NEW YORK (Reuters) – Oil prices firmed on Wednesday after data showed pending U.S. home sales rose, improving prospects for economic recovery and also boosting equities.

U.S. pending home sales rose more than expected, to a six-month high in April, according to a monthly survey. The index has risen in three consecutive months, fueling optimism that an economic recovery in the world’s top economy is gaining steam.

U.S. crude for July rose 93 cents a barrel to $73.51 at 12:15 p.m. EDT, after losing nearly 2 percent on Tuesday.

Gains in NYMEX oil for delivery in later months were steeper still, with the October contract up as much as $1.35 a barrel.

Europe’s ICE Brent rose $1.43 a barrel to $74.14 a barrel by the same time.

“The pending home sales helped the stock market and oil,” said Richard Ilczyszyn, senior market strategist at Lind-Waldock in Chicago.

Following the U.S. home sales data, oil and equities rose in spite of lingering concerns that Europe’s debt crisis may cut into fuel demand and reports on Tuesday that showed manufacturing growth fell across the globe in May.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Just how many barrels of oil are gushing into the Gulf of Mexico from the Deepwater Horizon spill is a billion dollar question with implications that go beyond the environment. It could also help determine how much BP and others end up paying for the disaster.

A clause buried deep in the U.S. Clean Water Act may expose BP and others to civil fines that aren’t limited to any finite cap — unlike a $75 million (52 million pound) limit on compensation for economic damages. The Act allows the government to seek civil penalties in court for every drop of oil that spills into U.S. navigable waters, including the area of BP’s leaking well.

As a result, the U.S. government could seek to fine BP or others up to $4,300 for every barrel leaked into the U.S. Gulf, according to legal experts and official documents.

So far, analysts and experts calculating potential oil spill liabilities have mostly concentrated on the cost of the clean-up and compensation for economic damages to affected parties. Some have also discussed criminal liabilities.

But the potential for civil fines has received scant attention — and they could add up very quickly, depending on how aggressive the U.S. government is in pursuing them.

The threat of hefty fines underscores the importance of quantifying how much oil is pouring into the Gulf. As BP seeks to staunch the leak that has now been gushing for at least 33 days, it has estimated a spill rate of 5,000 barrels per day. But some experts say the volume — and hence the fines — could be more than 10 times higher.

The little-known, seldom applied clause in the Clean Water Act was added in 1990 after the Exxon Valdez disaster in Alaska, and was intended to beef up the arsenal of penalties the government can apply to oil spillers to deter future disasters.

NEW YORK, May 25 (Reuters) – Just how many barrels of oil are gushing into the Gulf of Mexico from the Deepwater Horizon spill is a billion dollar question with implications that go beyond the environment. It could also help determine how much BP <BP.L> and others end up paying for the disaster.

A clause buried deep in the U.S. Clean Water Act may expose BP and others to civil fines that aren’t limited to any finite cap — unlike a $75 million limit on compensation for economic damages. The Act allows the government to seek civil penalties in court for every drop of oil that spills into U.S. navigable waters, including the area of BP’s leaking well.

As a result, the U.S. government could seek to fine BP or others up to $4,300 for every barrel leaked into the U.S. Gulf, according to legal experts and official documents.

So far, analysts and experts calculating potential oil spill liabilities have mostly concentrated on the cost of the clean-up and compensation for economic damages to affected parties. Some have also discussed criminal liabilities.

But the potential for civil fines has received scant attention — and they could add up very quickly, depending on how agressive the U.S. government is in pursuing them.

The threat of hefty fines underscores the importance of quantifying how much oil is pouring into the Gulf. As BP seeks to staunch the leak that has now been gushing for at least 33 days, it has estimated a spill rate of 5,000 barrels per day. But some experts say the volume — and hence the fines — could be more than 10 times higher.

The little-known, seldom applied clause in the Clean Water Act was added in 1990 after the Exxon Valdez disaster in Alaska, and was intended to beef up the arsenal of penalties the government can apply to oil spillers to deter future disasters.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – A group of lawmakers will recommend BP be ordered to idle its Atlantis oil and gas platform in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico until federal regulators can prove the region’s second biggest rig is operating safely.

More than 20 Democratic lawmakers signed a letter on Wednesday with language that urges the Minerals Management Service to shut down Atlantis, which pumps up to 200,000 barrels per day of crude, pending a safety probe. The letter, given to Reuters, will be delivered to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar early Thursday, congressional staff said.

“We urge MMS to listen to the expert engineer who reviewed the Atlantis situation and called for an immediate shutdown until it can be shown that this platform is operating safely,” the letter said.

An earlier, February 24 letter from 19 lawmakers to the MMS urged an investigation into Atlantis’s safety, months ahead of the rig explosion at BP’s Macondo field in April and resulting oil spill and environmental disaster.

Arizona Representative Raul Grijalva, who sits on the Committee on Natural Resources, led the February effort and is the first signatory on the new letter.

“Given the backdrop of what has happened, the idling of the (Atlantis) platform I think is justified,” Grijalva said in a phone interview on Wednesday. “We need to make sure another catastrophe doesn’t happen.”

In the letter, House Democratic lawmakers voice renewed concern that the Atlantis oil and gas project, which began production in 2007, has operated without up-to-date “as built” engineering documents and diagrams showing how all of its components work, raising the specter of a disaster that could be even bigger than BP’s Macondo spill.

NEW YORK, May 19 (Reuters) – A group of U.S. lawmakers will recommend BP <BP.L> be ordered to idle its Atlantis oil and gas platform in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico until federal regulators can prove the region’s second biggest rig is operating safely. At least 17 Democratic lawmakers will urge the Minerals Management Service to shut down Atlantis, which pumps up to 200,000 barrels per day of crude, pending a broad safety probe, according to a letter they will deliver to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar on Wednesday, obtained by Reuters. "We urge MMS to listen to the expert engineer who reviewed the Atlantis situation and called for an immediate shutdown until it can be shown that this platform is operating safely," the letter said. An earlier, Feb. 24 letter from 19 lawmakers to the MMS urged an investigation into Atlantis’s safety, months ahead of the rig explosion at BP’s Macondo field in April and the resulting growing oil spill and environmental disaster. [ID:nN19188461] Arizona Representative Raul Grijalva, who sits on the Committee on Natural Resources, led the February effort and is the first signatory on the new letter. "Given the backdrop of what has happened, the idling of the (Atlantis) platform I think is justified," Grijalva said in a phone interview on Wednesday. "We need to make sure another catastrophe doesn’t happen." In the letter, lawmakers will voice renewed concern that the Atlantis oil and gas project, which began production in 2007, has operated without up-to-date "as built" engineering documents and diagrams showing how all of its components work, raising the specter of a disaster that could be even bigger than BP’s Macondo spill. "We are very concerned that the tragedy at Deepwater Horizon could foreshadow an accident at BP Atlantis, which is operating in deeper water than Horizon," according to the letter. The "worst-case scenario spill" could be many times worse than the Horizon disaster, exceeding the volume of the Exxon Valdez spill of 1989 in just two days time, it says. So far, the U.S. Gulf oil spill has yet to significantly affect U.S. oil production. Any order to halt Atlantis could change that. One of the most complex deepwater platforms in the world, Atlantis pumps crude and natural gas from the Green Canyon blocks in the U.S. Gulf, in waters more than 7,000 feet (2,130 metres) deep, around 150 miles (240 km) south of New Orleans. BP operates Atlantis and holds a 56 percent stake, while BHP Billiton <BHP.AX> holds a 44 percent stake. Salazar said in Senate testimony on Tuesday the U.S. government was investigating Atlantis, and admitted his agency came up short in preventing the recent Gulf of Mexico oil spill. [ID:nN18168199] Atlantis accounts for a major chunk of BP’s U.S. crude and natural gas production. The platform can produce up to 200,000 barrels a day of crude, around 13 percent of total U.S. Gulf output, and up to 180 million cubic feet of natural gas. BP, the top Gulf producer, pumps more than 400,000 bpd of oil equivalent in the region, and operates the two largest platforms, Thunder Horse and Atlantis. Lawmakers expect MMS to complete an initial investigation into Atlantis by May 27, Grijalva said. The MMS did not immediately return phone calls seeking comment. BP wouldn’t comment on the letter as it hasn’t seen it, but has said Atlantis adheres to rigorous safety standards and has safely produced millions of barrels of oil since its start-up. On Monday, the company rebuffed claims from a former BP contractor, Kenneth Abbott, who has said BP operated the rig without complete or accurate engineering documents. Abbott, along with advocacy group Food and Water Watch, filed a federal lawsuit this week against Salazar and the MMS, seeking Atlantis’s shut down. BP’s earlier investigation into the matter found that Abbott’s claims were "without substance," the company said. Grijalva is urging the MMS to interview Abbott and other experts. According to a database Abbott compiled while on contract with BP, more than 90 percent of the engineering documents and drawings for Atlantis’ subsea components had not been approved by an engineer as required by regulations, Grijalva said.The letter also cites an internal BP email from 2008, indicating that the company recognized incomplete or inaccurate engineering documents on Atlantis "could lead to catastrophic Operator errors."CRIMINAL PROBE?Grijalva said lawmakers on Capitol Hill, including Republicans, have increasingly been talking about the likelihood of criminal probes into BP’s operations.Department of Justice spokesman Andrew Ames said he could neither confirm or deny the existence of any investigation. Grijalva said a criminal investigation into BP’s activities "has become part of the conversation on the Hill," adding that he expected BP to face a probationary period as well as potential indictments. (Reporting by Joshua Schneyer; Editing by Marguerita Choy)

NEW YORK, May 19 (Reuters) – Several U.S. lawmakers plan to recommend the shutdown of the BP-operated Atlantis oil and gas platform in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico until federal regulators can prove the region’s second biggest rig is operating safely.

A group of lawmakers will urge an expanded investigation by the Minerals Management Service into Atlantis, which pumps up to 200,000 barrels per day of crude, according to a draft of the letter they will deliver to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar on Wednesday, obtained by Reuters.

“We urge MMS to listen to the expert engineer who reviewed the Atlantis situation and called for an immediate shut-down until it can be shown that this platform is operating safely,” the letter said. It was not immediately clear how many U.S. lawmakers would sign the letter on Wednesday, according to a source familiar with the efforts.

A Feb. 24 letter from lawmakers to the MMS urging an Atlantis safety investigation was signed by 19 lawmakers, and led by Arizona Democrat Raul Grijalva, who sits on the Congressional Committee on Natural Resources and chairs its subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands.

Atlantis, one of the most complex deepwater platforms in the world, pumps crude and natural gas from the Green Canyon blocks in the U.S. Gulf, and is located in waters more than 7,000 feet deep, around 150 miles south of New Orleans. BP Plc <BP.L> is the operator at Atlantis and a 56 percent stakeholder, while BHP Billiton <BHP.AX> holds a 44 percent working stake.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said in Senate testimony on Tuesday the U.S. government was investigating Atlantis, and admitted his agency came up short in preventing the recent Gulf of Mexico oil spill. [ID:nN18168199]

Any potential shutdown at Atlantis, even short-lived, could knock out a major chunk of BP’s U.S. crude and natural gas production. The platform can produce up to 200,000 barrels a day of crude, around 13 percent of total U.S. Gulf output, and up to 180 million cubic feet of natural gas per day.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – BP’s oil spill could make for one of the highest-stakes U.S. Gulf hurricane seasons on record.

Storms may scuttle clean-up efforts, force containment vessels to retreat, or propel spilled crude and tar balls over vast expanses of sea and beach, scientists said.

Meteorologists say that climate conditions are ripe for an unusually destructive hurricane season, the storm-prone period that runs from June 1 to the end of November in the Gulf. Oceanographers say that could hurt the clean-up.

“If a storm comes into this situation it could vastly complicate everything,” said Florida State University oceanography professor Ian MacDonald.

“All efforts on the shoreline and at sea, the booms and structures and rigs involved in clean-up and containment, could stop working.”

As thousands of spill responders gird for a clean-up that could last for months or years after the leaking well is capped, weather and ocean currents are emerging as major unknowns, raising anxiety levels, economic and environmental stakes in the Gulf as storm season nears.

Compounding the uncertainty is how little research has been done on how storms affect oil spills. Some believe storm surges may help disperse the oil off shore or break down the slick. Other research suggests the oil slick itself could keep storms from gathering strength.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – A bill of more than $10 billion to clean up oil gushing from BP’s U.S. Gulf well could be small compared to costs the disaster adds to producing oil offshore in coming years, enough to push world oil prices higher.

As regulators, oil companies and insurers plot their response to the U.S. Gulf disaster, few experts expect offshore drilling to be halted or sharply cut, given its importance to global oil supply. Deepwater output accounts for around 9 percent of the world’s oil, or double its contribution a decade ago, according to industry estimates.

As drilling procedures go on trial and rules are tweaked to hold the oil industry accountable for disasters, the economics of future deepwater drilling will be at stake.

The offshore oil industry may be in store for a new economic reality, with oil companies seeking to pass along higher costs to customers at the pump.

“There will be a tightening of regulations, potentially raising the cost of finding and developing a barrel of oil in deepwater by 10 to 15 percent, or $5 to $10 a barrel,” said Edward Morse, a managing director at Credit Suisse in New York.

“We don’t expect anything to impede drilling entirely, just delay it and potentially raise costs.”

Prospects for tougher offshore standards have analysts and oil companies crunching numbers to determine how they may affect drilling economics, and ultimately world oil prices.

NEW YORK, May 3 (Reuters) – The rate to charter oil and product tankers in the Caribbean and US Gulf Coast region has surged by 50 percent or more over the last week as tankers confront the massive oil spill in the region and brave stormy seas, shipbrokers and analysts said on Monday.

The day-rate to charter an Aframax tanker in the Caribbean-USGC region, with capacity to transport around 750,000 barrels of crude, surged to around $13,000 a day by Monday, up from around $8,700 a week ago, according to the Dahlman Rose investment bank.

Poten and Partners said Aframax rates in the Caribbean/US Gulf Coast region rose to as much as $17,000 a day on Friday, from $9,300 last Monday. Rates fell back to around $13,500 a day on Monday, Poten said.

A third broker, CR Weber, said Aframax rates were up more than 60 percent from week-ago levels in the region.

Aframax tankers are typically up to 120,000 dead weight tons and can typically transport 750,000 barrels of oil or more.

Tanker owners were charging higher prices to risk transporting cargoes nearby areas affected by the growing oil slick from BP’s offshore Macondo field 50 miles south of Louisiana, where the Transocean Horizon deepwater rig recently exploded and sank.

“Some are either reluctant to go to the region, or reluctant to stay if they are already there,” another shipping source said, requesting anonymity.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Major oil and grain shipping channels through the Gulf of Mexico are not being affected by the massive oil slick, officials said on Thursday amid concerns that it could disrupt operations in the region.

While oil traders braced for potential freight restrictions that could curtail crude oil imports to the nation’s refining hub, the Coast Guard sought to prevent the spreading slick from affecting traffic and the nation’s biggest oil import terminal off Louisiana said it did not anticipate a disruption for now.

“It is our goal not to allow disruption of traffic on the Mississippi River,” said Coast Guard Rear Admiral Mary Landry, who is heading the federal cleanup effort. “We cannot disrupt maritime commerce.”

The Louisiana Offshore Oil Port, which handles more than 1 million barrels a day of crude oil imports, is operating normally and doesn’t expect any impact on operations, LOOP spokeswoman Barb Hestermann said.

Fears of disruption to crude oil imports or soybean exports escalated on Thursday as an offshore oil well continued to gush crude, and after White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters that President Barack Obama had been briefed on how the spill could interfere with shipping channels.

“A big threat is to tanker traffic both inbound and outbound,” said a crude oil trader who declined to be named. “The closer it comes to shore the bigger the problem, since the Coast Guard will not want any vessel to be fouled by oil.”

But for the moment, traders and port officials said they didn’t anticipate a major impact, even after the U.S. Coast Guard ordered commercial seagoing vessels to avoid the slick, caused by the collapse of a deepwater drilling rig.