off of

estimating the flow and taken it over themselves, for example. No "let's let BP handle it" in that instance.

"There's no great effort to collect the oil."

How many different types of skimmers do they need? Which skimmers best address which type of oil accumulation? How many skimmers are out there?

I'd suggest listening to Admiral Allen's press conference this morning which will answer these questions and others, so you save yourself further embarrassment from making inaccurate proclamations.

Also checking the WH site might keep you better apprised of the steps being taken and when.

[Mister Thorne]

35. Don't Buy the Admin's BS

What is the U.S. Coast Guard doing to contain the oil?

Nothing!

The president's made it clear -- he's waiting for BP to contain the oil!

[gateley]

41. What proof do you have the Coast Guard is doing nothing?

I admit to US it seems like nothing is going on, but that's not the case at all. What would Obama have to gain by pissing off the populace?

And HOW has he made it clear?

I think you're hearing what you want to hear, and not willing to consider other possibilities. And I was like that, too until I started watching, reading, learning and educating myself about all the nightmare of logistics this entails.

Edit to add -- another example of how Obama is NOT going "let BP take care of it"

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=8508654&mesg_id=8508654

[Mister Thorne]

50. Obama Imitates Jimmy Carter

There are 115 boats skimming oil right now. That's totally inadequate.

Listen to Thad Allen and hear what he says: the Coast Guard is doing nothing at all to clean the oil.

They're leaving that up to BP.

Obama's pitiful response to this emergency is outrageous!

[BelgianMadCow]

38. I appreciate your heartfelt post - but don't forget this is Bush*Cheneys clusterfuck

and BO, at the very least, has said he is responsible. That is already huge looking back at the idiot who couldn't even commit to one mistake.

Like a said, I appreciate your heartfelt post, and welcome to DU :hi:

and with that I'm signing off - 1 AM here

[wordpix]

44. His main failure to act was not getting rid of the Bushites in MMS, DOE & Interior

Instead, he kept them in and put Salazar at Interior as a "moderate" who is actually VERY friendly with the oil barons, so as not to inflame the Repukes.

Obama cannot stop the blowout. He can only ensure BP cleans up and pays out. But the beaches and wildlife will remain covered until the spew stops ---and beyond that, it will take years to clean up.

Do you think Obama can go a mile down and stop the blowout? Geesh. Get real.

[Owl]

39. Whatever it is it ain't enough!

[wordpix]

46. latest news: BP could capture more but we have to wait another 2 wks for a 2nd ship

:banghead: :grr:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703303904575292210472764880.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLENexttoWhatsNewsForth

snip: Any leakage beyond 15,000 barrels per day will continue to go into the sea until a second ship arrives, likely in mid-June.

You'd think BP would be ORDERED by the O admin to have an extra oil-capture ship on standby in the area, since this IS BP's business. But no, we have to wait another 2 wks. to get the ship to the site. :banghead: :banghead: :grr:

[Statistical]

47. Maybe they didn't think they needed it. It was only leaking "5K" bpd. Right?

Maybe they starting believing their own lies.

[wordpix]

49. yeah, more great planning on BP's and the feds' part

:sarcasm: