BP well may be spewing 100,000 barrels a day, scientist says

[highplainsdem]

Source: McClatchy Washington Bureau

BP well may be spewing 100,000 barrels a day, scientist says
By Renee Schoof and Erika Bolstad | McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON — BP's runaway Deepwater Horizon well may be spewing what the company once-called its worst case scenario — 100,000 barrels a day, a member of the government panel told McClatchy Monday.

"In the data I've seen, there's nothing inconsistent with BP's worst case scenario," Ira Leifer, an associate researcher at the Marine Science Institute of the University of California, Santa Barbara, and a member of the government's Flow Rate Technical Group, told McClatchy.

Leifer said that based on satellite data he's examined, the rate of flow from the well has been increasing over time, especially since BP's "top kill" effort failed last month to stanch the flow. The decision last week to sever the well's damaged riser pipe from the its blowout preventer in order to install a "top hat" containment device has increased the flow still more _ far more, Leifer said, than the 20 percent that BP and the Obama administration predicted.

Leifer noted that BP had estimated before the April 20 explosion that caused the leak that a freely flowing pipe from the well would release 100,000 barrels of oil a day in the worst-case scenario.

-snip-

Read more: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/06/07/95467/bp-well-may-be-spewing.html

[lurky]

1. So, we're up to half a Valdez a day now. n/t

[humblebum]

2. Where's that oil shortage when you need it most? nt

[wordpix]

13. and your point is, we should be drilling more intensively a mile down?

Because it's obviously safe and the technology's proven, right? :sarcasm:

[humblebum]

21. I guess I should have used the sarcasm thingy. nt

[jgraz]

3. Whatever BP admits it's spilling, double it.

At least.

[jimlup]

4. Multiply by 10

[jgraz]

6. Then double it.

[Juneboarder]

19. Times infinity!

The world may never now how much oil has leaked out. How in the hell will they ever piece it all together with the oil getting dispersed and travelling up the eastern seaboard.

[truthisfreedom]

5. They claimed to be collecting 11,000 barrels a day, after claiming that the leak was only 5000.

Everything they say is complete bullshit.

[thewiseguy]

7. and the well is still gushing like crazy

I think the spill rate is far worse than their 25000 barrels a day estimate.

[wordpix]

14. good point---yesterday, a report was 15,000---EPA, are you taking note?

[Lagomorph]

8. For a little more reading....

"Drilling companies have pushed the limits of technology in blowout preventers, also known as BOPs. Multiple technical papers have called into question whether the shears are powerful enough to cut through the tough steel used in modern drilling pipe at the deepest wells. A 2004 study commissioned by federal regulators found that only three of 14 newly built rigs had shears powerful enough to cut through pipe at the equipment's maximum water depth."

http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=15586

[Kolesar]

10. Wow, that is a GREAT article

The finale':

The Minerals Management Service, the government agency that oversees offshore drilling, in recent years moved away from requiring specific safety measures in offshore drilling and instead set broad performance goals that it was up to the industry to meet.

MMS declined to make an official available for an interview for this article. In a statement, the agency said it's reviewing its oversight in light of the disaster.

In joint MMS-Coast Guard hearings into the Deepwater Horizon accident, Michael Saucier, an MMS official, testified that the agency "highly encouraged," but didn't require, companies to have back-up systems to trigger blowout preventers in case of an emergency.

"Highly encourage? How does that translate to enforcement?" Coast Guard Capt. Hung Nguyen, who is co-chairing the investigation, asked at the hearings.

"There is no enforcement," Mr. Saucier replied.

[marions ghost]

11. +1

"No enforcement."

Obviously. :grr:

[wordpix]

16. excellent article---there were so many warnings by the experts & rigs themselves

but the Bushits ignored it all and Obama did not get rid of them in MMS an dInterior. Salazar should be fired!

[Hubert Flottz]

9. BP Bob sez...

"The infidel well is almost under our total control. Nothing to see here. There are no oil plumes under the surface. We will make everything rite. The poison we are dumping into the sea will soften your flabby American skins. Don't worry, be happy. SHOP, VACATION, ENJOY!"

[nebenaube]

12. If...

If you or I had caused this we'd be up against a wall awaiting a firing squad. I guess BP is doing "God's Work".

[Po_d Mainiac]

15. You got it!

God and BP have both fucked "Mother Nature"

[InfiniteThoughts]

18. leave GOD out of this ...

[Uncle Joe]

17. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, highplainsdem.

[skip fox]

20. The dark calculus. How many gallons of crude in the Gulf? Two-hundred-million?

The worst case for BP's oil spill in the Gulf in 100,000 barrels per day (twenty time more than what they publically estimated for over a month). This is worst case simple math based on a very real possibility.

100,000 barrels per day is 4,000,000 gallons per day.

40 days times 4,000,000 gallons is 160,000,000 gallons.

That is, we might be approaching 200,000,000 gallons!!!!!

That might be a top end estimate, but even 1/2 as much is exponentially greater than what BP would have us believe.