Science News

BP’s costs for responding to the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico have risen to $1.6 billion.

BP is now siphoning off significant amounts of oil from its runaway well 5,000 feet underwater, but the next best chance for ending the spill won’t come until relief wells are completed in August. Already potentially more than 100 million gallons of crude have been expelled into the Gulf, far outstripping the Exxon Valdez disaster.

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Supportive comments from the UK government lifted BP Plcs battered shares on Friday, outweighing news that the British oil companys Gulf of Mexico spill is much bigger than previously estimated.

“We are all concerned about the human and environmental impact and as the Prime Minister has said we understand the concerns of the U.

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Shares in British energy giant BP will be in the spotlight again on Friday after U.S. government scientists doubled their estimate of the amount of oil gushing out of its ruptured Gulf of Mexico well.

BP shares closed 6.65 percent down in London at 365.50 pence while in New York they rebounded from 14-year lows to end 12.

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U.S. scientists on Thursday doubled their high-end estimate of the amount of crude oil flowing from BP Plcs stricken Gulf of Mexico well.

The cutting of the pipe likely increased the flow, but BP says it has collected 73,324 barrels (3.1 million gallons/11,7 million liters) of oil since installing the capping system.

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BP Plc captured a little more than 15,000 barrels of oil with its containment cap system on Tuesday from the leak in the Gulf of Mexico and is aiming to nearly double capacity to handle it at the surface, the U.S. official overseeing the operation said on Wednesday.

“If we get this thing to 28,000 barrels a day, thats where I want to be,” Allen said.

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Australia needs to focus on wheat breeding technologies including genetically modified wheat, Peter Reading, managing director of Australias Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) said on Tuesday.

Breeding technologies were key to addressing declining rates in Australias wheat productivity growth, he said.

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The Canadian government quietly cut its greenhouse gas emissions target for 2010-2012 this week, unleashing a firestorm of criticism from the opposition on Friday.

It outlines CO2 cuts of five million tonnes in 2010, followed by eight million and 10 million tonnes fewer emissions in 2011 and 2012, respectively.

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The Yangtze River in China has done a good job of hiding its real age - it is nearly 40 million years older than previously thought, a new study suggests.

The Yangtze carves through Chinas Three Gorges region, where previous sediment analysis dated the river to a mere one to two million years old. But these sediments must have been deposited long after the Three Gorges were initially cut, the study suggests.

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The Gulf of Mexico oil spill approached the sandy white beaches of Pensacola Thursday, threatening Floridas tourist industry just ahead of its prime summer season.

“The shifts, the winds and the currents are projecting weathered oil from the leading edge (which) could impact the Florida Panhandle as early as this week, possible in a day or two,” he said.

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BP shares tanked more than 15 percent on Tuesday after the British energy giant failed in its latest attempt to plug the spilling undersea oil well in the Gulf of Mexico.

The embattled group announced on Saturday that its risky “top kill” operation to plug the ruptured oil well in the Gulf of Mexico had failed, adding it would shift to a new strategy to cap the leak.

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