Team says much more oil may have flowed from well

Team says much more oil may have flowed from well

news.yahoo.com

The Woods Hole estimate, which ranged from 1 million gallons a day to 2.1 million gallons, was based on calculations of pressure. And if the high end of the Woods Hole estimate is true, that means the oil spill is about to reach the 100 million gallon mark since the April 20 rig explosion that killed 11 workers and triggered the spill.

With all sorts of estimates, some even smaller than the amount collected by BP in its containment cap, McNutt said the most credible range at the moment is between 840,000 gallons and 1.68 million gallons. Then in a telephone press conference, she added that

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Err... I guess a new, higher estimate seems to come out almost every other day now it seems. Over the past week Ive been hearing on some news stations that the estimated amount has increased, then the next day it is increased on top of the one from the day earlier.....Im not sure which to believe anymore.

"No estimates were given for the amount of oil gushing from the well after the June 3 riser cut, which BP said would increase the flow by about 20 percent. Nor are there estimates since a cap has been put on the pipe, already collecting more than 3 million gallons"

If the above is correct (and my math), a 20% increase in the flow, and lets take 1 million as the figure leaking, then 1.2 million is now leaking, but the cap is picking up 60%???? Im not sure how much percentage the cap is collecting, but still......theres more oil gushing into the ocean.

There's problably going to be another estimate in the next week or so thats going to say even more is spilling than previously thought.

If the new estimates of possibly 2.1 million leaking a day, and now we are over the 100 million spilled mark......whats next?????

news.yahoo.com
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Edit - Im watching CNN with John King right now, and Bill Nye the Science Guy is on! It's looking like this spill is now 7 times the Valdeez spill.

[edit on 10-6-2010 by buni11687]

I just did some searching and found a few more articles about this.

NY Times

The new calculation suggested that an amount of oil equivalent to the Exxon Valdez disaster could have been flowing into the Gulf of Mexico every 8 to 10 days.

Scientists say the flow rate could actually be greater now because they believe that cutting the riser to position the cap pipe may have only increased the flow of the oil and gas mixture. The same governmental panel said that it would be another few days until it would be able to estimate the current flow rate.

Another Article

NEW ORLEANS — Federal officials conceded Wednesday that efforts to contain the well blowout in the Gulf of Mexico may have boosted the amount of oil gushing out but predicted they would be able to nearly double the quantity of crude collected by next week.

US A Today

The Times reports that the measurements, taken before BP cut the riser pipe June 3 to place a collection cap over it, showed that about 25,000 to 30,000 barrels of oil a day could have been gushing into the Gulf. The previous estimate was 12,000 to 19,000 barrels a day.

The good news just keeps rolling in!!!