BP estimates oil spill up to 100,00 bpd in document

BURAS, Louisiana (Reuters) - BP Plc estimates that a worst-case scenario rate for the Gulf of Mexico oil spill could be about 100,000 barrels of oil per day, according to an internal company document released on Sunday by a senior congressional Democrat.

Its estimate of up to 100,000 barrels (4.2 million gallons/15.9 million liters) of oil per day is far higher than the current U.S. government estimate of up to 60,000 barrels (2.5 million gallons/9.5 million liters) gushing daily from the ruptured offshore well into the sea.

BP spokesman Toby Odone said the document appeared to be genuine but the estimate applied only to a situation in which a key piece of equipment called a blowout preventer is removed.

"Since there are no plans to remove the blowout preventer, the number is irrelevant," BP spokesman Toby Odone said.

The British energy giant, still struggling to stop a leak that began on April 20 and is causing an economic and environmental disaster along the Gulf Coast, is planning to raise $50 billion to cover the cost of the largest oil spill in U.S. history, London's Sunday Times reported.

The spill has dealt a body blow to fishing and tourism industries across four Gulf states, soiling coastlines that are a playground for tourists and key habitat for wildlife.

The amount of oil spurting from the well has been a matter of considerable controversy in the two months since the spill erupted, with critics saying BP has understated the flow rate.

The internal BP document, which is undated, was released by U.S. Representative Ed Markey, chairman of the energy and environment subcommittee of the House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee.

The document appears to estimate the highest potential flow of oil if key components of the well fail. It does not indicate that the 100,000 barrels per day is BP's estimate of the actual amount flowing from the ruptured Gulf of Mexico well.

"Right from the beginning, BP was either lying or grossly incompetent," Markey told NBC's "Meet the Press," on Sunday, the 62nd day of the spill.

"First they said it was only 1,000 barrels, then they said it was 5,000 barrels."

But BP's Odone said, "I don't think there's been any underestimating. We've always said we would deal with whatever volume of oil was being spilled and that's exactly what we're doing."

The document was posted on the Internet at http://globalwarming.house.gov/files/WEB/flowrateBP.pdf

RAISING MONEY

London's Sunday Times, without citing sources, said BP planned to raise $10 billion from a bond sale, $20 billion from banks and $20 billion from asset sales over the next two years to cover the cost of the spill.

BP said last week it would suspend dividend payments to its shareholders and increase the pace of asset sales to $10 billion this year to offset liabilities from the spill, which began after an explosion on an offshore rig that killed 11 workers.

BP said on Sunday that 21,040 barrels of oil (883,680 gallons/3.34 million liters) leaking from the well was collected by its siphoning systems on Saturday. One of the two systems was restarted on Saturday after a 10-hour shutdown to fix a problem with fire-prevention equipment, BP said.

A large amount of oil continues to leak into the sea from the ruptured well a mile below the ocean surface despite the BP containment systems.

Kenneth Feinberg, the independent administrator appointed to run the $20 billion fund set up by BP to compensate victims for financial losses due to the oil spill, said on Sunday he would make sure that "every eligible, legitimate claim is paid and paid quickly.

Appearing on NBC's "Meet the Press" program, Feinberg also rejected the complaint of a senior Republican congressman, Joe Barton, who said last week that the fund set up by BP under pressure from President Barack Obama amounted to a government "shakedown" of the company.

"I don't think it helps to politicize this program," Feinberg said.

Feinberg, an arbitration lawyer, dispensed hundreds of millions of dollars to victims of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, and was named last week to administer the BP compensation fund.

"This a voluntary program. No one is compelled to come into this fund," Feinberg said.

But Feinberg added, "I would urge everyone to come into this fund," explaining the program would seek to provide relief within weeks while going to court could take years.

Feinberg said victims do not need a lawyer to file a claim with the fund and would retain the right to later sue the company. "These emergency payments are without conditions," Feinberg said, adding he aims to "treat everybody fairly."

'NOTHING IS SATISFACTORY'

The spill threatens the coastal economies of four states including hard-hit Louisiana. It has also severely dented BP's finances and reputation and eroded Obama's popularity.

Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour, also appearing on "Meet the Press," said he was anxious to see the well capped, the spill cleaned up and BP cover the entire tab.

"Nothing is satisfactory until the well is shut in. When the well is capped, then clean up the oil, and then BP pays the bills. Until all of that is done, nothing is satisfactory," Barbour, a Republican, said.

Barbour said he thought the U.S. federal government "has done more right than wrong" in its handling of the disaster.

After falling 6.8 percent last week, BP's shares are down 26 percent so far in June, their worst month since the October 1987 market crash.

At Panama City, a popular Florida tourist destination, beaches remained open after clean-up crews removed tar balls from shore, authorities said. Even so, the sight is a worry for a state with an annual tourism industry worth $60 billion.

"The vast majority (of tar balls) disappeared with the tide. Our beaches are open and clean," said Valerie Lovett, spokeswoman for Florida's Bay County.

(Additional reporting by Thomas Ferraro and Will Dunham in Washington, Bruce Nichols in Houston and Victoria Bryan in London; Writing by Tim Gaynor, editing by Will Dunham)