Environmental Leader

Oil industry executives are encouraging the government to open more offshore regions to exploration and production. However, the new Interior Secretary, Ken Salazar, recently rejected a Bush administration plan to open vast areas of offshore waters to oil and gas drilling, Mercury News reports.

At a time when oil industry executives are seeking closer cooperation with the government to satisfy global energy demand, Salazar has rejected plans to expand offshore drilling citing a need to “restore an orderly process” to energy planning.

Speaking at an energy conference in Houston, BP chief executive Tony Hayward said it’s important for energy companies and governments to have confidence in each other if the industry is to make the massive outlays necessary to meet future energy use. He notes that the International Energy Agency has projected that the world will need 40 percent more energy in 2030 than it consumes today.

Hayward also noted that one-fourth of U.S. oil production comes from the 15 percent of the Outer Continental Shelf not off-limits to drilling, according to the Mercury News.

Hayward and other oil industry executives say the oil industry should have a seat at the table regarding policy decisions.

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