Oil continued flowing at the rate of about 5, 000 barrels per day into the Gulf of Mexico on May 3, following the April 20 explosion at the Deepwater Horizon rig south of the Mississippi Delta that caused it to sink and left its well leaking oil.

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Whoever was spinning the drill bits and selecting the spots at which to sink them, Shell wasn't developing new oil and gas fields fast enough to replace what it pumped out.

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He estimated about 70 percent of the oil would stay on the water's surface, but the rest would sink to the seabed, where he said it would contaminate the sea and marine life.

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