A government panel investigating the BP oil spill has doubled its estimate of how much oil is gushing into the Gulf of Mexico. The Flow Rate Technical Group now says the leak is between 25,000 to 30,000 barrels of oil a day, more than five times BP’s original estimate. The current estimate suggests that an amount equivalent to the Exxon Valdez disaster could be flowing into the Gulf every eight to teb days. Some members of the government panel say the flow rate could be as high 100,000 barrels of oil a day, or 4.2 million gallons.