by Jed Lewison
In a briefing earlier this morning on the federal response to the disaster in the Gulf, Adm. Thad Allen said he expected BP to increase it's capacity to capture oil from its leaking well to 28,000 barrels per day next week and 38,000 barrels per day by the end of the month. Allen said he expected a new system to have the capacity to capture between 40,000 and 50,000 barrels per day by mid-July. Allen said BP currently has one vessel, the Discoverer Enterprise, that can handle up to 18,000 barrels per day. Next week, a new vessel, the Q4000, would add a capacity of 10,000 barrels, including the ability to flare off both gas and oil from the well. By the end of the month, another vessel like the Q4000 will arrive giving BP the capacity to capture 38,000 barrels per day. In addition to those incremental improvements to the current system, Allen said BP has proposed establishing a new capture system, including a replacement for the containment cap and new surface vessels. The new system would have a capacity of between 40,000 and 50,000 barrels per day, and unlike the current setup, would allow surface ships to more easily connect and disconnect from the containment cap in the event of a bad weather, such as a tropical storm or hurricane. Allen said the new system would be in place by mid-July. Although it would replace the current system, the current system would remain in place until the new system was ready to be hooked up. Allen said that he expected the plan to be finalized later today after Energy Secretary Stephen Chu completes his review of them. Whether or not these plans would create enough capacity to capture all the oil remains an open question. Yesterday, the government released new estimates of what the flow rate was through June 3, when BP sheared off bent portions of the riser to make room for the containment cap. The new estimate put the range at between 20,000 to 40,000 for that time period, but it's important to remember that the flow rate likely increased after the riser pipe was cut, perhaps significantly.
continued at Daily Kos....
