by Agence France-Presse. NEW ORLEANS, La. — The United States on Thursday more than doubled the estimated size of the Gulf of Mexico oil leak. Data suggesting the oil’s flow could be upwards of 40,000 barrels a day — some 1.68 million gallons — rounded off a miserable day for BP in which its share price plummeted in early London trading, hitting its lowest level since 1997 before closing down 6.7 percent. Marcia McNutt, chair of the U.S. government’s flow-rate assessment team, doubled the previous official flow figures of between 12,000 and 19,000 barrels per day. “The lowest estimate that we’re seeing that the scientists think is credible is probably about 20,000 barrels, and the highest that we’re seeing is probably a little over 40,000,” McNutt told reporters. For angry Americans digesting daily images of oiled birds and crude-covered marshes, this only reinforced the impression that BP has been disingenuous about the size of the spill from the start to try to limit its liability. The company’s first estimate was only 1,000 barrels per day and it stuck to a later estimate of 5,000 barrels a day even as that amount was being siphoned to the surface with more oil and natural gas still clearly gushing out. A containment device fitted last week is now capturing 15,800 barrels a day, but the latest data suggests at least 4,200 barrels and possibly up to 25,000 barrels, more than one million gallons, is still spewing into the sea each day. At least 40 million gallons of crude have already poured into the Gulf, and perhaps double that. By comparison, the Exxon Valdez tanker leaked roughly 11 million gallons into the sea off the Alaskan coast in 1989. In an interview with AFP, Allen said BP had responded to a letter ordering it to inform the U.S. government by Friday of its contingency planning for the containment system and said he was satisfied by its response. The imminent arrival of a second processing vessel is expected to boost the capacity of the containment system to 28,000 barrels and Allen said further operations would be carried out over the “next three to four weeks” to put down a new mooring at the site. The mooring will allow a super tanker and more equipment to be brought in to place a more fitted cap on the leak that can capture all of the leaking oil and make the system easier to disconnect in the event of a hurricane. A permanent solution will not come before the first of two relief wells are drilled, in August at the earliest, allowing the leak to be plugged with cement. The money and the politics BP said Friday it is considering cutting its dividend payments. “We are considering all options on the dividend. But no decision has been made,” BP chief executive Tony Hayward told The Wall Street Journal . The newspaper said BP’s board may consider cutting or deferring its second-quarter dividend — due to be announced on July 27 — or even issuing dividend payments as scrip, effectively a means of delaying payment to shareholders. President Barack Obama and U.S. lawmakers have turned their sights on the BP dividend, a lucrative source of income for many U.S. and British pension funds, even as the firm’s shares slump in the face of what is likely to be a multi-billion-dollar cleanup bill. U.S. criticism has centered on BP CEO Hayward, whom Obama suggested he would have fired if the executive were his employee. Obama, who heads to the Gulf next week for his fourth visit since the disaster, met Thursday at the White House with relatives of the 11 workers killed when the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded. Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen, who is leading the U.S. government response to the crisis, summoned BP chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg and other company officials to a White House meeting next Wednesday. There was no word on whether Hayward would participate. “The potential devastation to the Gulf Coast, its economy, and its people require relentless efforts to stop the leak and contain the damage,” Allen said in a letter to Svanberg. Amid fears of an anti-British backlash in the United States over the spill, British Prime Minister David Cameron will discuss BP’s handling of crisis with Obama over the weekend. Investors worry Obama intends to exact a heavy price from the British energy giant as its potential liability soars and U.S. officials look to suspend shareholder dividends until compensation is paid. BP’s share price has fallen more than 40 percent — wiping tens of billions of dollars off its market value — since the Deepwater Horizon rig sank on April 22. But the share price rallied 6.85 percent to 390.5 pence in early London trading on Friday in what one dealer called an “inevitable bounce” after the falls of recent days. Earlier this week, U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said the company’s liability should include reimbursing all companies hit by a six-month moratorium on deep sea drilling. U.S. government officials said BP had agreed to speed up payouts to individuals and businesses affected by the spill following a meeting with Allen. Related Links: Rumor watch: Obama has a ‘secret’ plan to redirect the Mississippi River Brits mad, and worried, about BP bashing Official oil spill estimate doubles to 20,000-40,000 barrels per day
View original post here:
U.S. doubles Gulf oil flow estimate
June 12th, 2010 at 6:34 am
A natural disaster indescribable proportions: In the Gulf of Mexico flows apparently more oil per hour from the borehole to be accepted initially for one whole day was. Thus, all five days is expelled as much as a whole after the wreck of the Exxon Valdez. ” I wonder why the policy has not yet acted, and closing down the existing conveyor systems for now. Learning the politicians, because nothing of it.