Oil chiefs urge lifting of deep-water ban; Propose $1 billion response plan

Four major oil companies' new $1 billion plan for a quick-response system to fight oil spills should help soothe concerns about the safety of deep-water drilling and prod regulators to lift a temporary ban, executives with Chevron Corp. and Shell said in interviews Thursday. Marvin Odum, who heads Houston-based Shell Oil Co., the U.S. arm of Royal Dutch Shell, sees the four companies' initiative working in concert with new offshore drilling standards from the Interior Department and a separate ongoing industry effort to develop better oil cleanup technology. "I think the elements combined should solve the problem," Odum said. Chevron Corp., Shell, Exxon Mobil Corp. and ConocoPhillips on Wednesday announced plans to spend a combined $1 billion on a system for containing blown-out wells in the deep-water Gulf of Mexico. It would be faster to deploy, more robust and more flexible than tools BP is using on damaged Macondo well. Targeted for completion within 18 months, the system will be capable of mobilizing within 24 hours of a spill, working in up to 10,000 feet of water — twice the depth of Macondo - and collecting 100,000 barrels per day of leaking oil, the companies said...more