Obama Blasts Oil Firms Over Persistent Spills

United States President, Barack Obama, last Friday, hit out at oil companies for trying to shift blame for the Gulf of Mexico slick, and vowed to end the “cozy” ties between the industry and government regulators.

In an unusually harsh tone, Obama said he had ordered “top to bottom” reform of the federal agency that oversees oil drilling, and announced a review of the enforcement of environmental protection rules.

He hit out at the three oil companies linked to the sunken rig gushing oil into the Gulf for seeking to pass the blame, denouncing what he called a “ridiculous spectacle” by their top officials during congressional hearings.

“I will not tolerate more finger pointing or irresponsibility,” he said after meeting with top advisers to discuss the growing oil spill, which British Petroleum has tried and failed for three weeks to stem or even slow.

A visibly angered Obama said the Federal Government also had responsibility to bear, pledging to strengthen oversight of the oil industry.

He spoke as BP workers struggled to implement their latest tactic to contain the oil leaking from a ruptured well pipe on the Deepwater Horizon rig by attaching an “insertion tube” to funnel the oil up to a container vessel.

But the method is untested, and the company warned Friday that the earliest chance to try to cap the leak fully would not come until late this week. The oil has been leaking into the sea since the rig collapsed, following an explosion on April 20.

Experts now fear oil may be spewing from the site at a rate of 70,000 barrels (2.9 million gallons) a day, more than 10 times faster than a Coast Guard estimate of 5,000 barrels (210,000 gallons) a day.

The new estimate is based on analyses of how far and fast oil particles are moving in a video of the leak released by BP.

The findings suggest the spill is already the worst environmental disaster in US history, eclipsing the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill. BP disputes the figures.

BP Chief Executive, Tony Hayward told Britain’s Guardian newspaper that the spill is “tiny” by comparison with the amount of water in the Gulf of Mexico.

BP’s Chief Operating Officer, Doug Suttles also questioned the new estimates, saying there was no reliable way to measure the flow.

Nelson Chukwudi, with agency reports