(Editor's note: While understanding and correcting the causes of the Gulf of Mexico accident are essential, the American Petroleum Institute (API) opposes lengthy or open-ended delay of offshore oil and natural gas development, as proposed today by the administration. Offshore development is crucial to creating and saving jobs and strengthening U.S. energy security.

API's President and CEO Jack Gerard offered the following response to the president's announcement.)

"We understand the concerns many people have about offshore drilling in the wake of this incident, and the frustration many feel toward oil companies. But this issue is much larger than the oil industry, since access to affordable energy impacts every sector of our economy, every state in our nation and every American family. Fu... more »

At an early morning news conference, U.S. Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen said today that engineers have stopped the flow of oil and gas into the Gulf of Mexico.

The "top kill" procedure, in which heavy drilling fluids are pumped at a high rate of speed into the blowout preventer (BOP) and down the wellbore, apparently is working.

As The Los Angeles Times reports, the pressure from the well is low but not at zero yet. When the pressure has been overcome completely by the fluid, engineers will pump cement into the well and entomb it. Engineers also are pumping debris into the BOP in an apparent "junk shot." The Times also notes that only after the cementing is completed, sealing the well, can the top kill be called a success.

Adm. Allen said he was encouraged by the top kill's progress. "We'll... more »

API President and CEO Jack Gerard is testifying today at the House Natural Resources Committee's hearing on the nation's Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) oil and natural gas strategy and the implications of the Deepwater Horizon tragedy.

Click the image below to view C-SPAN's live coverage of the hearing. It is expected to begin at 10:00 a.m. EST. Tune in around noon to watch Jack Gerard discuss issues surrounding the tragic accident.

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Image Source: C-Span

BP has received permission to launch the "top kill" procedure on the Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico. This means engineers can begin pumping heavy drilling fluids into the blowout preventer (BOP) and the wellbore in hopes of stopping the oil leaks.

When the top kill is deployed, major changes will be seen in the live video feed of the oil and natural gas flowing from the broken riser. As the drilling fluids are pumped through hoses into the BOP, some of the fluids--also called muds--are likely to come from the riser along with the oil and gas. If the fluids can be pumped fast enough into the BOP--at a rate of 40 or 50 barrels per minute--a large amount of fluid should be forced down into the wellbore, which could plug the well by counteracting the underground pressure that is forcing oi... more »

A new Penn State study says the development of clean-burning natural gas in Pennsylvania's Marcellus Shale formation could create 212,000 new jobs during the next 10 years and generate more than $1.8 billion in state and local tax revenues during the next 18 months.

These are among the key findings released this week in an update to Penn State's initial jobs and economic impact study issued last July.

The study's authors say that increased exploration activities during the next decade are expected to bring online an additional 13.5 billion cubic feet of natural gas a day--nearly seven times the amount that Pennsylvanians currently use on a daily basis.

The authors also suggest that in the long term, Marcellus could "be the second largest natural gas field in the world" if fully developed--... more »