AlJazeeraEnglish — June 20, 2010 — A US congressman has accused BP of playing down its concerns about the volume of oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico.
Representative Ed Markey, the chairman of a subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, released an undated, internal BP document, which estimates a worst-case scenario oil flow of 100,000 barrels (15.9 million litres) of oil per day.
"Right from the beginning, BP was either lying or grossly incompetent," Markey told NBC's Meet the Press programme.
"First they said it was only 1,000 barrels, then they said it was 5,000 barrels."
The current upper limit of the US government's estimate is 60,000 barrels per day.
Toby Odone, a spokesman for the British-based energy giant, said the worst-case estimate applied only to a situation in which a key piece of equipment called a blowout preventer was removed.
"Since there are no plans to remove the blowout preventer, the number is irrelevant," he said.
Al Jazeera's Rosiland Jordan reports.
Sunday, June 20, 2010
BP accused of downplaying amount of gushing oil
Outrage as BP CEO Spotted at Yacht Race
June 20, 2010 (2:45)
BP CEO TOny Hayward is again the subject of intense criticism after the revelation he attended a yacht race 4,500 miles away from the Gulf of Mexico.
BP OIL spill update with Captain Kelly Sweeny and Economic update
Captain Kelly Sweeney is a Master Mariner, holding the highest Captain's license the Coast Guard issues to commercial mariners. He graduated from the California Maritime Academy in 1983 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Nautical Industrial Technology. Captain Sweeney has worked on oil tankers, container ships, oceanographic ships, high-speed passenger vessels, large oil spill response vessels, fish processing ships, ocean-going tugboats, a car carrier, and a crew boat. He continues to go to sea for a living.
In addition to his career as a mariner, Captain Sweeney is also an experienced professional writer. He is a columnist for the widely circulated magazine "Professional Mariner," and is the author of the book From The Bridge.
With his wife, Frances, Captain Sweeney also operates Maritime Headhunters, a job placement and maritime career counseling company - and encourages interested Coast to Coast AM listeners to contact him there."
