How much oil is leaking into the gulf?

BP PLC, facing rising public anger in the U.S., began Monday its third attempt to contain oil from its leaking well in the Gulf of Mexico, but the risky operation could make the spill worse in the short term.

The latest procedure involves slicing off the leaking pipe at the top of the well's broken blow-out preventer, placing a cap over the leak and channeling the captured oil and gas to a vessel on the surface. BP officials said the procedure could take from four days to a week, and it already has two different caps on the ocean floor, ready to be deployed.

BP didn't try this approach sooner because it feared the kinks in the pipe still attached to the blowout preventer were acting as a choke on the leak. Removing the pipe could lead to a more violent surge of oil.
Wall Street Journal, June 1

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BP: epic fail

I don't doubt that "BP PLC is facing rising public anger" because it seems they value public relations more than actually cleaning up their messes.

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2010/5/11/865387/-Fishgrease:-DKos-Boo...

This is a report by an oil-industry insider who comments on what appears to be negligence on BP's part in the cleanup efforts. If you'd rather watch it on video, skip ahead about two minutes at this link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vx8kMXufu3w&feature=player_embedded

NSFW! Lots of swearing. I guess they don't call 'em roughnecks for nothing!

that post shows a few bad booms

Submitted by on

But I've seen hundreds of other shots with correct booming. Not that I don't believe BP was negligent in clean up, that's pretty clear at least initially, but how widespread is this incompetent booming? NOLA press is pretty good at coverage but this guy's post, it's so loaded with swear words I couldn't figure out what he's really saying on what should be done for competent booming beyond firing someone.

dupe post, sorry

Submitted by on

See Much More ado about oil, more ado about oil and much ado about oil, see the new articles list at the top.

The spill widget with details is in these posts.

One thing about violent surge is the diameters of the pipes, velocity and the leaks on the other ones. If the same amount of oil is already leaking and not curtailing it at all on the current situation, if the diameter of the new pipe is there it might reduce the velocity or rate of flow by having a wider surface area, which would make it easier to cap.

Or it might be as others are worried about.