Estimates of Crude Spill Rise 8-Fold : Oxnard: Authorities now say about 84,000 gallons of oil oozed from the broken pipeline. The leak may have begun days before it was discovered on Christmas Day.

Estimates of crude oil spilled from a pipeline rupture at McGrath State Beach near Oxnard increased eightfold Monday to about 84,000 gallons as authorities revealed that the leak may have occurred many hours--or even days--before it was discovered Christmas morning.

During a third day of cleanup, more than 100 workers continued to shovel crude from a one-mile stretch of soiled state beach and suck a thick cap of oil from atop a fragile coastal lake so damaged it will take decades to recover, authorities said.

McGrath State Beach remained closed, and officials warned swimmers and surfers to stay out of the ocean along seven miles of beach, from Ventura Pier south to Channel Islands Harbor in Oxnard. Black globules and oily sheens were spotted there.

Meanwhile, the count of dead and injured birds rose to 55. One muskrat was discovered dead, having smothered in a blanket of oil.

Despite escalating estimates of leaked oil and dead animals, state and federal officials said the cleanup was going well.

Of the total spill of about 2,000 barrels, about 400 had been recovered from half-mile-long McGrath Lake, a freshwater drainage basin near the ocean. Another 50 barrels had been skimmed by boats from the ocean before officials declared an end Monday to the ocean phase of the cleanup. A barrel holds 42 gallons.

“It’s going very well,” said U.S. Coast Guard Cmdr. Jim Rutkovsky, who is involved because the oil has flowed into the ocean, a federal jurisdiction.

No progress has been made, however, in determining what caused the eight-inch-wide pipe to break. The buried pipeline has not been unearthed to see if it is corroded, which state officials say is the likely cause of the leak.

A spokesman for Bush Oil Co., which used the pipeline to pump about 600 barrels of oil daily between two storage tanks, said the company is concentrating on an around-the-clock cleanup, not the cause of the break.

“This is a crisis mode,” said Jerry Hoffman, president of Taft-based Berry Petroleum Co., parent company of Bush Oil.

Neither Hoffman nor company spokesman Raymond L. Hatch would comment on when the pipeline was last checked for stress, although Hatch said previously that it was within the last year.

Hatch said he does not know how old the pipeline is. He also declined comment on the pipeline’s maintenance schedule, when it began to leak or the maximum amount of oil that could have leaked from it.

“As soon as we know exactly what happened we’ll pass it on,” Hatch said.

In a statement released at noon Monday, the company said that “at this time it is believed that the total discharge exceeded the original estimates and may be in the range of 1,800 to 2,000 barrels. . . . The company is also investigating reports that the discharge may have started earlier than Christmas Day.”

Hatch said that the tidelands oil field near the break produces about 575 to 650 barrels a day and that the oil is pumped daily through the now-ruptured line to a storage tank a mile away.

At that rate, it would take at least three days for 2,000 barrels to leak from the pipeline. Hatch said, however, that he does not yet know for sure when crude oil began to ooze from the pipeline.

“We’ll know within a day or two,” he said.

The rupture was discovered about 7:25 Christmas morning by federal Mineral Management Service employees flying over the beach.

Bush Oil, notified about two hours later, shut down the line by 10:15 a.m., the company said.

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The company, which estimated Saturday that only 10 barrels had leaked, increased its estimate to 252 barrels Sunday and then reached Monday’s much higher figure at the urging of the Coast Guard, Rutkovsky said.

Frank Cowan, a spokesman for the state Office of Emergency Services, said that the decision to dramatically increase the estimated spill amount was made at a meeting Monday morning between state and federal authorities and Bush Oil officials.

“The Saturday and Sunday amounts came from the oil company,” Cowan said.

Rutkovsky said that total spilled oil will be determined by comparing the amount of oil pumped from a storage tank near the beach with the amount received at the second storage tank.

“The Coast Guard says at least 1,800 barrels (leaked),” Rutkovsky said. “It’s going to go above that, but it won’t be double that.”

While Bush Oil officials said they could provide no information about previous leaks or spills at its Oxnard field, a state agency that oversees pipeline safety in oil fields said Bush’s Oxnard facility has a good record.

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The ruptured pipeline passed a pressure test early this year and company officials have told the state that such tests are administered annually even though they are not required, said Kenneth P. Henderson, a supervisor in the oil and gas division of the state Department of Conservation.

Henderson said that his department has no record of reported leaks at the field during the 3 1/2 years Bush has owned it, or since January, 1986, under a previous owner, Chevron USA.

“So it looks like it’s been operated in a conscientious manner,” he said.

Henderson said the leaking Bush pipeline operates under low pressure--between 130 and 250 pounds per square inch. That compares to high-pressure crude oil lines that carry more than 400 pounds of pressure, he said.

The break occurred in a buried section of the line that runs beneath Harbor Boulevard at Gonzales Road, he said. The usual cause of a break with a buried line is corrosion, Henderson said.

The small tidelands oil field from which the pipeline was running has about 15 wells, Henderson said. The rest of Bush Oil’s so-called West Montalvo field--which reaches as far south as 5th Street and as far east as Victoria Avenue--has about 40 more wells, he said.

Henderson said investigators intend to unearth the ruptured line today.

Bush Oil officials said that they could not estimate how long the cleanup will take, although most of the beach is expected to be clean by Sunday.

The full cost of the effort will be paid by the oil company’s insurance, officials said.

* RESCUING WILDLIFE: Workers have found up to 40 dead waterfowl. A18

* CLEANUP EFFORTS: Emergency crews fan out over coastline. B1