BP LMRP Cap Now Gulping Over 14,000 bpd of Spill

NOLA

Speaking at a Washington briefing, Adm. Thad Allen of the Coast Guard said that more than 14,800 barrels of oil have been kept out of Gulf waters in the last 24 hours. Allen told reporters the amount of oil kept from spilling into the Gulf "has climbed steadily" from the first day the containment cap was installed. _al.com

Meanwhile, the concentration of oil in undersea plumes was found to be quite low.

The government says water tests have confirmed underwater oil plumes from the BP oil spill, but that concentrations are "very low."

NOAA Administrator Jane Lubchenco said today that the tests conducted at three sites by a University of South Florida research vessel confirmed oil as far as 3,300 feet below the surface 42 miles northeast of the well site. Oil also was found in a sub-surface sample 142 miles southeast of the spill, but further tests showed that oil is "not consistent" with oil from the spill.

Lubchenco said the water analysis "indicate there is definitely oil sub surface. It's in very low concentrations" of less than 0.5 parts per million. Additional samples from another research vessel are being tested, she said. _al.com

The public continues to suggest to BP new approaches to solving the oil spill problem, to the tune of tens of thousands of suggestions.

BP PLC, operator of the runaway Macondo well, reports it received some 40,000 ideas on the evolving situation since the Apr. 20 deepwater blowout.

“A lot of people have had some really good ideas,” Kent Wells, BP senior vice-president of exploration and production, said during a June 7 technical briefing in Houston. Some ideas “were bang on” he said, adding they suggested similar strategies as the ones already being developed by industry experts and federal scientists.

Some ideas were good but would not work in 5,000 ft of water, he said, adding other ideas were very creative and held potential, but they would have taken too long. Although none of the ideas from the public yet have proven to be game changers providing instant answers, BP found them to be useful.

“They have helped us rethink things, Wells said. “They’ve helped us tweak things.” _Oil&Gas

The situation is more complex and potentially hazardous than most outside observors understand. Attempting to implement many of the suggestions could easily turn a 20,000 barrel a day spill into a 100,000 barrel a day spill, or greater. The magnitude of the spill has already increased by at least 20%, from previous attempts to solve the problem, including cutting off the bent riser which had been restricting flow. Time will tell whether BP will be able to capture enough extra oil with the LMRP cap to make up for the inadvertent increase in spillage.

7June Online BP conference call technical update with Kent Wells I will add a link to the slides when I find it. Update: This PDF provides the visuals for Kent Wells' conference call update