DESPITE dominating the headlines for more than a month, there is little agreement about the size of the Deepwater Horizon spill. One of the teams in the government taskforce has put the latest estimate at between 20,000 and 40,000 barrels a day, up from an earlier range of 12,000 to 19,000. Discounting the 149,000 barrels captured by BP's cap, even at the low end of the new range, the leak would be one of the largest accidental spills ever (the various wells uncorked by the first Gulf War were far bigger). Barack Obama will increase pressure on BP on Tuesday when he speaks about the clean-up from the Oval Office. BP, for its part, is searching for a truce with the American government that will involve it paying billions of dollars in compensation.

AP