Obama administration officials today outlined their plans for new regulations designed to boost the reliability of crucial emergency equipment safeguarding offshore wells. Fundamentally, said Deputy Interior Secretary David Hayes, blowout preventers “need to be able to cut whatever is in their way and completely sell off the well.”  More »

A federal magistrate has scheduled a hearing on a former BP engineer’s request for permission to travel freely throughout the U.S. while he awaits a trial on charges he deleted text messages about the oil company’s response to the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.  More »

Federal regulators crafting new regulations to boost the reliability and power of emergency equipment used as a last line of defense against surging oil and gas at offshore wells will get feedback from energy companies, drilling engineers and other experts on Tuesday.  More »

An oil company exploration crew’s chance discovery of a 200-year-old shipwreck in a little-charted stretch of the Gulf of Mexico is yielding a trove of new information to scientists who say it’s one of the most well-preserved old wrecks ever found in the Gulf.  More »

The White House on Tuesday pushed back against the oil and gas industry’s claims that the Obama administration is blocking domestic energy development, releasing a new analysis showing that 46 million acres of federal lands and waters leased for drilling are sitting idle.  More »

A former BP Plc (BP/) engineer charged with destroying evidence sought for a U.S probe of the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill said a “third party” is withholding information that could clear him, according to court filings.  More »

As the Spanish company Repsol nears its target depth for an exploratory oil well in Cuban waters, experts told a forum in Washington that the U.S. hasn’t done enough to prevent an accident on the site, or respond to one if it occurs.  More »

Some offshore drillers are adding spare blowout preventers so one can protect their wells while the second is down for maintenance or inspection.  More »

Sitting at a construction yard along Houston’s Ship Channel is a 35-foot-tall, 100-ton hunk of steel that its owners hope never to use.  More »

The judge presiding over the BP Plc litigation tied to the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill set a Jan. 14 trial date to determine fault for the sinking of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig and resulting undersea leak.  More »

OTC panelists said smaller, independent oil and gas companies have less competition in the Gulf of Mexico than 10 years ago, but also are thwarted by regulations and the low price of natural gas.  More »

Leaders of the two emergency response systems developed after the 2010 Macondo well spill say they’ll share ideas with foreign operators, but will remain focused on the Gulf of Mexico.  More »