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Deadline set for BP to find new plan
[Iran Press TV Latest] British Petroleum has been given 48 hours to come up with new plans to properly address the oil spill, amid growing concerns that current plans are not enough. Picking up on the new estimates for the amount of crude entering the Gulf of Mexico, US Coast Guard Rear Admiral James Watson, the federal oil leak on-scene coordinator, told BP Chief Operating Officer Doug Suttles in a letter that BP must do more, AFP reported. The new estimate by the US authorities puts the amount of oil spewed from BP's ruptured well twice as much as previous estimations -- more than 40,000 barrels a day which equals to some 1.68 million gallons. "Because those estimates have now been revised and estimate a substantially higher flow of oil from the Macado 252 well, it is clear that additional capacity is urgently needed," said the letter dated June 11 and released Saturday. "I am concerned that your current plans do not provide for maximum mobilization of resources to provide the needed collection capacity consistent with revised flow estimates," Watson added. "BP must identify in the next 48 hours additional leak containment capacity that could be operationalized and expedited to avoid the continued discharge of oil." The US officials charge that the London-based energy giant has been downplaying the real amount of oil gushing into the sea. The original estimates by BP indicated that only 1,000 barrels per day was gushing into the Gulf. Though later the company stuck to an estimate of 5,000 barrels daily, which represented the amount of oil it could capture using its loosely-fitted containment cap, falling short of taking into account all the oil still gushing out. However, independent sources put the flow at a rate of 70,000 barrels per day. An explosion at the Deepwater Horizon offshore rig left 11 workers dead on April 20, causing the worst environmental crisis in the history of the United States. Posted by: Fred 2010-06-13 |
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