U.S. May Widen Range in BP Oil-Spill Estimate, Scientist Says
U.S. May Widen Range in BP Oil-Spill Estimate
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill National Incident Commander Thad Allen answers reporters' questions during a news conference in Washington.
BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill National Incident Commander Thad Allen answers reporters' questions during a news conference in Washington. Photographer: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
The Obama administration, which plans within a few days to announce a new determination for how much oil BP Plc’s leaking Gulf of Mexico well was spewing, may widen the range of its estimate because of difficulties assessing the flow, said a scientist involved in the research.
“There’s just a lot of uncertainty because there was no monitoring system put in place,” said Ira Leifer, a University of California, Santa Barbara researcher and a member of panel of scientists consulting the U.S. Energy Department on the spill.
At stake are numbers that could be used to help determine London-based BP’s penalty for the largest U.S. oil spill on record. Federal law requires that companies that spill oil into the ocean pay a per-barrel fine. The amount per barrel depends on whether the spill involves gross negligence.
BP’s Macondo well, which began leaking after an April 20 drilling-rig explosion that killed 11 workers, was releasing 35,000 to 60,000 barrels of oil a day into the Gulf, the government said on June 15. National Incident Commander Thad Allen said today that a new flow estimate -- together with data on how much oil evaporated and how much has been dispersed -- will be released within a few days.
Leifer, speaking today in a telephone interview, said his estimate was toward the high end of the previously announced range. He declined to disclose the figure, citing government policy. The administration asked Leifer and other scientists in the Flow Rate Technical Group to submit new estimates after reviewing research from all members of the panel.
BP sealed Macondo from above the well on July 15, stopping the flow of oil. The company is drilling a relief well to permanently plug Macondo.
To contact the reporter on this story: Katarzyna Klimasinska in Houston at kklimasinska@bloomberg.net.
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