What does the Minerals Management Service Do?

They don't tell their staff much about what's going on offshore. They have a problem operating in an ethical manner. They don't like to collect money due us.

Now we find out that they really don't like to make much of an effort to see that offshore drilling is as safe as it can be. Basically, they have ceded oversight of offshore drilling safety to the oil companies. Some of the results of this approach are:

4.84 American die for every 100,000,000 hours worked, while 1.07 Europeans do.

659.73 American get hurt for every 100,000,000 hours worked, while 535.99 Europeans do.

In the U.S. we lose control 3.9% of the time when working with wells, in Europe it's 3.6%.

Maybe part of the safety problem is due to a decline in the number of inspections the Service performs every year. In 2005 it was 1,292, in 2009, 760. Or, maybe its due to a decline in penalties imposed on the oil companies; in 2000 there were 66, in 2009 the number was 20. Or, maybe it's because the Service expects the oil companies to create regulations.

The most bizarre incident reported in the Wall Street Journal article is the suit by an oil company against the Service wherein the company claimed that the Service's investigation of a fatal accident that occurred at a company's rig was incomplete.

Will changes be made in the Service?.