• Shallow water drilling still in limbo, awaiting safety rules. • BP may have to answer for cost-cutting moves. • Responding to pressure, BP says it will capture more oil. • BP hires Goldman Sachs, others as it mulls mounting financial pressure. • Fitch downgrades BP’s credit rating. • Obama fills remaining oil spill investigation [...]  More »

David Pursell’s not an “I told you so” kind of guy. But I have no problem saying the head of macro research at Tudor Pickering Holt & Co. has been talking for weeks about one of the five key points that a congressional committee said yesterday it’s focusing on in its Deepwater Horizon accident investigation. [...]  More »

Here’s what Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson plans to tell Congress today, according to Reuters: Exxon Mobil will tell U.S. lawmakers at a congressional hearing on Tuesday that BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil rig was operated outside the industry norm, leading to the biggest offshore oil spill in U.S. history. “This incident represents a dramatic departure from [...]  More »

Shallow-water drilling companies have united in a new coalition and hired Washington lobbyists to help them fend off new restrictions in the wake of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Dubbed the Shallow Water Energy Security Coalition, the group of drilling companies has just unveiled a website and spent time lobbying the administration [...]  More »

President Barack Obama on Monday named the final five members of the independent commission he tasked with investigating the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, launching a probe that could last until the end of the year. The roster of new members includes science and engineering experts and two oil spill veterans — one [...]  More »

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President Barack Obama on Monday named the final five members of the independent commission he tasked with investigating the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, launching a probe that could last until year’s end.

The roster of new members includes science and engineering experts and two oil spill veterans — one who was involved in guiding the restoration of Alaska waters after the Exxon Valdez tanker accident and another involved in handling Valdez-related claims. There are no representatives from the oil and gas industry, although one of the previously named co-chairmen, William Reilly, is a director of ConocoPhillips.

According to a White House statement, Obama selected: Frances Beinecke, president of the Natural Resources Defense Council; Donald Boesch, president of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science; Terry Garcia, a vice president of the National Geographic Society; Cherry Murray, dean of the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences; and Frances Ulmer, chancellor of the University of Alaska Anchorage.

Obama had previously chosen as co-chairmen Bob Graham, a former Florida governor and U.S. senator, and Reilly, a former Environmental Protection Agency head. The panel is modeled after commissions that studied the Challenger explosion and the partial meltdown at the Three Mile Island plant.

“These individuals bring tremendous expertise and experience to the critical work of this commission,” Obama said in a statement. The panel will “work to determine the causes of this catastrophe and implement the safety and environmental protections we need to prevent a similar disaster from happening again.”

The panel’s job is investigating the causes of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig explosion; the administration’s and BP’s response to the disaster; and regulations governing offshore exploration. Its findings could influence the future of offshore drilling for decades.

jennifer.dlouhy@chron.com

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It looks like the nearly six-week run in lower gasoline prices is just about over.

Gasoline prices have dropped about 8 percent since hitting $2.93 per gallon on May 6 on the back of lower oil prices. Pump prices fell 0.3 cent to a national average of $2.698 a gallon today, according to AAA, Wright Express and Oil Price Information Service.

Prices are now about the same as the 2009 peak.

“We may wobble down another nickel or up a nickel, but what you see now on the street probably will be close to what you pay for July 4th weekend,” said OPIS’ Tom Kloza.

Kloza expects that prices likely will climb beginning in July as hurricane season starts in earnest and as new investments are made in crude for the third quarter. Investors worry that hurricanes can damage crude and natural gas production in the Gulf of Mexico and refineries along the Gulf coast. Shutdowns can send prices higher.

Gasoline prices have dropped 2.6 cents in the past week and are 17.9 cents below where they were a month ago. Prices are 3.5 cents higher than a year ago.

 

In Houston today, drivers paid an average of $2.536 a gallon.

Motorists have benefited as oil prices fell since reaching an 18-month-high of $87.15 a barrel in early May. Worries over the European debt crisis, a big drop in stock prices and a stronger dollar helped push oil below $70.

Prices have since come back, with benchmark crude for July delivery rising $1.34 to settle at $75.12 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

A weaker dollar and a stronger euro also helped oil prices. Since crude is priced in dollars it becomes cheaper to investors holding other currencies when the dollar loses value.

BP said today that the cost of its massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has risen to $1.6 billion. The estimate does not include future costs for lawsuits already filed against the company over the spill that began nearly two months ago. The spill, so far, has not affected oil prices, although BP shares have tumbled. BP stock was down almost 8 percent today.

In other Nymex trading in July contracts, heating oil rose 1.97 cents to settle at $2.0250 a gallon, and gasoline gained 2.67 cents to settle at $2.0764 a gallon. Natural gas jumped 22.5 cents to settle at $5.006 per 1,000 cubic feet.

Brent crude gained 85 cents to settle at $75.20 a barrel on the ICE futures exchange.

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The maritime law Transocean hopes to use to limit its liability in the Deepwater Horizon accident won’t hold up against most lawsuits filed against it, according to the Wall Street Journal. A court order signed today said claims filed against Transocean under environmental laws, including the Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act and Oil Pollution [...]  More »

During a two-day tour of the Gulf Coast today, President Barack Obama implored tourists to continue visiting the region, and not be scared off by the oil spill spreading across the Gulf of Mexico. “If people want to know what can they do to help folks down here, one of the best ways to help [...]  More »

Thinking of giving a donation or volunteering to help in the cleanup effort in the Gulf of Mexico? The Better Business Bureau has some tips for you. The BBB Wise Giving Alliance has released a list of things potential donors and volunteers should consider before writing a check or giving some time: Beware of well-intentioned [...]  More »

There’s been lots of pictures of oiled birds and other sea life, but an oysterman in Louisiana snapped this picture of a crab covered in oil last week. The crab was caught as a crew was checking the impact to oyster reefs of oil coming ashore from BP’s runaway Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico. The reefs are in the southern Louisiana marshland, about 20 miles inland from the Gulf Coast.

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