Where's the Oil? BP's Y2K

Since the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico opened a few months ago, speculation about the volume of escaping oil has been constant. Inasmuch as the diameter of the pipe from which the oil flowed was known, and the pressure forcing the oil out was reasonably estimable, an acceptable ball-park calculation has been at hand.

People huffed and puffed and spewed hysteria about the destruction of the Gulf and the death of regions in the Atlantic. Global media delivered the rantings and ravings and readers showed their worries and fears.

What now? Five million barrels of oil appear to have vanished. Gone. Dissolved in the water, destroyed by chemical dispersants, the warm water, the sun and collected by special boats skimming it from the surface of the Gulf. For the oil that slipped by and made it to shore, there were armies of citizens armed with shovels to scoop up the globs from the beaches.

This disaster is looking like the Y2K of Oil. A near non-event for which BP was expected to allocate $20 BILLION as a minimum outlay for clean-up and compensation to injured parties.

What will the worry-warts, hysterics and disaster queens do now? Like Bush leaving the White House, their reason for living has vanished.

Breaking News Alert The New York Times Mon, August 02, 2010 -- 7:49 PM ET---

U.S. Puts BP Spill Total at Nearly 5 Million Barrels

Nearly five million barrels of oil have gushed from the BP'swell since the Deepwater Horizon spill began on April 20, federal scientists said on Monday in announcing the most precise estimates yet of the well's flow rate. The estimates would make this spill far bigger than theMexican rig Ixtoc I spill of 1979, previously believed to bethe world's largest accidental release of oil.