Team’s findings on amount gushing out of broken BP wellhead could be released Thursday

New estimate of oil spill flow rate expected soon

HOUSTON — The team studying how much oil is gushing out of the leak at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico may present new findings as early as Thursday.

University of Washington engineering professor Alberto Aliseda said Wednesday that a conference call is scheduled among team members Thursday to discuss their figures.

He says the data could be released after the call or on Friday.

The team consists of researchers and government officials. It was assembled by the Coast Guard and is run by the director of the U.S. Geological Survey.

The spill came after a rig explosion April 20 and has become the biggest in U.S. history. Yet no one knows exactly how much oil is flowing out of the broken wellhead.