Gulf oil spill leak now pegged at 95,000+ barrels a day

[jus_the_facts]

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/05/19/94467/engineer-oil-spill-videos-show.html

WASHINGTON — The latest video footage of the leaking Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico show that oil is escaping at the rate of 95,000 barrels — 4 million gallons — a day, nearly 20 times greater than the 5,000 barrel a day estimate BP and government scientists have been citing for nearly three weeks, an engineering professor told a congressional hearing Wednesday/

Steve Wereley, an associate professor of mechanical engineering at Purdue University, earlier this month made simple calculations from a video BP released on May 12 and came up with a flow of 70,000 barrels a day, NPR reported last week. Werely on Wednesday told a House Commerce and Energy Committee subcommittee that his calculations of two leaks that show up on videos BP released on Tuesday showed 70,000 barrels from one leak and 25,000 from the other.

He said the calculation could be off by 20 percent — meaning the spill could range from between 76,000 to 104,000 barrels a day. But Wereley said he would need to see videos that were not compressed and showed the flow over a longer period so that it would be possible to get a better calculation of the mix of oil and gas from the wellhead.

:think:

“The true extent of this spill remains a mystery,” Markey said. He said the BP had said that the flow rate was not relevant to the cleanup effort. “This faulty logic that BP is using is … raising concerns that they are h iding the full extent of the damage of this leak.”

Read more: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/05/19/94467/engineer-oil-spill-videos-show.html#ixzz0oRLxq76o

[LakeSamish706]

1. This is insane that we sit here and let the morans that caused this mess remain

in charge of cleaning it up. They have lied about the amount of oil that is flowing, so what else are they lying about?

[amborin]

7. and our EPA let them pump 500,000 gallons of toxic dispersant into the gulf, compounding the tragedy

[Greyhound]

2. OMG.

[Cant trust em]

3. I gagged a little bit when I just read that. nt

[DURHAM D]

4. Records showed the well was producing 80,000 barrels a day before

it blew out.

The blow out released everything - no controls.

Why would anyone have accepted a lesser number let alone a ridiculously low number like 5,000 barrels a day. Oh well.

[Statistical]

11. The well never produced anything.

It wasn't a production well. It had no mainline back to the coast.

The rig was preparing to cap it once cementing was complete to move to another drill site.

[DURHAM D]

12. Sorry - but I read where it was producing that shocking amount of oil.

Drilling rigs can produce as well as drill. They were changing rigs and therefore in the process of taking it off line temporarily when it blew out.

[Statistical]

13. Rigs can be production but the production needs to go somewhere.

This well was in early development. It had no mainline to the coast.

Usually a hybrid rig is where you have a production well and decide to slant drill to another pocket from same locaiton. So you are producing from well #1 while drilling well #2.

Some major natural gas offshore rigs have a dozen wells connected to a single platform (all drilled on a slant to pockets miles away).

[DURHAM D]

16. I know.

Just telling you what I read.

I assumed they had ships serving as tank batteries although the article did not say.

Edit: I assumed the stat came from test runs of a certain length - 8 hours, 24 hours, 48 hours - I don't know. It would have been important to BP's braggin' rights up at the Petroleum Club.

[chill_wind]

5. 20 times greater than the 5 times greater than the 5 times

greater than the day before and the day before that...

And BP continues to say to no real measurements will be permitted. UNBELIEVABLE.

[amborin]

6. ind scientists have estimated this magnitude; but BP and NOAA tries to suppress this info

[jberryhill]

8. "You take one down and pass it around...

94 thousand barrels of oil a day!

94 thousand barrels of oil a day!

94 thousand barrels of oil,
You take one down and slosh it around,
93 thousand barrels of oil a day!

[chill_wind]

9. I keep pondering the insanity of BP's position.

kicking.

[spanone]

10. but but but that 4" pipe is saving the gulf, right????

[dana_b]

17. only 4"? I thought it was bigger than that

fuck - and in the other article I read BP was saying that they were getting something like 60-80% of what was spewing out. Riiiight... A 4" tube wouldn't get 5% of what is coming out of that well!

[redqueen]

14. For a MONTH... a fucking MONTH.

:cry:

[Cetacea]

19. Heartbreaking.

It's hard not to feel hopeless over this.

[Art_from_Ark]

15. Damn, this is just horrible

I am getting sick to my stomach worrying about the FUBAR that this is turning out to be.

[D23MIURG23]

18. I've lost any faith in BPs "estimates". This is the 3rd time Ive heard this same story

Either these guys are blatantly incompetent, or they are gradually adjusting their public figure towards the amount of oil they actually believe to be gushing at a rate determined by their PR staff. Its one thing to be wrong, and another thing entirely to be off by a factor of 20.

[amborin]

20. kick