BP was an abberation in Gulf exploration. And they have been fined billions and lost a good amount of stock value in the process. It is indicative of the larger issues over the last decade of not taking risk management seriously. That has changed by necessity. Even corporations depending upon bailouts realize that can't last forever and are changing their risk management processes.
Meanwhile, keep driving your car, keep powering your home, and pretend that you bear no role in the need to explore for more energy. And if you think nationalized oil companies are the answer, just check the history of such in Mexico and Venezuala.
Oh, and for you to whine about energy independence is the height of hypocrisy. Yours in the mindset of those who seek to make it harder to find oil in this country, which in turn makes it harder to achieve energy independence.
Stop the circle argument. There is no guarentee we get energy independence and therefore, no guarenteed benefit to the US in letting them make a mess of things. The globe trotters could care less about you and the gas for your car. Oil companies and refineries screw up all the time from some degree to another. There is a clear cost and bigger risk to the Nation’s people and no benefit from it. Only the globe trotters benefit.