Specialists Release Estimates of Oil Amounts Spilling Into Gulf

A flare burns from a drill ship recovering oil from the ruptured British Petroleum (BP) oil well over the site in the Gulf of Mexico on June 9, 2010 off the coast of Louisiana. Spencer Platt/Getty Images

The lowest estimated oil spilling into the ocean is “20,000 barrels, highest estimate is a little over 40,000, maybe more” riser was cut on June 3, according Dr. Marcia McNutt, with the National Incident Command Flow Rate Technical Group.

Adm. Thad Allen, the National Incident commander said, “Developing accurate and scientifically grounded oil flow-rate information is vital, both in regard to the continued response and recovery, as well as the important role this information may play in the final investigation of the failure of the blowout preventer and the resulting spill,” according to the conference.

Three major teams are still working on the exact measurement of the amount of oil that has been spilling out from the pipe since the riser was cut. The Department of Energy group lead by Dr. Chu have not yet calculated an estimate.

The Flow Rate Technical Group, which is composed of four separate groups like the Plume Modeling Team, the Mass Balance Team, The Reservoir Modeling Team and the Nodal Analysis Team, all have varying estimates and techniques for measuring the amount of oil spilled.

Plume Modeling Team predicted the flow rate to be from as low as 20,000 barrels to as many as 40,000 barrels per day. The Mass Balance Team speculated the amount of oil spilling to the surface was from 12,600 to 21,500 barrels per day. The other two teams are still working on estimates that will be coming out later this month.

A third team, Woods Hole Oceanographic, also worked on estimating the numbers for the flow of material out of BP’s oil well. They predicted that the bulk flow of matter out of the pipe was 0.12 cubic meters per second to 0.23 cubic meters per second just before the riser was cut. In other terms, it is from around 65,000 barrels per day to around 125,000 barrels per day.

Time is pressing for BP and others responsible to go the final stretch in cleaning up the oily water mess that is now referred to as the worst environmental disaster in the history of America. Because of the large gaps between estimate numbers it’s difficult to say exactly how much oil has spilled into the Gulf of Mexico since the explosion on April the 20.

Adm. Allen personally sent a letter to BP requesting a representative to meet with administration officials on Wednesday June 16, together with President Obama. Timely issues like providing compensation to everyone affected by the oil spill and taking full responsibility of preventing the oil from spreading further will be discussed.