Other big oil companies have taken a lesson from the BP's Gulf of Mexico well explosion and subsequent oil spill.
In a bid to improve the image of the industry after the largest environmental disaster caused by an oil spill in north America four of the world's biggest oil companies pledged $1 billion to create a rapid response system to deal with deepwater oil spills in the Gulf of Mexico.
The oil companies have been hit hard by the ban on deepwater drilling imposed by the Obama administration as a temporary measure. By building this set of modular containment equipment ready for emergency use, the oil companies hope to prove that they are not quite as ill prepared for such future emergencies as BP had been.
ExxonMobil, Chevron Corp., Conoco Phillips and Shell Oil hope to form this new company which will respond to offshore oil spills at up to 10,000 feet underwater. Michael Bromwich, director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, the federal agency that oversees offshore drilling, said the announcement was encouraging.