New Estimate of BP Oil Spill Volume: 12,000 - 15,000 barrels per day

USGS Director Dr. Marcia McNutt today announced that the National Incident Command’s Flow Rate Technical Group (FRTG) has developed an independent, preliminary estimate of the amount of oil flowing from BP’s leaking oil well.

Based on three separate methodologies, outlined below, the independent analysis of the Flow Rate Technical Group has determined that the overall best initial estimate for the lower and upper boundaries of flow rates of oil is in the range of 12,000 and 19,000 barrels per day.

Transcript:

Three methodologies that I have cited today suggest that a lower bound on the flow is 12,000 barrels per day and two methodologies used by the Flow Rate Technical Group suggest that the flow rate could be as much as 19,000 barrels per day. I want to emphasize that these numbers are preliminary based on new methodologies being employed to understand a highly dynamic and complex situation. As we get more data and improve our scientific modeling in the coming days and weeks ahead, we will continue to refine and update our estimates.