BP’s Oil Recovery Rate in Gulf Increased 11%

(Updates share price in final paragraph. For more on the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, see {SPILL <GO>}.)

By Jim Polson

June 21 (Bloomberg) — BP Plc diverted 23,290 barrels of oil from its leaking Gulf of Mexico well to ships on the surface yesterday, an 11 percent increase from June 19, when part of the operation was shut down.

The drillship Discoverer Enterprise captured 14,570 barrels, an increase after it was shut for 10 hours by an equipment failure and a lightning storm, BP said in a statement today on its website. About 8,720 barrels were burned aboard the Q4000 oil rig, a reduction from June 19 as the vessel turned to accommodate shifts in wind direction.

Oil is flowing from the well at a rate of 35,000 barrels a day to 60,000 barrels a day, a government-led scientific team said June 15. Total costs of the spill response, including collection, cleanup and relief wells to permanently plug the leak have risen to $2 billion, London-based BP said in a separate statement.

BP said it is continuing to install lines that will connect the well to the Helix Producer I, a ship capable of processing another 25,000 barrels of oil daily from the well and loading it aboard a tanker for shipment. That option is scheduled to be available at the end of June or early July, bringing its total oil-capturing capacity to more than 50,000 barrels a day, BP said.

BP fell 7.9 pence, or 2.2 percent, to 349.5 pence at 4:35 p.m. in London. The shares have fallen 47 percent since the well blew out April 20, destroying the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, killing 11 members of its crew and triggering the biggest oil spill in U.S. history.

–Editors: Tina Davis, Kim Jordan

To contact the reporter on this story: Jim Polson in New York at jpolson@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Susan Warren at susanwarren@bloomberg.net.