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Of course it's in BP's interests to underestimate how much oil has been leaking from that gusher in the Gulf, but now US scientists say that the leak is double what BP has been claiming:

BP's damaged well in the Gulf of Mexico has been leaking twice as much oil as previously estimated, a team of government scientists said in its latest report on the size of the worst spill in U.S. history.

The well is gushing 20,000 to 40,000 barrels of oil a day, according to an estimate released yesterday by the scientists, tasked by the government with calculating the flow. On May 27, the group pegged the rate at 12,000 to 19,000 barrels a day.

Preliminary figures from a team of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution scientists suggest the well could be leaking as much as 50,000 barrels a day said Marcia McNutt, director of the U.S. Geological Survey.

And more importantly, how does this compare to the Exxon Valdez disaster in Alaska in 1989?

The Exxon Valdez spilled an estimated 257,000 barrels in 1989. At a daily rate of 30,000 barrels, or 1.3 million gallons, the BP disaster would generate that much every 8.5 days.

Now that is depressing...

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