BP oil spill: Obama looks for 'ass to kick'
Updated on 08 June 2010
As President Obama looks for "ass to kick" over the BP spill, Channel 4 News science correspondent Tom Clarke examines whether more oil is now leaking into the Gulf of Mexico.
The US president, who admitted he has not yet spoken to BP chief executive Tony Hayward, hit back at criticism over the government's response to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
Almost 70 per cent of Americans have branded the US government's handling of the spill below par, according to a Washington Post/ABC poll based on 1,000 people.
However, Obama told NBC Today: "This is not theatre...I don't always have the time to perform for the cable shows," he said, adding that 24-hour news reports and BP's live camera of the oil spill have exacerbated public outrage.
"I don't sit around just talking to experts because this is a college seminar. We talk to these folks because they potentially have the best answer so I know whose ass to kick," he said.
BP faces Obama's fury
Obama said he has not spoken to Hayward directly, adding: "In my experience the chief executive of BP is going to say all the right things - I'm not interested in words, I'm interested in action."
BP, which is under criminal investigation by the US government, faces 'constant, vigilant attention' from the administration, Obama said.
Obama said initial reports of the Deepwater Horizon explosion have found "human error and corner cutting on safety".
The rig was licensed to BP, while US company Transocean was drilling wells for BP's project at a depth of 5,000 feet.
More on the oil spill from Channel 4 News:
- Timeline of the oil spill
- Who knows who: BP boss Tony Hayward
- Oil spill: BP costs spiral to $37m a day
- Oil spill: BP captures half of leaking oil with 'cap'
- BP spill: Is Obama's fury justified?
- BP spill is bigger than Exxon Valdez
- BP spill: is the battle already lost?
Meanwhile, Obama indicated if he was Hayward's boss, he would sack him.
Hayward, branded the 'most hated and clueless man in the US' by the New York Daily News, has refused to stand down. He told reporters at the weekend that it would be "ridiculous to resign at this point".
After a series of gaffes from Mr Hayward, including his declaration "I want my life back", Obama said: "He wouldn't be working for me after any of those statements."
Clean-up: 'BP can afford it'
BP, which successfully fitted a cap on the leaking pipe on Friday, said today it has collected about 42,500 barrels of oil in the last four days.
The group collected 14,800 barrels (621,600 gallons) of oil yesterday, the highest number since installing the cap - almost the equivalent number of gallons in an olympic sized swimming pool.
There are 42 gallons in each barrel of oil, and 660,000 gallons of water in an olympic pool.
The oil giant, which has lost a third of its market value since the Deepwater Horizon rig explosion, hopes to collect 20,000 barrels (840,000 gallons) a day with the new cap.
The US government, which will charge BP for clean-up costs according to how much oil is spilt, estimates that between 504,000 and 798,000 gallons of oil are leaking into the Gulf every day - up to 19 barrels.
Oil spill: exactly how much?
The cap BP has at last secured over their leaking wellhead is on one hand, good news for the company. At last they are now catching some of the leaking oil - around 15,000 barrels yesterday - a sign that they quite literally are getting on top of the disaster. But could the cap actually mean far more oil is now leaking into the gulf than before? Channel 4 News science correspondent Tom Clarke reports.
That was the worry raised by one of the scientists contracted by the US government to establish how much oil is has actually been leaking into the gulf since April 20th. And it's a billion dollar question, because the amount of oil spilled will likely be directly proportional to the amount BP gets fined.
BP admitted that cutting the top off the leaking well to put the cap in place would increase the flow of oil – by an estimated 20 per cent - but in an interview yesterday with the New York Times Dr Ira Leifer part of the Flow Rate Technical Group expressed his concerns the flow could be much greater.
"The well pipe clearly is fluxing way more than it did before," said Dr. Leifer, an ocean scientist at the University of California, Santa Barbara. "By way more, I don’t mean 20 percent, I mean multiple factors."
The current official estimate by the flow rate group of the entire leak is 12,000 to 19,000 barrels a day.
However if that is an accurate reflection of the total flow the cap (which remember is catching 15,000 barrels a day) is siphoning off nearly all of it. Given the pictures coming from the seabed scientists like Leifer doubt this is the case arguing the spill could now be as bad as BP's original "worst-case-scenario" estimate: 100 thousand barrels per day.
Indeed because BP have limited capacity to store oil at the surface three of the four vents on the wellhead cap are having to be left open to prevent too much oil getting to the surface.
A clear indication that far more oil than originally estimated could be spewing from the rocks beneath. Members of the Flow Rate Group say they can't come up with a more accurate measure of the flow until BP provides them with the high resolution video of the oil flow from the wellhead.
The team are due to update their estimate this week or maybe next when they get better information from the company. Watch this space.
BP said its "operations (are) stable" on Twitter, giving way to hope that the spill may finally be under control, and that it may have collected the same amount in the latter half of the day - which in total would represent 35 per cent more oil than it collected on Sunday.
BP said yesterday that costs of the clean-up have now soared to $1.25bn (£870m) - a rise of $260m (£180m) in the last week alone, or $37m (£25m) a day.
Obama has ramped up the pressure on BP to streamline its claims process for Gulf coast residents, adding today: "BP can afford it".
To date, around 37,000 claims have been submitted, with more than 18,000 payments made - costing BP $48m.
UK reaction: Tougher regulation for North Sea
The Deepwater Horizon rig in the Gulf of Mexico was drilling in a water depth of 5000ft. While the UK has some similar deepwater wells, there are currently no deepwater rigs operating in UK waters - with drilling activities no deeper than 600ft, according to the Health and Safety Executive.
The UK's Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) said today that the Gulf spill has prompted it to tighten up its inspections of North Sea drilling rigs and monitoring of offshore practices.
The DECC plans to double the number of inspections of mobile rigs - of which there are 24 currently based in UK waters. There will now be 16 rig inspections a year - up from eight. The DECC has also increased the number of inspectors from six to nine.
Lewis Macdonald, Labour MSP for Aberdeen Central, backed the DECC's move for tougher regulation. "It is important that the wider public do not draw the wrong conclusions (from the Gulf spill) and provide obstacles to future oil exploration," Mr Macdonald told Channel 4 News.
UK regulators are taking lessons learnt in the Gulf seriously, he said, as he criticised Obama for laying the blame at BP's feet.
"Obama is entitled to ask questions but he should also ask Transocean - the US company doing the drilling work (on the Deepwater rig). It is unfortunate that it has all been pinned on BP," he added.
Meanwhile, Energy Secretary Chris Huhne said the events in the Gulf will transform the regulation of deep water drilling worldwide.
"The Deepwater Horizon gives us pause for thought and, given the beginning of exploration in deeper waters West of Shetland, there is every reason to increase our vigilance," he said.
While oil groups have been operating in the North Sea oil province for around 40 years, relatively new projects West of Shetland are drilling beyond the Continential Shelf into the deeper waters of the open Atlantic Ocean.
Mr Huhne said: "I've had an urgent review undertaken to reassure myself and the public that all appropriate measures are in place around our shores."
Meanwhile Oil and Gas UK, the industry trade association, has established a new group of regulators and oil companies to examine the UK's strengths and weaknesses in responding to an incident on the scale of the Gulf disaster.
The Oil Spill Prevention and Response Advisory Group (OSPRAG), led by Fairfield Energy chief executive Mark McAllister, met for the first time on Wednesday.
Oil spill: will BP's ecological intentions fade?
With growing confidence that the Gulf of Mexico oil spill may be finally under control, marine pollution expert Dr Simon Boxall tells Channel 4 News that BP's intentions to return the environment to its original state may fade in time.
At long last the oil spilling from the Deepwater Horizon well in the Gulf of Mexico looks like being under control, and the focus of the world is now on BP's promise that the environment will be returned to its original state.
The rate that oil is being siphoned off directly from the well indicates that the estimates of 5,000 barrels per day many have assumed are an underestimate, and that 15,000 to 20,000 may be a closer figure. This equates to about 2,500 tonnes per day, which puts the spill just into the top 20 worldwide.
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