Some oil spill events from Thursday, June 10, 2010

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Some oil spill events from Thursday, June 10, 2010

A summary of events on Thursday, June 10, Day 51 of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill that began with the April 20 explosion and fire on the drilling rig Deepwater Horizon, owned by Transocean Ltd. and leased by BP PLC, which is in charge of cleanup and containment. The blast killed 11 workers. Since then, oil has been pouring into the Gulf from a blown-out undersea well.

OIL FLOW

Researchers studying the flow of oil from the blown-out well at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico said that as much as twice the amount of oil than previously thought may have been spewing into the sea. The spill — before June 3 when a riser was cut and then a cap put on it — was flowing at daily rate that could possibly have been as high as 2.1 million gallons, twice the highest number the federal government had been saying, according to U.S. Geological Survey Director Marcia McNutt, who is coordinating estimates.

DRILLING MORITORIUM

Louisiana politicians have been rushing to the defense of the oil-and-gas industry and pleading with Washington to bring back offshore drilling. Even though they are angry over the disaster, state officials warn that the Obama administration’s temporary ban on drilling in the Gulf has sent Louisiana’s most lucrative industry into a death spiral. They also worry that that the 6-month deep-water drilling moratorium comes at a time when the fishing industry also has been brought to a standstill.

COLLECTING OIL

BP plans to boost its ability to directly capture oil leaking from the well in the Gulf of Mexico by early next week. Kent Wells, BP’s senior vice president of exploration and production, said a semi-submersible drilling rig should be set up early next week to capture and burn about 420,000 gallons of oil a day. Once on board, the oil and gas collected from the well will be sent down a boom and burned at sea. A drill ship already at the scene can process a maximum of 756,000 gallons of oil daily that’s sucked up through a containment cap sitting on the well head.

DAMAGE CLAIMS

The Obama administration said BP has agreed to expedite the payment of claims to businesses and individuals whose livelihoods have been disrupted by the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. Tracy Wareing, of the National Incident Command office, said administration officials raised a “pressing concern” with BP executives during a meeting Wednesday about the time BP has been taking to provide relief payment. She said the company will change the way it processes such claims. Among other things, it will drop the current practice of waiting to make such payments until businesses have closed their books for each month.

WASHINGTON

President Barack Obama consoled relatives of the 11 workers killed in the Gulf oil spill disaster, acknowledging their “unimaginable grief” and personally assuring the families that he will stand with them. Congressional leaders, meanwhile, stepped up the pressure on BP to fully compensate economic victims of the spill.

OYSTERS

A 134-year-old New Orleans oyster house shucked its last batch of oysters on Thursday. The BP oil spill has forced closure of the oyster beds that are the main source for the family-owned P&J Oyster Co. in the French Quarter. Co-owner Al Sunseri said he’ll buy pre-shucked oysters from an Alabama supplier but he doesn’t expect that to last long. Then, he said, he’ll have to shut down indefinitely. Other Louisiana oyster companies said their supplies are dwindling, prices are rising and they aren’t sure how long they’ll be able to stay in business.