Offshore Drilling

ANCHORAGE - Royal Dutch Shell Oil Co. is taking the offensive against environmental groups that have put legal roadblocks in its path to offshore drilling in the Arctic Ocean. The oil giant sued 11 Alaska Native or environmental groups that have challenged Arctic offshore drilling at various regulatory steps, starting with the sale of leases and continuing through nearly every permit Shell has needed to dip into the petroleum wealth believed to be in the Chukchi Sea and the Beaufort Sea off the state's coast.

Two years have passed since the April 20, 2010, blowout of BP's Macondo well triggered an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico, killing 11 workers and spawning the nation's worst offshore oil spill. After several attempts to cap the well failed, engineers finally halted the flow of oil after more than 85 days, but not before an estimated 206 million gallons of crude spilled. The oil soiled fragile wetlands, stained beaches, killed wildlife and closed vast areas of the Gulf to commercial fishing for time.

WASHINGTON — A historic environmental protection bill is in danger after a massive oil spill put a new focus on the perils of offshore drilling, a feature that was supposed to win wider support for the legislation. The bill, supported by President Obama, calls for new offshore drilling — a concession by environmentalists. But with the spill off the Gulf Coast growing daily, even conservationists who have waited a decade for the legislation are now saying it will fail if offshore drilling remains in the bill.

WASHINGTON - A presidential commission that investigated the Gulf oil spill blasted Congress for inaction Tuesday as it issued a report card on industry and government response to the massive BP oil spill. "Across the board, we are disappointed with Congress's lack of action. Two years have passed since the explosion on the Deepwater Horizon killed 11 workers, and Congress has yet to enact one piece of legislation to make drilling safer," said former senator Bob Graham of Florida, a Democrat who cochaired the presidential commission.

WASHINGTON -- Oil and gas companies, closer than ever to drilling in an Alaskan wildlife refuge, want to explore another frontier: America's coastlines. The Atlantic and Pacific coasts and the eastern Gulf of Mexico are protected by a federal ban on new oil and natural gas extraction. But with rising worry about US dependence on fuel imports and soaring prices, energy producers feel they now have a unique opportunity to relax or eliminate the restrictions. "Part of the solution has to be opening more access," whether it's off the coast of California or the Carolinas, said Duane Radtke, head...

PENSACOLA, Fla. - Governors in some coastal states promised to fight attempts to tap offshore petroleum reserves, citing concerns about the environment and tourism. Others agreed with President Bush's call to lift a 27-year-old federal ban on offshore drilling, but said states should decide whether to allow it. Bush yesterday joined Republican presidential candidate John McCain in calling for the lifting of a prohibition on drilling along the East and West coasts and in the eastern Gulf of Mexico.

WASHINGTON — The Interior Department imposed new rules yesterday to make offshore drilling safer but declined to lift a temporary ban on deep-water drilling. The rules, which take effect immediately, include many recommendations made in a report in May, including requirements that rigs certify that they have working blowout preventers and standards for cementing wells. The cement process and blowout preventer both failed to work as expected in the massive leak from an explosion at BP’s Deepwater Horizon rig in the Gulf of Mexico.

AS A moderate Republican, I would like to respond to President Obama's State of the Union address. While the rest of the members of my party are stirring in fury over Tuesday's address, a few of us reds, along with many members of the blue, looked beyond the bickering and noticed a terrifying promise from our president. This pledge will undoubtedly have negative and harsh repercussions for my country and that of my children. Obama vowed to open 75 percent of US offshore oil and gas resources.

WASHINGTON - Environmental advocates urged Congress yesterday to reinstate the broad moratorium on offshore oil drilling, but a key congressman said on that issue, "The ship may have already sailed. " Representative Nick Rahall, Democrat of West Virginia, chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, said the political reality is that the broad moratorium across 85 percent of the country's Outer Continental Shelf lifted by Congress last fall is unlikely to be reimposed. But Rahall said Congress may need to establish protective buffer areas and place certain regions -...

WASHINGTON - President Bush says that if Congress doesn't permit offshore drilling to increase US oil supplies and possibly ease gasoline prices, lawmakers should not expect voters to support them in November. In his Saturday radio address, Bush said experts assert the Outer Continental Shelf could eventually produce nearly 10 years' worth of US oil production. Yet while record fuel prices have focused more attention on increasing domestic energy production, specialists also note that lifting the congressional ban on offshore drilling wouldn't...

Offshore drilling fees are financing the purchase of $41.6 million worth of new national forest lands in 15 states. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said Thursday the 28 different purchases from North Carolina to Oregon will protect clean water and fish and wildlife habitat, absorb private inholdings within wilderness areas, and support outdoor recreation spending that contributes $14.5 billion annually to the economy. The purchases from willing sellers represent about 20,000 acres, which were chosen from 68 applications.

ANCHORAGE - Royal Dutch Shell Oil Co. is taking the offensive against environmental groups that have put legal roadblocks in its path to offshore drilling in the Arctic Ocean. The oil giant sued 11 Alaska Native or environmental groups that have challenged Arctic offshore drilling at various regulatory steps, starting with the sale of leases and continuing through nearly every permit Shell has needed to dip into the petroleum wealth believed to be in the Chukchi Sea and the Beaufort Sea off the state's coast.

American and Israeli gas prospectors say they have discovered a large amount of offshore natural gas in Israeli waters near the Lebanese border. Delek Group Ltd. announced the discovery to Israel's stock exchange Sunday. U.S.-based Noble Energy Inc. is partnering with Delek on the offshore drilling. The prospectors say based on initial drilling results, they estimate the Tanin 1 well contains close to 1.3 trillion cubic feet. The announcement comes as Israel's only existing production field, Yam Thetis, becomes close to depletion.

THIS MORNING, a congressional committee will meet in Sunny Isles Beach, Fla., to examine our capacity to handle an oil spill in the Caribbean. It is an important event, acknowledging a new reality: Expanding offshore drilling is not exclusively a US pastime. Like so many other North American enterprises, drilling has international appeal. Perfora, nene, perfora. (In English: drill, baby, drill.) Cuba is now set to begin tapping the ocean, and the need for rigorous engagement with Havana has never been more immediate.

AS A moderate Republican, I would like to respond to President Obama's State of the Union address. While the rest of the members of my party are stirring in fury over Tuesday's address, a few of us reds, along with many members of the blue, looked beyond the bickering and noticed a terrifying promise from our president. This pledge will undoubtedly have negative and harsh repercussions for my country and that of my children. Obama vowed to open 75 percent of US offshore oil and gas resources.

NEW ORLEANS — With everything Big Oil and the government have learned in the year since the Gulf of Mexico disaster, could it happen again? Absolutely, according to an Associated Press examination of the industry and interviews with specialists on the perils of deep-sea drilling. The government has given the OK for oil exploration in extremely deep waters to resume, saying it is confident such drilling can be done safely. The industry has given similar assurances. But there are still serious questions in some quarters about whether the lessons of the BP oil spill have been applied.

HOUSTON -- The world's largest offshore drilling contractor got bigger yesterday when Transocean said it will combine with GlobalSantaFe, creating a company able to drill globally in shallow or ultra-deep waters. The deal includes a $15 billion cash payout to shareholders of both the world's largest contractor, Transocean Inc., and GlobalSantaFe Corp. Shareholders of both companies will also get shares in the new company, which will retain the Transocean name. The value of the new company will be about $53 billion, including debt.

WASHINGTON — The federal official overseeing offshore drilling announced his departure yesterday in a fallout from the Gulf oil spill and criticism that federal regulators have been too cozy with industry. President Obama, meanwhile, has decided to have a presidential commission investigate the cause of the rig explosion that unleashed millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, where engineers are struggling after three weeks to stop the flow. The presidential panel will be similar to ones that examined the Challenger space shuttle...

WASHINGTON — The Interior Department imposed new rules yesterday to make offshore drilling safer but declined to lift a temporary ban on deep-water drilling. The rules, which take effect immediately, include many recommendations made in a report in May, including requirements that rigs certify that they have working blowout preventers and standards for cementing wells. The cement process and blowout preventer both failed to work as expected in the massive leak from an explosion at BP’s Deepwater Horizon rig in the Gulf of Mexico.

KENNER, La. — The Obama administration moved to head off another catastrophic leak like the BP disaster yesterday, ordering oil and gas companies in the Gulf of Mexico to plug or dismantle thousands of wells and platforms no longer in use. The move came as the government’s point man for the oil spill said BP’s blown-out well should be pronounced dead by Sunday. In Washington, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar issued an order requiring oil and gas companies to plug nearly 3,500 nonproducing wells and dismantle about 650 production...