The oil spill cap, BP’s most recent try to gain control of the disaster that has been unfolding in the Gulf of Mexico for 48 days, is being overwhelmed by the massive gusher of crude at the bottom of the sea. Most of the oil spewing from the leak continues to escape. Yet the crude the oil spill cap does collect is overwhelming the capacity of the ship storing it on the surface. As the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico 2010 grows larger, it becomes increasingly harder to contain as it breaks up into hundreds of meandering slicks that wash ashore at times and in places that are impossible to predict. By the time relief wells could ultimately stop the leak in August, the spill could total up to 200 million gallons.
Source for this article: Raging gusher overwhelms oil spill cap – Oil spill live feed
Oil spill live feed shows the true size of the leak
The BP oil spill live feed (see below) shows a billowing, brown cloud entirely obscuring the oil spill cap as most of the crude gushing from the stricken wellhead continues to escape to the sea. The oil spill cap scenario appears to confirm all of the claims by scientists that BP and government officials have underestimated the quantity of the leak. It was reported by Reuters that U.S. Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen said at a news conference in Washington that government scientists are working to establish a a lot more solid leak rate. He said BP hoped to bring in 20,000 barrels per day from the well — a comment that indicated government estimates of a flow of 12,000 to 19,000 barrels daily were low. Allen said the upper range was 25,000. Scientists thought the number could possibly be much higher.
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As outlined by BP, on just Sunday the oil spill cap got 11,100 barrels of oil. Its goal is to increase the amount collected to 20,000 barrels a day. In the meantime, the high side estimate of the oil spill adds up to about 118 million gallons in the 48 days since the Deepwater Horizon exploded, sank, killed 11 individuals and launched the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico 2010. The Associated Press reports the oil slick has broken into hundreds of thousands of individual patches stretching from 100 miles east of the Texas-Louisiana border to near the middle of the Florida Panhandle and down to the open sea about 150 miles west of Tampa, Fla.
Pressure hurting oil spill cap
The oil spill cap was made with four vents to keep the intense pressure of the gusher from overcoming the device. As outlined by the New York Times, the sheer volume of oil gushing from the out-of-control well forced BP to leave three vents open. Even with just one vent closed the oil spill cap was capturing a lot more crude than could possibly be processed on a drill ship at the surface. The Discoverer Enterprise drill ship can only manage 15,000 barrels a day. Shuttle barges carry oil from the ship to storage tanks on shore. Admiral Allen said BP is looking at bringing in larger production vessels that can withstand coming hurricanes. He explained to everybody the ultimate solution to plugging the well is the drilling of two relief wells, which are scheduled to be completed in August.
Havoc from oil spill continues
Due to the oil spill within the Gulf of Mexico 2010, one-third of the federal waters off the gulf have been closed to fishing, and also the spill is killing and injuring birds and marine animals. Admiral Allen suggests shoreline cleanup will take years. The Washington Post reports that floating booms deployed on the water are of limited use in preventing oil from reaching the shore. Allen said shoreline cleanup will last for years. To help with the cleanup, BP has spent more than $1 billion. The company claims that it has spent another $48.1 million on about 18,000 claims from fishermen, businesses and others who were harmed by the spill and is working through 17,000 more claims.
More data on this topic
Reuters
reuters.com/article/idUSTRE65634V20100607
Yahoo via Associated Press
news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_gulf_oil_spill
Yahoo via New York Times
news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_gulf_oil_spill
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