Oil Companies Form Oil Containment Organization

Four of the world’s five biggest oil and gas companies formed a not-for-profit joint venture to prevent and contain future oil spills.

(L-R) Rex Tillerson, Chairman and CEO of ExxonMobil, John Watson, Chairman and CEO of Chevron, James Mulva, Chairman and CEO of ConocoPhillips, Marvin Odum, President of Shell Oil Company, and Lamar McKay, Chairman and President BP America, Inc. are sworn in for a hearing in DC. Mark Wilson/Getty Images

NEW YORK—Four of the world’s five biggest oil and gas companies on Thursday formed a not-for-profit joint venture to prevent and contain future oil spills called Marine Well Containment Co.

The organization is funded with $1 billion contributed by ExxonMobil Corp., Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Chevron Corp., and ConocoPhillips. Conspicuously absent from the alliance is BP Plc, the embattled British oil firm currently fighting to contain a leakage in the Gulf of Mexico.

BP’s leased Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded on April 20, causing the biggest oil spill disaster in U.S. history, prompting a moratorium on offshore drilling by the Obama Administration.

The move comes before a U.S. government panel is currently reviewing offshore drilling practices, possibly ushering in new regulations. The joint venture is a way for the oil giants to appease government officials’ concerns regarding the future of offshore oil drilling.

“By setting up the non-profit Marine Well Containment Company, these four industry giants are demonstrating corporate responsibility and preparedness,” said Rep. Chaka Fattah (D-Pa.), a member of the House Appropriations Committee’s Energy and Water Subcommittee, in a statement. “They have learned a huge lesson from BP’s lack of foresight.”