The oil and gas industry’s largest trade group on Tuesday implored the Democratic and Republican parties to embrace policies for boosting domestic energy development and streamlining environmental regulations. Not surprisingly, API is urging “pro-development policies” that it says can “create new jobs throughout all parts of the country,” not just in the oil patch.  More »

Texas Rep. Louie Gohmert today suggested that the Obama administration turned a blind eye toward BP’s safety problems before the Gulf oil spill because the company promised to support White-House backed climate change legislation and the 2010 health care law.  More »

A leading House Republican today insisted the Obama administration was on track to blow a July 1 deadline to finish a plan for selling offshore drilling leases over the next five years. But administration officials said the five-year schedule of drilling leases would be issued by July 1, with a first auction scheduled this year.  More »

Federal regulators are vetting Shell’s plans to drill 10 wells in Arctic waters near Alaska ahead of planned testing of oil spill response equipment later this year. Shell still has to convince regulators that it can contain oil and gas in case of a blown out well in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas.  More »

The oil industry’s leading trade group today implored federal regulators for more time to comply with a looming rule that will pare air pollution from hydraulic fracturing and natural gas wells.  More »

The U.S. Coast Guard is checking reports of a 10-mile sheen in the Gulf of Mexico near wells operated by Shell Oil Co.  More »

Rep. Jeff Landry, R-La., is asking an oil spill plaintiffs’ group to recommend payments to oilfield service companies and workers who lost business and wages because of a five-month deep-water drilling ban.  More »

A new advertising campaign by Crossroads GPS blames rising gasoline prices on President Barack Obama.  More »

More than a dozen environmental groups lobbied the White House today to impose robust new rules limiting air pollution from hydraulically fractured wells and reject what they said was an oil and gas industry “misinformation” campaign against the proposed mandates.  More »

Shell on Wednesday won a court order barring environmental activists from boarding or blocking the ships it will use to launch exploratory drilling in Arctic waters this summer.  More »

The Obama administration will announce Wednesday that it is advancing a plan to allow new seismic research designed to help identify hidden pockets of oil and gas in Atlantic waters along the East Coast. The move by the Interior Department is the beginning of a long path that could ultimately lead to new offshore drilling along the mid- and south- Atlantic.  More »

The Senate on Monday launched a high-profile debate on a Democratic plan to block the nation’s five biggest oil companies from taking advantage of a suite of tax breaks.  More »