Technical Flow Rate Group Reports

The Technical Flow Rate Group announced their latest findings at a press conference held late this afternoon. After more than fifty days of dueling estimates, we now have a number of scientific estimates, none of which agree with each other.

After a preliminary report which stated:

Three independent methods considered by the FRTG place the minimum oil flow rate at greater than 12,000 barrels per day. Two of the methods determine that the flow rate could be as high as 20,000 barrels per day. The team using video to analyze the plume believes that the flow rate could be at least 12,000 to 25,000 barrels per day. Therefore, the area of overlap of all three methods ranges between 12,000 to 19,000 barrels per day.

The 'Plume Modeling Team' delivered a revised flow estimate of between 20,000 to 40,000 bbls per day, but this was calculated before the kinked riser was removed to facilitate the LMRP cap procedure.

The 'Mass Balance Team' now estimates a rate of 12,600 to 21,500 bbls per day.

The 'WHOI Flow Rate Measurement Group' estimates a rate of 0.12 m^3/s to 0.23 m^3/s ( 65,000 to 125,000 bbls per day )