Numbers grow more grim in Gulf oil disaster

CNN Wire Staff

[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2010/US/06/04/gulf.oil.spill/smlvid.bots.jpg caption="If estimate correct, more than eight times as much oil has leaked than in Exxon Valdez spill" width=300 height=169]

The numbers on every front of the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster keep their steady march upward to staggering proportions, and Friday was no exception.

As the oil spewed, so did more grim statistics.

Researchers have doubled estimates of how much oil has been gushing from a ruptured BP well, reporting that up to 40,000 barrels, or 1.7 million gallons, a day may have escaped for weeks.

If the latest estimate is correct, that would mean 90.1 million gallons have spewed in the 53 days since the rig exploded. That's more than eight times the amount spilled by the supertanker Exxon Valdez in Alaska's Prince William Sound in 1989.

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