New leak volume report

I believe if the pressure on the pipe is known flow rate can be calculated.

well if that is accurate:

50,000 barrels X 42 gal/barrel = 2.1 million gallons leaked per day

times roughly 20 days since the leak began = 42 MILLION GALLONS LEAKED so far

HOLY shite

quote:

---

According to a professor looking at the flow from the pipe.

---

This may sound incredibly stupid...but at this point how much is actually leaking is moot. Stopping it is the only important issue. Whether it has been leaking 5000 bpd, or 50,000 bpd, we are already seeing the impact. It seems like assigning it a definitive number is just a huge waste of time. It is too much "fricking" oil...thats how much is leaking....(also skytruth has been asserting this number since day 2)....Now, who has the scoop on what went wrong with the top hat?

quote:

---

but NPR is not going to be my source if I am looking for facts

---

So who would you believe, exactly?

quote:

---

This may sound incredibly stupid...but at this point how much is actually leaking is moot. Stopping it is the only important issue. Whether it has been leaking 5000 bpd, or 50,000 bpd, we are already seeing the impact. It seems like assigning it a definitive number is just a huge waste of time.

---

actually it could be very important if they want to attempt a fix by physically plugging the pipe... if it's 50,000 bbl/day I'd assume that the pressure involved with a plug would greatly alter their gameplan.

quote:

---

I really don't know what to believe, but NPR is not going to be my source if I am looking for facts.

---

I would like to know whose stats you would trust as well. NPR can be liberal as frick, but they aren't exactly known for making things up.

i don't believe NPR is making anything up; however, i heard the report this evening as well. it sounded to me like they had an academic view the tape and make an estimate -- so what exactly was this expert's qualifications? what school does he teach at? what department does he teach in? no specifics were offered.

this event involves a subject that i know a great deal about, and i have found most of the media reporting simplistic and slanted against the industry in general. not explicity by misstating facts, but more often by trying to relay a complex concept in simplistic terms, and phrased in such a way as to say "well, can you believe this stupidity! how can we allow such a thing?"

all i'm trying to say is that while most of the world thinks the oilfield is "just a bunch of idiots poking a hole in the ground and praying for goo" (mr. burns quote), this is actually an unbelievably complex operation and there's almost nothing simple about it. to paint it as such is a disservice to both the industry and the general public.

quote:

---

so what exactly was this expert's qualifications? what school does he teach at? what department does he teach in? no specifics were offered.

---

"The analysis was conducted by Steve Wereley, an associate professor at Purdue University, using a technique called particle image velocimetry. Harris tells Michele Norris that the method is accurate to a degree of plus or minus 20 percent. That means the flow could range between 56,000 barrels a day and 84,000 barrels a day.

Another analysis by Eugene Chiang, a professor of astrophysics at the University of California, Berkeley, calculated the rate of flow to be between 20,000 barrels a day and 100,000 barrels a day."

LINK