Would You Believe...

Via McClatchy, and based on the video clip I posted yesterday:

Steve Wereley, an associate professor of mechanical engineering at Purdue University, earlier this month made simple calculations from a video BP released on May 12 and came up with a flow of 70,000 barrels a day, NPR reported last week. Werely on Wednesday told a House Commerce and Energy Committee subcommittee that his calculations of two leaks that show up on videos BP released on Tuesday showed 70,000 barrels from one leak and 25,000 from the other.

He said the calculation could be off by 20 percent — meaning the spill could range from between 76,000 to 104,000 barrels a day. But Wereley said he would need to see videos that were not compressed and showed the flow over a longer period so that it would be possible to get a better calculation of the mix of oil and gas from the wellhead.

Missed it by that much. I would reiterate, this is after installing the diversionary pipe that BP is so proudly publicizing today. While they were saying Sunday and Monday that it would capture as much as 1000 barrels per day, they now claim that they're recovering 2000 barrels per day. So it worked. Now about that other 93,000 barrels per day, BP?

Followup: I just noticed that the error range noted above is correct on the lower end, but the upper end should be 114K, not 104.