By Jim Polson
May 20 (Bloomberg) -- BP Plc is capturing 5,000 barrels of oil a day from its leaking well in the Gulf of Mexico. The company couldn’t say whether that was all of the crude from the well, which has been estimated to be leaking at that rate.
“That’s 5,000 barrels a day of oil that is not going onto the seabed,” said Mark Salt, a spokesman in Houston for BP. “We are continuing to optimize the flow”.
The oil is flowing through a mile-long tube inserted May 16 up to a drillship equipped to store oil, decant water and flare natural gas. The ship is flaring natural gas from the well at a rate of 15 million cubic feet a day, said Salt. BP, based in London, estimated the daily flow to the ship yesterday at 3,000 barrels of oil and 14 million cubic feet of gas.
The company and federal agencies have been estimating the spill rate as 5,000 barrels (210,000 gallons) a day since April 28. That figure is disputed by independent scientists, including Purdue University Associate Professor Steve Wereley, based on video of the leaking well.
Scientists including Wereley testified yesterday to a Congressional subcommittee that the leak rate may range between 25,000 barrels and 100,000 barrels a day.
“What they are capturing is a small fraction of the total leak,” Wereley said today in a telephone interview. “BP is in a position to provide us with evidence that they are capturing the lion’s share of the leak”. >>>
