Oil and gas companies working offshore have until June 4, 2015 to let outside auditors examine their new government-mandated safety programs, but right now, there aren’t any investigators qualified to do the job, experts said Thursday.  More »

Federal regulators are on track to propose new standards for boosting the reliability and performance of emergency devices safeguarding offshore wells later this year — but that doesn’t mean the industry will have to comply overnight.  More »

Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement Director James Watson talks about coming new regulations with FuelFix ahead of a speech at the Offshore Technology Conference in Houston.  More »

A week-long drill testing how the oil industry and federal regulators would respond to an out-of-control Gulf of Mexico well wrapped up late Monday, with government officials deeming the exercise a success.  More »

The nation’s top offshore drilling regulators will visit the Offshore Technology Conference on Wednesday to tour the massive exhibit floor where more than 2,000 companies have their wares on display. The newly sworn-in interior secretary, Sally Jewell, will make an appearance, alongside Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement director James Watson and Tommy Beaudreau, the head of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.  More »

The pace of regulatory change has slowed since the days just after the Deepwater Horizon disaster in 2010, but oil companies and offshore contractors are still dealing with repercussions.  More »

In deep Gulf of Mexico waters on Tuesday, federal regulators and the oil industry launched a drill meant to test whether emergency equipment and first responders are ready to tackle an out-of-control subsea well.  More »

Federal regulators finalized a plan designed to boost the safety of offshore drilling on Thursday, by insisting that workers have the power to halt dangerous activity and requiring third-party audits of risk management programs.  More »

Federal regulators this month issued a batch of safety violation notices to offshore drilling contractors, exercising an aggressive new interpretation of the Interior Department’s powers for the first time since the 2010 Gulf oil spill.  More »

Federal offshore drilling regulators on Wednesday advanced a policy statement meant to prod oil and gas companies to adopt a “safety culture” following lethal accidents in the Gulf of Mexico. The move comes as regulators draw scrutiny for not conducting audits of newly mandated safety programs and weeks after a fatal fire on a production platform 18 miles from Louisiana’s coast.  More »

James Watson took the reins at the agency that oversees offshore energy development just over a year ago. In an interview with the Houston Chronicle, Watson outlines his enforcement philosophy, discusses a risk-based approach to policing the industry and highlights bureau training programs.  More »

Before last week’s fatal fire at one of Black Elk Energy’s oil production platforms, the five-year-old firm had racked up more than 300 documented mistakes and violations offshore, according to federal regulators who cracked down on the Houston-based company Wednesday.  More »