BP Oil-Recovery Rate Flat Friday Morning

9th Jul 2010 00:12

DOW JONES NEWSWIRES BP PLC (BP, BP.LN) said the rate of recovered oil from its broken well in the Gulf of Mexico was virtually flat Friday morning with the previous half-day rate. The oil-capture numbers quickly follow the oil giant's announcement it would start work on a new containment cap Saturday. By starting that operation before a third collection vessel has been hooked up, the company's oil-recovery rate will likely drop significantly in the interim. BP anticipated the third vessel, known as the Helix Producer, should start up by Sunday, while work on the new containment cap could take between five to nine day. BP said it retrieved 12,070 barrels of oil during the first 12 hours of Friday, 7,930 barrels of which was collected and 4,140 barrels of which was flared. That total is down a slim 0.2% from BP's previous half-day rate. A team of scientists has estimated that about 35,000 to 60,000 barrels are flowing from the broken well every day. When the Helix Producer is operational, the site's capacity to capture oil should roughly double to about 53,000 barrels a day. The U.K. oil giant has been under intense pressure to successfully contain the spewing oil, which began in April after a deepwater drilling rig exploded and sank. BP's American depositary shares were up 1.3% at $34.49 after hours. The stock has lost 43% of its value in the weeks since the rig sank through Friday's close. -By Joan E. Solsman, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2291; [email protected] (END) Dow Jones Newswires July 09, 2010 19:12 ET (23:12 GMT)