The Magnitude of the BP Oil Spill Continues to Increase

The news regarding the BP offshore oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has yet to get better.

Yesterday, BP announced it had spent US$450 million [5] in its containment and clean-up efforts thus far. This number increased by $100 million between Monday and Thursday.

The total amount this disaster will cost the company is tough to quantify yet. However, it appears clean-up and containment of the oil spill will reach over US$1 billion.

Meanwhile, the company's efforts to contain the oil [6] that is spewing forth from the bottom of the ocean have not gone according to plan. BP has successfully capped one of the three oil leaks. The company's attempt to cap the largest leak -- a 20" inch hole [7] --have failed, twice now.

A third attempt to cap the main leak with a containment dome was supposed to take place today, but as of yet no news has been released.

Original estimates stated that the oil was leaking at a rate of 5,000 barrels per day -- the equivalent of 210,000 gallons or 795,000 litres per day.

However, today it was announced that experts, after analyzing data and viewing the new footage [8] of the oil flowing from its source, believe the oil could be leaking at a shocking rate of 70,000 barrels per day [7] -- the equivalent of 2,940,000 gallons or 11,130,000 litres per day.

These numbers are absolutely astonishing to the point of being mind-blowing. Once digested, the numbers lead to a set of bigger questions:

What effect will this incredible amount of oil have on the marine life of the Gulf of Mexico, the ecology of the United States' southeastern coastline, and the ocean as a whole?

With this much oil, will it ever all get cleaned up?

How do you contain that much oil spilling out into a dynamic entity such as the ocean, which is subject to gravitational shifts and weather changes?

What happens if and when the oil moves out into international waters? Who is responsible then?

Will a scar this big change the energy industry?

Answers to these questions will reveal themselves in the coming days. Let's hope they show our collective wisdom.

Find out everything you want to know about the BP Oil Spill [9], here.