THE American public has been told by their government that oil industry regulation has been undermined by drugs, pornography and ethical transgression.

But politicians in Washington are less keen to admit that they and the wider public have all allowed themselves to be seduced by the cheap petrol and tax provided by BP and the rest of Big Oil. The interior department has created good headlines and bought time for Barack Obama by releasing details of a report into the working of one of its own agencies, the Minerals Management Service.

This review by the department's acting inspector general, Mary Kendall, outlined how staff at the oil industry's chief safety watchdog, MMS, accepted tickets to sporting events, lunches and hunting trips from oil and gas firms.

It also spelled out incidents such as one where a MMS inspector admitted using crystal methamphetamine and said he may have been under the influence of the drug at work the next day.

Pornography being viewed on government computers was one of a number of violations at the Louisiana office of the MMS, according to Kendall. But these incidents are perhaps less important than evidence that the multibillion dollar oil industry exercised a grip on the agency meant to regulate its drilling and other operations.

There are examples of companies filling in their own safety forms and fighting off attempts by the MMS to tighten up offshore regulations but the agency is more compromised by looking after safety and tax revenues at the same time.

The MMS, more than anyone, would be aware that halting offshore oil production operations of any particular company would improve safety but reduce tax revenues of $13bn annually.

It would also cut vital output for a country that imports 10 million barrels of oil a day to feed consumer addiction to cheap fuel.

The British sector of the North Sea used to be regulated in a similar way but was forced to change tack after a report on safety from Lord Cullen in reaction to the 1988 Piper Alpha off-shore oil rig disaster in which 167 workers lost their lives. Regulation was moved from the Department of Energy to the Health and Safety Executive bringing a big improvement in standards offshore, said Jake Molloy, offshore organiser for the RMT union. But he said safety in the British oil industry is still hampered by the restrictions imposed on the HSE.

The HSE has recently threatened various oil companies with shutting down their platforms for safety violations in the UK North Sea but it never publicises its work except via notices buried in the inner depths of a complex website.

The wider issue in Britain — as in America — is the financial muscle of companies such as BP and the importance they have in keeping transport running and power stations working. The White House may like to say it is keeping its “boot to the throat” of the oil industry; in fact it knows it's the other way round given America's dependency on foreign crude.

— The Guardian, London