U.S. Offshore Oil Chief Quits 4 Weeks After Rig Blast (Update2) [View All]

By Joe Carroll

May 17 (Bloomberg) -- The chief U.S. oversight official for offshore oil drilling resigned today, four weeks after a rig disaster in the Gulf of Mexico that killed 11 workers, sank the vessel and triggered leaks that have spewed millions of gallons of crude into the sea.

Chris Oynes, associate director of the offshore energy and minerals management program for the Interior Department’s Minerals Management Service, has left his job, Bill Lee, an agency spokesman, said in an interview.

Oynes left amid heightened scrutiny of the rigorousness of rig-safety inspections and mounting criticism of what President Barack Obama described as the agency’s “cozy relationship” with the energy industry.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced plans last week to split the minerals service into separate agencies with safety and revenue-collecting duties. The minerals agency is the largest source of U.S. Treasury funds behind the Internal Revenue Service, generating about $13 billion a year.

Oynes was elevated to chief of the offshore division in February 2007 after 13 years in charge of the agency’s Gulf of Mexico unit, where he oversaw 50 lease sales and safety inspections for 4,000 oil and natural-gas platforms, according to the Minerals Management Service’s website.

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Most likely hurriedly resigned to keep his government pension and benefits.