API to establish offshore safety center in Houston

HOUSTON – A petroleum industry group plans to establish a center for offshore safety in Houston nearly a year after a disastrous BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

The board of directors of the American Petroleum Institute formally endorsed the proposal Thursday.

Institute president Jack Gerard says the center will be run by the group's separately funded standards and certification arm.

The April 2010 blowout and rig explosion off Louisiana killed 11 workers and released more than 200 million gallons of oil from the damaged well.

A presidential investigating panel earlier this year concluded that the government and the oil industry still had not done enough to avert another catastrophic accident offshore.

The API represents more than 470 oil and natural gas companies.

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Online:

http://www.api.org/