BP fudged the numbers on oil collected by the Insertion Tube?

In trying to do a full threat assessment of how much oil we face, I found one inconsistency...

BP has been claiming to only having been catching about 2,000 bpd from their Riser Insertion Tube Tool....

In the period from May 17th to May 23rd, the daily oil rate collected by the RITT has ranged from 1,360 barrels of oil per day (b/d) to 3,000 b/d, and the daily gas rate has ranged from 4 million cubic feet per day (MMCFD) to 17 MMCFD.

In the same period, the average daily rate of oil and gas collected by the RITT containment system at the end of the leaking riser has been 2,010 barrels of oil per day (BOPD) and 10 MMCFD of gas. The oil is being stored and gas is being flared on the drillship Discoverer Enterprise, on the surface 5,000 feet above. LINK

BP spokesman John Curry told The Associated Press on Sunday that a mile-long tube inserted into the leaking well siphoned some 57,120 gallons of oil within the past 24 hours, a sharp drop from the 92,400 gallons of oil a day that the device was sucking up on Friday. However, the company has said the amount of oil siphoned will vary widely from day to day.
May 23, 2010, 11:07AM
blog.al.com...

Scientists and BP working together previously estimated the leak at 5,000 b/d. The flow rate varies. A BP spokesman at a command center in Robert, La., told OGJ on May 21 that BP collected 5,000 b/d on May 19 and collected 2,200 b/d on May 20.
www.pennenergy.com...

May 22, 2010, 12:15AM
Over the most recent 24-hour period, he said Friday afternoon, the tube has captured 2,200 barrels of oil and 15 million cubic feet of natural gas. www.chron.com...

Ok, so one report goes as high as 5,000 bpd...

Then when a third party is there to independently measure the output it jumps up to 8,000 bpd:

On May 25, 2010, at approximately 17:30 CDT, the RITT logged oil collection at a rate of 8,000 barrels of oil per day, as measured by a meter whose calibration was verified by a third-party. Based on observations of the riser, the team estimated that at least 10% of the flow was not being captured by the riser at the time oil collection was logged, increasing the estimate of total flow to 8,800 barrels of oil per day. Factoring in the flow from the kink in the riser, the RITTI Team calculated that the lower bound estimate of the total oil flow is at least 11,000 barrels of oil per day, depending on whether the flow through the kink is primarily gas or oil. The lower bound estimate calculated by the RITT Team is more than twice the amount of the earlier flux estimate of 5,000 barrels of oil per day and is independent of any calculations or model assumptions made by either team above. www.doi.gov...

This really irritates me because I'm trying to do an assessment of a realistic amount of tar nasty we're facing after evaporation and all. And why "8,000"? Do they think we're too stupid to give us an exact number?

And in terms of trying to find an accurate amount, I've yet to see anything explain the dynamics of the pumps involved in sucking the oil out. Surely they're using pumps. Keeping us foggy on a wide range of things is really irritating. They should have right on the BP website the daily amount they're claiming to collect, amongst other details of varying importance. One page daily updates don't tell squat.

[edit on 27-5-2010 by IgnoranceIsntBlisss]