How Big Oil Will Stop Next Spill

Four major oil companies—Exxon Mobil, Chevron, Royal Dutch Shell, and ConocoPhillips—are working together to build a strike force to deal with future oil spills on the scale of the one in the Gulf of Mexico. The rapid-fire response system will be aimed at capturing 100,000 barrels of oil 10,000 feet below the surface of the sea, and will resemble the trial-by-fire system BP had to create following the April 20 Deepwater Horizon oil-rig explosion that led to 60,000 barrels of oil per day leaking into the Gulf. The companies want to rebuild their relationship with the White House, which has twice tried to impose a deepwater-drilling moratorium in response to the oil spill.