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Big Oil is ready to go back to work in the Gulf of Mexico , even with the U.S government promising to rule the waters with a heavier hand. Chevron, Exxon, Royal Dutch Shell are willing to endure the additional time to secure permits and extra costs that will result from new government regulations because they've come to depend on deepwater drilling to replenish their reserves. The companies outlined plans for the Gulf this week as most of them reported improved earnings for the third quarter. These big oil and gas companies know the geology of the Gulf much better than other parts of the world. Taxes and royalties for projects in U.S. waters are considered to be much lower than foreign operations, and it's much easier and cheaper to deliver the oil to the consumer. "It's one-stop shopping," said Fadel Gheit, an analyst with Oppenheimer & Co. "When you're working in the Gulf, you're sitting in the belly of the largest energy-consuming economy ...

Transocean, the company that owned the rig behind the Gulf of Mexico disaster, has accused oil giant BP of hiding key data needed for a probe in a recently published strongly worded letter. Transocean accused BP of trying to stop any other entity from probing the April 20 explosion of the Deepwater Horizon rig, leased by BP, which killed 11 workers and unleashed the worst oil spill in history. BP quickly denounced the letter, which was sent to three members of President Barack Obama's cabinet and leading members of Congress, calling it a "publicity stunt" to deflect Transocean's responsibility. Transocean said BP had stopped even acknowledging requests for documents that "only BP has and that are critical to an honest assessment of the incident and the identification of possible improvements for the entire industry." "BP has continued to demonstrate its unwillingness, if not outright refusal, to deliver even the most basic information to Transocean,...