BP disputes gulf oil-flow estimates

NEW ORLEANS, May 21 (UPI) -- British oil producer BP says outside claims that oil flow from the exploded Gulf of Mexico oil rig is 10 times that cited by the company are not accurate.

BP says the alleged high rate of flow based on the width of the 19.5-inch pipe are faulty because there was a narrowing within the pipe of about 30 percent in the accident, and the flow has been cut down an additional 10 percent, it says, from a broken drill pipe inside the riser. Additionally, about half of the flow from the pipe is natural gas, they say, and not oil, MarketWatch reported Friday.

Adding to the confusion, BP backed off on its statement the company's cleanup effort was sucking up about 5,000 barrels per day, the Houston Chronicle reported.

"We never said it produced 5,000 barrels a day," Doug Suttles, BP's chief operation officer, said in a conference call Friday afternoon. "I am sorry if you heard it that way."

Nationwide media based the 5,000 figure on interviews with BP officials who allegedly did not dispute it until Friday, the Chronicle said.

Suttles said the figure was 2,000 barrels a day.

A Flow Rate Technical Team has been set up by the U.S. government to determine a more precise estimate of the flow, BP said, involving the Coast Guard, Energy Department, Minerals Management Service, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

BP is imposing a mandate on itself to produce a report by close of business Saturday, MarketWatch said.

The White House Thursday called on BP to keep it updated on the spill, which occurred after the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded April 20, killing 11 people before sinking in the gulf.

Oil invading populated areas along Louisiana's coast Friday prompted officials to call on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to approve an emergency dredging measure.

Jefferson Parish Councilman Tom Capella said "nasty, thick oil" reached inhabited areas from Port Fourchon to the western edge of Grand Isle Thursday, The (New Orleans) Times-Picayune reported.

The oil prompted Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and local officials to urge the Corps of Engineers to approve a $350 million plan to use dredged sand to rebuild barrier islands as a natural defense against the oil.

"It's much easier to clean oil out of sand than out of a marsh," Jefferson Parish Councilman Chris Roberts said.

Hardest hit was Elmer's Island, a wildlife refuge popular for bird watching and beach camping, where hundreds of oil-coated hermit crabs were either dead or dying along the oil-blackened shore, The Times-Picayune reported.

Jindal asked the U.S. Commerce Department to declare a commercial fisheries failure, which would free up federal aid for fishing operators and fishing-dependent communities.

"This oil has already caused a severe disruption in our fishing industry and the total shutdown of fisheries in some coastal communities," Jindal said.