The oil spill spreading across the Gulf of Mexico hasn’t dampened public enthusiasm for offshore drilling, according to a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll. Six in 10 Americans support expanded ocean drilling, according to the poll, which was conducted May 6-10, concluding nearly three weeks after the April 20 blast on the Deepwater Horizon [...]  More »

BP released underwater video showing the oil spewing from the site of the sunken Deepwater Horizon in the Gulf of Mexico. An estimated 200,000 gallons is pouring out each day. (Video on jump. Warning: it begins with commercial.)  More »

“A huge part of the reason people come to New Orleans is to eat,” celebrity chef Susan Spicer said. “And when they come to New Orleans to eat, they want shrimp, crab, crawfish, Pompano. I think that our restaurant and hospitality industry will be pretty dramatically affected.”  More »

Although “significant,” the oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico from a leaking underwater well is not nearly as “catastrophic” as it has been described, Rep. Joe Barton said today. Barton, R-Texas., made his comments during the final hours of a day-long House Energy and Commerce subcommittee hearing probing the Deepwater Horizon disaster. Officials estimate [...]  More »

There’s a new post on the Chronicle’s Barrels and BTUs blog that’s likely to spark some debate. Bernard Weinstein, associate director of the Maguire Energy Institute at SMU, has written a guest post suggesting that President Obama’s moratorium on all new offshore drilling in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon accident may be good politics, [...]  More »

BP said it is set to try another approach to capturing oil leaking from a broken drill pipe on the seabed. Doug Suttles, BP’s chief operating officer, said during a news conference this afternoon that engineers are planning to insert a piece of pipe into the leak site to capture oil and funnel it up [...]  More »

Lawmakers this afternoon began probing what — and when — BP officials in Houston knew about unusual pressure readings on cement barriers at the leaking well 40 miles off the coast of Louisiana. The House members also were investigating whether top brass at BP signed off on a decision to change the customary order for [...]  More »

As survivors of the Deepwater Horizon headed back to shore in the hours after the accident, investigators with the Coast Guard and Minerals Management Service boarded the cargo boat they were on and began taking written statements and conducting interviews. The investigators, two from each agency, boarded the vessel Damon Bankston in the early afternoon [...]  More »

ConocoPhillips is considering whether it will take part in Exxon Mobil Corp’s Alaska pipeline venture with TransCanada Corp, CEO Jim Mulva said during a Q&A portion of ConocoPhillips’ annual shareholders meeting. Mulva said there are two competing alternatives to bringing natural gas from Alaska to Canada. Exxon Mobil’s venture is currently holding an open season [...]  More »

Lawmakers probing the April 20 explosion of the Deepwater Horizon rig and the growing oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico today pinpointed “unexpected” modifications and hydraulic fluid leaks in a crucial device designed as a final safeguard against blowouts. At issue is the blowout preventer — or BOP — a 450-ton device that is [...]  More »

A senior Coast Guard official acknowledged today “it’s challenging” to keep up with offshore drilling rig technology as the industry pushes into deeper water areas. Capt. Vern Gifford, with the Coast Guard’s prevention division in the Eighth District, testified that regulations governing Coast Guard inspections of so-called Mobile Offshore Drilling Units, or MODU’s, date back [...]  More »

These newly released images from the site of the Deepwater Horizon disaster show the main oil leak at the end of the riser pipe. A wrench and a robotic sub can be seen in the background. The accident at the Macondo well has spewed at least 4 million gallons of oil into the Gulf in [...]  More »