International group agrees to set offshore drilling standards for oil and gas exploration

Drilling regulators from a dozen countries on Thursday agreed to take steps toward uniform standards for oil and gas exploration in oceans around the world. U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar suggested the idea at the end of a daylong summit on offshore drilling safety that focused on the lessons learned from last year's Deepwater Horizon disaster, including the need for better ways to rein in runaway underwater wells. Representatives from the European Union, the United States and 11 other countries, including the Russian Federation, Brazil and Australia, agreed to form a working group to develop global offshore drilling standards. The group will meet again in Oslo in 2012, on the second anniversary of the gulf spill...more