Murphy Oil is a midsize company with a bold drilling campaign in Malaysia, Suriname and Congo.
Oil firm Dana Petroleum is bringing new wells into production in Egypt, after a successful drilling campaign.
With the company burning through cash on a high-risk drilling campaign, further delays could potentially wipe equity holders out.
And might also serve to inform investors in Royal Dutch Shell what the full costs may be of continuing to pursue its snafu-prone Alaskan drilling campaign.
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Shell has hoped that a successful Arctic drilling campaign would open up the province to broader oil exploration and the potential of tapping tens of billions of barrels of oil.
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"John McCain's support of the moratorium on offshore drilling during his first presidential campaign was certainly laudable, but his decision to completely change his position and tell a group of Houston oil executives exactly what they wanted to hear today was the same Washington politics that has prevented us from achieving energy independence for decades, " he said.
Obama promised increased offshore drilling before, during his 2008 campaign.
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The cause: a campaign against the gas drilling process known as fracking that's being led by more than 100 celebrities, including Yoko Ono, Sean Lennon, Robert Redford, Mark Ruffalo and Mario Batali.
After deciding it would no longer take such donations, the group launched a campaign that is critical of the gas drilling industry.
The senator from Arizona outlined an energy plan that would include lifting the ban on offshore drilling for oil, a reversal of his position during his 2000 campaign.
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Both sides tried to go on offense, with the Obama camp accusing McCain of "yet another flip-flop" on the issue of oil drilling and the McCain camp saying Obama broke his word on the issue of campaign financing.
Cairn had claimed that the raid on its Edinburgh offices was part of a GPI-led Greenpeace campaign to get hold of Cairns's oil spill response plan and encourage a moratorium on drilling in the Arctic.
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