National Journal:

HOUSTON — As Washington remains gridlocked over energy policy, thousands of executives who make the industry go round are meeting here this week to hash out a way forward with America’s energy plan.
The 30th annual Cambridge Energy Research Associates (CERA) conference gets under way Tuesday, with roughly 2,200 industry executives from 55 countries attending. Two dominant issues will be spiking oil prices amid Middle East unrest, and oil and gas drilling following last year’s BP’s Macondo well blowout and ensuing oil spill.
Many of Tuesday’s panel discussions focus on how drillers can get back into the Gulf of Mexico as quickly and safely as possible. BP’s CEO Robert Dudley will speak at a luncheon event.
“Macondo demonstrated that there was a greater need for industry collective responsibility because, yes, the consequences of the Macondo blowout fell most heavily on BP, but they clearly had a material impact on the whole sector,” said Michael McMahon, managing director of Pine Brook Partners, a New York-based oil and gas private equity firm.
As important as industry’s role is, government regulation is vital. Without government approval, companies can’t drill.
“Ensuring a cooperative relationship with the companies and the federal regulators who agree on best practices, and then to put the oversight in place to make sure companies are adhering to [it], that is very important,” McMahon said.
Discussion of that “cooperative relationship” might be one-sided. The Interior Department is not sending anyone to the event. The department’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement director, Michael Bromwich, approved the first deep-water drilling permit for the Gulf of Mexico since the BP spill last week. It went to Noble Energy. Its CEO, Charles Davidson, will speak at the conference on Wednesday.
The administration will be represented by officials from the State and Energy departments, and the White House’s Council on Environmental Quality. None of those departments’ top officials will be here, illustrating the gulf between the private sector and Washington on energy issues.
Daniel Yergin, chairman of IHS CERA and chairman of the conference, said it’s imperative to resume drilling in the Gulf’s deep waters. The region produces 5 million barrels of oil daily. “If it was a country, it would be the fourth-largest producer of oil, if you think about it that way,” said Yergin, who authored the Pulitzer-Prize-winning The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money and Power. “It’s a major component of the pie.”

The rest here.