June 15, 2010
Day 57
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Estimate d’jour. It’s eventually going to be over 100K brls/day. Estimate last week 20-40K brls/day. Can’t find the post.
Flow Rate Technical Group’s new estimate:
35,000 – 60,000 brls/day
1,470,000 – 2,520,000 gals/day
Newly-installed pressure gauges (at Dr Chu insistence) in the top hat makes this estimate more reliable than estimates made before the riser was cut.
Methodology:
a combination of analyses of high resolution videos taken by ROVs, acoustic technologies, and measurements of oil collected by the oil production ship together with pressure measurements inside the top hat.
Energy Secy Chu:
CHU: As we continue to collect additional data and refine these estimates, it is important to realize that the numbers can change. In particular, the upper number is less certain – which is exactly why we have been planning for the worst case scenario at every stage and why we are continuing to focus on responding to the upper end of the estimate, plus additional contingencies.
How can they be planning for the worst case scenario when it’s already an unprecedented ecological disaster that isn’t anywhere near being over?
BP spokesman TOBY ODONE:
Our response to the spill is not determined by flow rate estimates. Our primary concern is to capture as much oil as possible. We are building options to contain higher volumes of oil.
Containment estimates:
Top hat (LMRP cap) in place: 18K brls/day
“Q4000” (no description) might total: 20-28K brls/day
End of June: 40-53K brls/day
Mid-July: 60-80K brls/day
Curious isn’t it? When the estimate is 35-60K brls/day?
Citizens Against ProObama Media Bias 
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