Oiled Up, Bend Over

Turns out the oil flow estimates are still rather low.  Surprise!

As much as 40,000-plus barrels of oil per day were pouring from BP's ruptured well into the Gulf of Mexico before the latest containment device was fitted, a US official said Thursday, more than doubling the previous government estimate.

"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," Marcia NcNutt, director of the US Geological Survey and chair of a US-government-led flow rate assessment team, told reporters.

The figures -- which estimate the flow rate prior to BP cutting a busted riser pipe June 3 in order to attach a containment device -- are more than double the previous estimate of 12,000 to 19,000 barrels per day.
"Our scientific analysis is still a work in progress," McNutt said.

Just so you know, 40k barrels of oil a day is 1.68 million gallons.  Multiply that by 52 days, and we're talking 87 million gallons of oil, plus or minus what BP is collecting and what they added to that flow by sawing off the riser pipe to put the cap on.

So, ballpark, we're looking at another 11 million gallon Exxon Valdez level disaster every week until this thing is shut down.  Nobody seems to know how long that will take, either.

Enjoy.