BP (NYSE:BP) Hazardous Spill Containment: Declaring Bankruptcy

BP (NYSE:BP) seems to be doing some good in their hazardous spill containment efforts, while there is much talk swirling around them declaring bankruptcy. They've brought in more ships that collect and store the oil that is being redirected to the surface. They are now collecting 15,000 barrels of the crude oil daily, that number is expected to increase to 20,000 barrels daily very soon.

There is also growing tension between the government and BP, according to a top executive at BP. All the while trying to keep up the morale of those working so hard to get control and contain the oil spill. Doug Suttles, BP's chief operating officer, thanked BP workers, government officials, as well as contractors at the command center. Suttles said, there are "big frustrations out there." It's a huge challenge, we're doing something that we hoped we'd never have to do, but we're doing something that no ones ever done before," he said. "And I want to say thank you, you guys are doing a tremendous job under horribly difficult circumstances."

Meanwhile, the oil slick continues it path along the shorelines. With hitting Louisiana, Texas, Alabama, and Florida causing beaches to be closed and fragile environmental habitats to be destroyed, it's now pushing its course on to the East Coast.

The Attorney General in Florida and the State Treasurer in Louisiana have requested BP to put $7.5 million in escrow accounts to be used for their residents as well as to compensate the states for damages now and in the future. As of March 31st, BP only had $6.8 million available in cash and cash equivalents.

BP (NYSE:BP) Oil Spill Could Go On Until December, Despite Best Hazardous Spill Containment Efforts

Despite BP's (NYSE:BP) best hazardous spill containment efforts, it's looking like the oil could be raging on continually until December and possibly into the new year. Dan Pickering, the head of research at energy investor Tudor Pickering Holt. & Company in Houston said, this process is teaching us to be skeptical of deadlines. The worst case scenario is Christmas time.

If this time frame is correct and the crude oil continues to pour out of the well, that will be approximately 4 million barrels of oil since April 20th. This is based on the governments estimate of the oil leak spewing 12,000 to 19,000 barrels a day into the Gulf.

Mak Saito, an Associate Scientist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute in Massachusetts said, with so much crude pouring into the ocean, it could change the very chemistry of the sea. Robert Wine, a BP spokesman, would not give the company's worst case scenario. Although, in its original plans for Monacondo, BP estimated the worst case scenario for an oil spill loss was 162,000 barrels a day, according to its filing with the U.S. Interior Departments Mineral Management Service.

Fred Aminzadeh, a research professor at the University of Southern California's Center for Integrated Smart Oil Fields, said the absolute worst case scenario is that the well is never successfully plugged. That would leave the well to flow for probably more than a decade.