Valero has signed a joint development agreement with Algenol Biofuels Inc. to explore if the companies can commercialize algae-based biofuels and biochemicals. This is Valero’s second deal with an algae-based fuel firm, MarketWatch noted. Valero Energy Corp. made a “relatively small investment” in a pact with Bonita Springs, Fla.-based Algenol. Algenol Biofuels said the deal [...]  More »

Attendees streaming into the Offshore Technology Conference this morning were met by police dogs, a heavier security presence and bag-check lines. The Sierra Club has scheduled a press conference on site at 10 a.m. Thursday to call for a ban on offshore drilling, but OTC organizers say the added security is in response to the [...]  More »

• Rig workers detail the final minutes before the Deepwater Horizon blowout. • Transocean had cut bonuses over safety concerns. • Lawmakers’ doubts grow on expanding offshore drilling. • Texas shrimpers eye the Gulf spill warily. • Industry huddles behind the scenes to assess what went wrong on Deepwater Horizon. • Congress quizzes execs on [...]  More »

It’s not unusual to find a flyer from a “gentleman’s club” under your car window as you leave the Offshore Technology Conference. Some 70,000 conventioneers, most of them men, are an easy target for Houston’s thriving strip club scene. I have yet to see a flyer on my car after two days, but our photographer [...]  More »

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WASHINGTON — BP, Transocean and Halliburton executives fanned across Capitol Hill today for a series of closed door briefings with lawmakers to outline the scope of the oil slick in the Gulf and the efforts to contain it. David Nagel, executive vice president of BP America; Bob Moran, Halliburton’s vice president for government affairs; and [...]  More »

The oil and gas industry has formed two task forces to figure out how to identify and reduce risks of offshore operations both short-term and long-term, the American Petroleum Institute said today. The task forces will bring together experts and work with teams BP is assembling to respond to the Gulf oil slick and make [...]  More »

Because of a warming climate there have been and will continue to be an increase in hurricane activity in the Atlantic that reaches the Gulf of Mexico, scientist Greg Holland from the National Center for Atmospheric Research said today at OTC 2010. At a technical session today on hurricanes, cyclones and tropical storms, Holland showed [...]  More »

Politicians usually don’t stick their necks out on the nuts-and-bolts technology of a given industry, particularly offshore oil and gas drilling. Not so for former Houston Mayor-turned-Texas-gubernatorial candidate Bill White. White put out his own analysis of the Deepwater Horizon accident, mainly in reaction to comments from Texas Gov. Rick Perry who described the incident [...]  More »

Here’s the latest on the Gulf oil spill cleanup by the numbers: Total vessels (including tugs and skimmers): 196 Boom deployed: 486,940 feet Boom available: 668,081 feet Oil and water mix recovered: 23,968 gallons Dispersant Used : 156,012 gallons Dispersant available: 230,000 gallons Remotely Operated Vehicles: 10 Overall personnel responding: 7,484 BP says it also [...]  More »

A bit of tension is being scheduled for Thursday morning when the Sierra Club, Galveston Baykeeper and other Texas groups plan to hold a press conference calling for a moratorium on offshore drilling from outside the Offshore Technology Conference at Reliant Park. The 10 a.m. event is aimed at reminding people that the tragedy is [...]  More »

BP has been taking a beating on the financial and public image front since the Deepwater Horizon accident turned into a major oil leak, footing some $6 million per day in clean-up costs. It wasn’t their rig that sank, but they’re the leaseholder so they’re on the hook. Hardly mentioned so far been Anadarko’s 25 [...]  More »