Judge blocks Obama’s drilling ban

A US judge has blocked the Obama administration’s six- month ban on deepwater drilling, complicating efforts to improve the safety of offshore oil operations after the worst spill in US history.

The White House said it would appeal the judge’s ruling, issued in New Orleans. Oil companies involved in offshore drilling operations had challenged the government’s moratorium.

It came as a new Reuters/ Ipsos poll found that most Americans still support offshore drilling, despite watching a huge oil slick from BP’s Gulf of Mexico oil spill devastate fragile wetlands and communities along the US Gulf coast over the past two months.

President Barack Obama imposed a ban on deep-sea drilling, below 500 feet.

The judge in Louisiana granted a request by more than a dozen oil services companies for a preliminary injunction that would prevent the ban from taking effect.

Challenging the “immense scope” of the moratorium, Judge Martin Feldman said the companies would likely succeed in showing that it was “arbitrary and capricious”.

Obama had hoped the ban would afford his administration enough time to ensure that deep-sea wells were operating safely. The oil companies argued that the ban was unfair and had forced a halt to the operations of 33 offshore rigs.

“The president strongly believes... that continuing to drill at these depths without knowing what happened does not make any sense,” White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said on news of the judge’s ruling.

Feldman’s decision was a victory for big offshore energy producers like BP, Chevron Corp and Royal Dutch Shell. Their operations have been hamstrung by the ban, and they are eyeing relocating their giant drilling rigs to other basins like Brazil.

The companies that brought the suit argued in court on Monday that the drilling ban was forcing major layoffs in the workforce that services offshore oil rigs. Government lawyers said the moratorium was overwhelmingly in the public interest.

Despite BP still struggling to contain the spill, 56% of Americans believe offshore drilling is necessary for the US to produce its own energy and not rely on other countries, while 38% believe it is a bad idea, according to the Reuters poll.

The Reuters poll found about three-quarters of Americans believe neither BP nor the government responded quickly enough to the disaster.

The telephone poll of 1,005 Americans was conducted from June 17 to 20 and has a margin of error of 3 percentage points.

Expanding offshore drilling was a key part of Obama’s proposals to revamp US energy policy. He hoped it would generate support from opposition Republicans for more controversial aspects of his plans to fight climate change.

But the spill forced him to shelve the drilling expansion plan.

Oil industry executives meeting in London said the US administration should look at the bigger picture.

“Policy-makers, while rightfully focused on the tragedy, should analyse it in context as an isolated and likely preventable event,” Jay Pryor, global vice president business development at Chevron said on Tuesday.

“They should keep in mind that overall the industry has a good safety record and a good record for environmental protection.”

BP said it captured 25,830 barrels in the Gulf on Monday, the highest amount yet. Between 35,000 and 60,000 barrels a day are gushing from the well, according to US government estimates.