FLOW RATE A day after BP conceded that more oil was leaking into the Gulf of Mexico than officials previously estimated, Representative Edward J. Markey, the chairman of the Subcommittee on Energy and the Environment, accused BP of deceiving the public. “It is clear BP has been lying,” Mr. Markey said. “We cannot be relying on BP to be making any of these decisions,” he said, referring to cleanup efforts. The federal government has created a Flow Rate Technical Team to establish a more precise estimate. Its first report is expected Saturday.

COMMISSIONERS President Obama has tapped former Senator Bob Graham of Florida and William K. Reilly, the former administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, to lead a new bipartisan commission to figure out how to avoid another oil spill like the one in the Gulf of Mexico, officials said. Mr. Obama plans to announce the creation of the seven-member commission in his weekly radio and Internet address on Saturday.

CAPTURING SOME OIL BP said Friday that a mile-long tube inserted into the leaking pipe had siphoned 2,200 barrels of crude oil from the leak in the 24-hour period ending at midnight Thursday and that the method was averaging about 2,000 barrels a day. Many experts say that is a small fraction of the total amount leaking into the gulf.

PLUGGING THE WELL BP said it planned to try a top kill, the pumping of heavy drilling mud into the well to overcome the pressure of the rising oil, as soon as Tuesday. The method has never been attempted at such depths.