BP's (BP) relief well reached intercepted the Macondo well, putting engineers in a position to permanently plug the well that spewed out millions of barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. The relief well intercepted the Macondo well late last night, Reuters reported. The next step will be to pour in cement near the bottom of the well, some 2.5 miles below the seabed.
Investment banks and chicken slaughterhouses don't have much in common, but evidently they both aren't the easiest places for women to make a living, based on the gender discrimination lawsuits filed against Goldman Sachs and Tyson Foods this week.
The recent fire at an oil production platform in the Gulf of Mexico has brought unexpected focus on the platform's owner, Mariner Energy. Here's more on a company that isn't well known outside oil circles.
BP said Friday that the Deepwater Horizon rig's blowout preventer, which failed to prevent oil from the Macondo well from flowing into the Gulf of Mexico, has been removed from atop the well.
The news of a fire on Vermillion, a Mariner Energy-owned oil-rig platform in the Gulf, drew instant comparisons with the Deepwater Horizon rig that exploded in April and caused the huge BP oil spill. But stark differences exist between the two incidents.
Brazilian and Chinese visitors led a resurgence in foreign tourism spending within the U.S. in the first half of 2010, giving hope to domestic hoteliers, airline companies and others that the travel-spending slump of 2008 and 2009 is over, according to a report released Wednesday.
Though BP has taken the brunt of the blame for the Gulf oil spill, the Deepwater Horizon rig was owned by Transocean, and as investigators delve deeper into what happened on April 20, they're focusing more on Transocean's maintenance practices.
After the BP disaster, the Minerals Management Service is under fire, and a presidential commission will hold a hearing. A report reveals how the MMS became partner with the industry it regulates, often putting revenue ahead of safety.
In a sternly worded letter to BP's attorneys, oil rig owner Transocean accuses BP of withholding critical information needed to investigate the cause of the Gulf oil spill. BP calls the accusation "a publicity stunt."
Pictures of oil-soaked birds and sea creatures are the public image of the BP oil spill. But they aren't the only animals affected: The economic catastrophe in the Gulf Coast region has forced people to surrender dogs and cats in droves because they can no longer afford to care for them.
In 2003, the U.S. Supreme Court held in Grutter v. Bollinger that race could be a "plus factor" considered in school admissions. On Tuesday, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals will hear arguments in the first case to ask precisely what that means.
The decline in property values could total $3 billion over five years, Bloomberg reported, citing real estate data company CoreLogic. The BP oil spill could wipe out the premium that buyers normally pay to be near the ocean.
