As much as 40,000 to 60,000 barrels of oil a day could spill into the Gulf of Mexico from a leaking BP PLC (BP, BP.LN) deepwater well under the worst cases envisioned by company officials, a lawmaker said on Tuesday.
As much as 40,000 to 60,000 barrels of oil a day could spill into the
Gulf
of Mexico
from a leaking BP PLC (BP, BP.LN) deepwater well
under the worst cases envisioned by company officials, a lawmaker said on
Tuesday.
Rep. Ed Markey (D, Mass.) said the worst-case estimate was provided by
officials in a briefing on Tuesday. Officials from BP, Halliburton Corp. (HAL)
and Transocean Ltd. (RIG) met with members of the House Energy and Commerce
Committee.
Officials are struggling to get a handle on the scope of the problem. The
official estimate remains that the well is leaking 5,000 barrels a day,
according to Markey. The most likely worst-case scenario would involve a spill
of 40,000 barrels a day, though the leak could reach as high as 60,000 barrels
a day.
BP didn't mention these gloomier worst-case numbers in discussions with Sen.
Bill Nelson (D, Fla.), according to his spokesman, Dan McLaughlin. Instead, BP
Chief Executive Tony Hayward and others "expressed confidence" that a
plan to lower a huge dome over the main leak by this weekend could succeed in
capturing a large amount of the oil.
"They seemed confident," he said, "but they were also cautious
in their assessment, as this method has not been tested at these depths."
On Sunday, U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said on CNN that the spill may
be worse than the 1989 Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM)
Valdez
spill
in
Alaska
.
Homeland Security chief Janet Napolitano said in a separate Sunday appearance
on ABC that the current spill rate could be in the "tens of
thousands" of barrels per day, while Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen said
separately on Sunday that the worst fear is that the well could leak at 100,000
barrels a day.
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