Tony Hayward on Containment Cap

BP President Tony Hayward said, according to MSNBC:

"The containment cap is producing around 10,000 barrels of oil a day to the surface which is being processed on the surface," he said.

Asked what proportion that represented of the total oil leaking, Hayward said: "At the moment it's difficult to say but we would expect it to be the majority, probably the vast majority of the oil."

Note Hayward's imprecise speech. How much did he round up to reach 10,000? Tony didn't say how many barrels a day are collected in tanker holds.

The lower range of the spill is 10,000 to 19,000 barrels a day, while the upper bound is 60,000 - ?. Given these numbers, this is the range of BP's collection efforts.

10,000 - 100%
19,000 - roughly 50%
60,000 - 17%
?

Recall when BP collected 5,000 barrels a day from the siphon, i.e. 100% of the official government/BP spill estimate? The government, BP's partner in misinformation, is yet to issue an upper bound estimate.

How many leaks remain? The focus is the riser above the blowout preventer, but questions remain about the integrity of the wellhead. Oil expert Matt Simmons said fissures on the sea floor are spewing oil. Neither BP or the government spoke to Mr. Simmons assessment.

Until relief wells plug the leak from below, this is vacuuming job on water, a sopping job on land. President Obama is yet to answer the supertanker question, posed in his press conference.

Alabama's Governor and Thad Allen agreed:

to a new plan that would significantly increase protection on the state's coast with larger booms, beachfront barriers, skimmers and a new system to protect Perdido Bay near the Florida line.

It took 44 days for Dutch skimmers to be approved.

Day 47 finds the government and BP continuing their risk management campaigns. At least Tony Hayward's language reinforces this practice.