Mexico

Shares of BP plc plunged in U.S. and UK markets Tuesday following the failure of the company’s latest attempt to staunch the flow of oil from its crippled Gulf of Mexico (GOM) well, which is feeding the worst oil spill in U.S. history. BP is working on perhaps its most risky effort to date to stop the flow.

Weak natural gas prices and regulatory uncertainty — stemming from the Deepwater Horizon accident in the Gulf of Mexico — cloud the outlook for oilfield service (OFS) companies over the next year to 18 months, Moody’s Investors Service said in a report Tuesday.

ExxonMobil Corp. has no plans to change its approach to deepwater natural gas and oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) or anywhere else, despite the ongoing offshore tragedy, Chairman Rex Tillerson told shareholders Wednesday in Dallas.

More than five weeks into the Gulf of Mexico oil spill caused by the explosion and sinking of drilling rig Deepwater Horizon, BP plc mounted its most ambitious attempt yet to stop the flow of oil from the ruptured well.

Although the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s investigation of the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) rig blowout and spill still is in its early stages, Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA) last Wednesday said the committee had uncovered major discrepancies in the accounts of some of the companies involved.

Operations under way in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) to drill a relief well to stop the flow of oil from a well ruptured more than three weeks ago might actually make matters worse, according to a report by Houston-based Wild Well Control Inc. prepared for Canada’s National Energy Board (NEB).

Operations under way in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) to drill a relief well to stop the flow of oil from a well ruptured more than three weeks ago might actually make matters worse, according to a report by Houston-based Wild Well Control Inc. prepared for Canada’s National Energy Board (NEB).

Following the weekend failure of the last best hope to collect oil spewing from a ruptured well a mile below the surface of the Gulf of Mexico (GOM), Monday brought talk of a “top hat” and “junk shots” — the latest ideas on how to collect leaking oil or seal the well — from BP plc CEO Tony Hayward.

Anadarko Petroleum Corp. CEO Jim Hackett said last week the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has “complicated” the passage of an energy bill, but he’s still hopeful for passage of the delayed climate legislation, which would give a big boost to the natural gas industry.