The US is planning to impose a new regulation on offshore oil and gas drilling in a bid to prevent the type of explosions which caused the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
According to reports, the Interior Department could make the announcement as early as this week.
It’s understood the timing of the announcement has been picked to coincide with the fifth anniversary of the disaster, which killed 11 men.
The move is expected to tighten the safety requirements on blowout preventers – devices that are the last line of protection to stop explosions in undersea oil and gas wells.
The Obama administration is currently taking steps to open up vast new areas of federal waters off the Atlantic coast to drilling.
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