re: New leak volume report

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I believe they take the weight/volume/density of the crude, the size of the pipe, the pressure of the resivior and the depth of 5000' and put into a formula and calculate the bbls.

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yes, i'm sure that's part of it. this information is used to perform a nodal analysis of the flow and predict the anticipated flowrate. however, this is not conventional flow (up the ID of a single string of pipe). instead, what BP suspects is that that the well is flowing up the backside of the casing - so it is annular flow.

additionally, when nodal analysis is performed there's typically measured flow data to compare it to in order to validate the model. they don't have this here.

also, we're talking about unrestricted flow at the wellhead - wide arse open. that is an ultra-extreme case, and would it would be very difficult for the nodal software to handle it.

think of it this way -- watch the water flow out of a firehose and make a guess as to what the flowrate is.