Oil Spill Update: Skimming Efforts Falling Short

Skimming efforts haven’t proven nearly as effective at removing oil from the Gulf of Mexico as BP told federal regulators just before the Deepwater Horizon exploded, the Washington Post reports:

In a March report that was not questioned by federal officials, BP said it had the capacity to skim and remove 491,721 barrels of oil each day in the event of a major spill.

As of Monday, with about 2 million barrels released into the gulf, the skimming operations that were touted as key to preventing environmental disaster have averaged less than 900 barrels a day.

Skimming has captured only 67,143 barrels, and BP has relied on burning to remove 238,095 barrels. Most of the oil recovered — about 632,410 barrels — was captured directly at the site of the leaking well.

The story blames “slow response of emergency workers, inadequate supplies and equipment, untrained cleanup crews and inclement weather” for the low skimming rates.

Weather has also impeded the efforts of a so-called “super skimmer,” a large tanker sent to help with the cleanup effort. At 1,100 feet long, the converted tanker can handle 21 million gallons of contaminated water each day.

Meanwhile, the company continues siphoning oil out of the ruptured well, capturing some and burning off the rest. We’re continuing to update our oil spill tracker with the figures.

By our calculations, BP has collected or flared approximately 655,532 barrels (27.5 million gallons) of oil. Between 2 million and 4 million barrels of oil has entered the Gulf, based on estimates from the government’s Flow Rate Technical Team.

A third containment system, the Helix Producer, was delayed by Hurricane Alex. BP says it will be online by the end of this week.

Most hopes rest on two relief wells now nearing the well deep below the ocean floor. The first is within about 20 horizontal feet of the Deepwater Horizon well and set to intercept it sometime in August.