BP: Oil Flow “Might Be a Little More” Than Earlier Estimate
Until now, BP hasn't officially updated its 5,000-barrels-a-day estimate of the flow of crude oil into the Gulf. As we've pointed out, the company has said it's too busy trying to stop the spill to measure it. Today, BP made some time to update the public about its effort to siphon up some of the oil that's spewing into the Gulf, announcing that it's now collecting about 5,000 barrels of oil a day through a smaller tube that was inserted into one of two leaks.
In doing so, the company also acknowledged that oil was still spilling into the Gulf, and that earlier estimates were off.
"Now that we are collecting 5,000 barrels a day, it might be a little more than that," BP spokesman Mark Proegler told AFP. "We said from the beginning, our experts have been saying there really is no reliable way to estimate the flow."
Last Friday, BP's managing director, Robert Dudley, disputed scientists' higher spill estimates, telling MSNBC that the estimates were "scare-mongering" and that "five thousand [barrels] is a good estimate." On Saturday, a BP spokesman told the Times that measuring the flow was "not relevant to the response effort."
An undetermined amount of oil is still flowing into the Gulf at this point. A BP spokesperson told The Wall Street Journal that the amount has "noticeably declined."
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2 comments
Norman Morley
May 20, 2010, 10:58 p.m.
I sure can’t understand how the Government & the Administration can sit by while this continues. I’ve read that the same agency just gave the O.K. to drill in the Arctic as soon as June. There needs to be a hold on any drilling in any water way of the U.S.A. Safety concerns need to be fully addressed before commencing, regardless of who drills. As for the toxic dispersant in use, calls into question the competence of the companies involved. The potential of poisoning the gulf, is mind boggling. The Congress better open their eyes in their objections to cost & responsibility. The taxpayers can’t carry the burden. This is clearly a case for stringent safety regulations to replace the laxity that the Industry has enjoyed & flouted these many years.
kiers
May 21, 2010, 11:11 a.m.
The “rules” of journalism enforce SUCH conformity! I don’t know exactly HOW the ENTIRE media has LATCHED on to this “figure” of 5,000bbl/day. It is preposterous.
If we can’t get this simple matter right, imagine the machinations that go on in the name of our (fake) war in Iraq. Imagine the machinations regarding DHS. The republic is LOST cause.
There is much by the way of cunning attempts at obfuscation as to the oil flow rate as well. AP reports will keep converting between “gallons” and “barrels” to screw up sheeple’s cognition, for example. They will use pleasant terms like “gym-fulls” to describe volume. “Golf Balls” to plug the small hole.
This type of pavlovian conditioning by the mass media shows us the DEEP complicity. (It was the same in run up to Iraq war). After all, what does Associated Press have to do with BP? And yet here we are.
Back to the issue, the (English) Financial Times itself reported that extremely nearby wells, also run by BP, are commonly “producing” 25,000 BARRELS PER DAY PER WELL. But i guess the english can be trusted with more truths than us sheeple Americans.
So, if a “journalist” does his/her “thinking” why is this well NOT spewing oil out at rates similar to wells in full “production”?
BP may indeed buy it’s PR effort. But does EVERY F*ing news organization have to swallow it?
IF they can’t get this number right, what hope is there for ANYTHING ELSE? watch and learn. There isn’t any!
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