deepwater drilling

Americans have grown used to oil at $100 a barrel and paying more than $3 per gallon for gas at the pump. But don't get too comfy -- the price of filling up is probably going up in 2012.

The U.S. has approved the first permit to resume deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico since the BP oil spill a year ago. The Noble Energy project, 70 miles southeast of Venice, La., is slated to be deeper than the blown out BP well.

As rapid economic growth and a population boom take place in the developing world, oil will play an increasingly vital role, no matter what its drawbacks. That puts the likes of Schlumberger, Weatherford and Baker Hughes in a sweet spot.

No one died in the second major Gulf of Mexico oil rig mishap this year, and the fire aboard the Mariner Energy platform didn't lead to a spill. But that doesn't make it a win for America: More like a wake-up call that safety is still being given short shrift by the oil industry.

Another oil rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico Thursday gave fresh urgency to the debate over the Obama administration's moratorium on deepwater oil drilling. Environmental groups renewed their calls to maintain or expand the ban; advocates for removing it were more circumspect.

BP's (BP) investigation into the Deepwater Horizon rig oil disaster accepts that the company is at least partly responsible for the disaster, with employees misinterpreting data that suggested a blowout was imminent, Bloomberg News said. BP managers on the rig misinterpreted a test of Macondo...

BP (BP) will likely start drilling deep-water wells in Libya by October, the country's top oil official said. "They are delaying because of technical problems, they want to be assured that all the instruments are working well and they don't want a repeat of Macondo -- it may take another two...

Noble is looking to strike it rich with a $2.16 billion acquisition of FDR Holdings, also known as Frontier Drilling. Noble, an offshore drilling contractor, is seeking to expand its footprint in the mid- and deepwater drilling zones.

Two days after rescinding an Obama administration moratorium on new deepwater oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, a district court judge again rebuffs the government's attempts to ban drilling.

BP CEO Tony "I'd like my life back" Hayward should cough up his 2009 compensation -- awarded for hitting safety and cost-reduction targets -- and be paid nothing this year. And the oil giant's board should go for failing to manage Hayward and hold him accountable.