Gulf of Mexico oil spillDOE puts raw oil spill data on new Web page

Published 10 June 2010

A new Department of Energy Web page provides numbers on how much oil is being recovered, and schematics of the technology involved in trying the cap the well and the Gulf clean-up

There is little reliable information about how much oil is leaking in the Gulf or how well the “top hat” that was designed to capture some of it is working (or whether it is making things worse).

Some numbers have been trickling in, and now Energy Secretary Steven Chu is making the data publicly available at a new Web page. The data includes the amount of oil and gas and methanol recovered from an insertion tube last month and now from the top hat system. It also includes drawings of the ruptured well and the technology being used to capture some of the leak. Kevin Bullis writes that the Department of Energy says more data is on the way.

The information is being made available so that outside experts can analyze it. “We want to make sure that independent scientists, engineers and other experts have every opportunity to review this information and make their own conclusions,” Chu said, according to a press release.