US President Barack Obama announced today that former Florida senator Bob Graham and former Environmental Protection Agency administrator William K. Reilly will lead a presidential commission investigating the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

New disclosures have revealed a complex cascade of deep-sea equipment failures and procedural problems in the BP oil rig explosion and massive spill fouling the waters of the Gulf of Mexico and threatening industry and wildlife.

BP’s chief executive Tony Hayward was today on his way to Louisiana as the worst US oil spill in decades continued to spread into precious shoreline habitat along the Gulf Coast.

The worst US oil spill in decades spread into precious shoreline habitat along the Gulf Coast today as documents emerged showing British Petroleum downplayed the possibility of a catastrophic accident at the offshore rig that exploded.

BP downplayed the possibility of a catastrophic accident at an offshore oil rig that exploded and caused the worst spill in decades along America’s Gulf Coast, it emerged today.

US president Barack Obama will announce today that a former Secret Service agent who helped expose lobbyists' corruption at the Interior Department will oversee the US$787bn (€611.74 bn) economic stimulus plan.

A SCANDAL involving sex, drugs and offshore oil drilling has emerged.

OIL prices drifted higher yesterday despite only limited supply disruptions caused by Hurricane Emily in the Gulf of Mexico.

Oil futures prices advanced to a new high yesterday as a strike began in Nigeria, Africa’s largest exporter of crude, exacerbating global supply concerns at a time of strong demand and reduced output in the hurricane-ravaged Gulf of Mexico.