Oil industry executives exhort U.S. Congress to allow offshore drilling

19-Nov-2009

In statements delivered to the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, officials from Royal Dutch Shell and BP encouraged congressmen to permit more offshore drilling of oil and gas.

The Interior Department is considering relaxing its offshore drilling rules, which leave many potential hydrocarbon reserves untapped because of environmental concerns. A spokesman for marine conservation group Oceana said Thursday that "potentially irreversible effects of oil pollution on marine ecosystems and their dependent economies do not justify the potential short-term economic gains."

Last week the Interior Department announced that it is making tracts available in the Gulf of Mexico in a March 2010 auction. Thirty-six million acres will be leased in the sale, Interior hopes. But the American Petroleum Institute was quick to criticize the department's decision to shorten oil companies' development windows. API president Jack Gerard said the move "takes away from companies the flexibility" they need to operate.

In remarks to Congress, Shell Oil president Marvin Odum suggested that "locking [offshore] resources away" and relying on other countries' fossil fuels is tantamount to "hypocrisy."

"Oil and gas will play a major part in meeting America's energy demands for several decades," he added.

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