News bites: Despite spill, world drilling increased; a polar bear searches for ice

Despite the massive Gulf of Mexico oil spill, oil companies kept drilling and profits surged.

“Oil companies around the world ramped up drilling in response to rising oil and gas prices, boosting profits for their contractors. That spending surge is likely to continue in 2011 as an improving global economy leads to increased demand for energy,” The Wall Street Journal reports.

“Even deep-water drilling, which ground to a halt in the Gulf of Mexico in the wake of the deadly blowout and oil spill there last year, has continued its rapid growth in other parts of the world.”

Remember that oil pipeline spill in Michigan last year? Environmentalists do, and they’re calling on a key Michigan Republican to tighten pipeline regulations.

“State and local environmental advocacy groups Tuesday called on U.S. Rep. Fred Upton to move the country away from fossil fuels and provide greater regulatory oversight of the country’s oil pipeline infrastructure,” the Kalamazoo Gazette reports.

Advocacy groups are pushing back against claims by a major oil company that oil spills in Niger are a result of deliberate sabotage, rather than errors on behalf of the company.

Bloomberg reports, “Royal Dutch Shell Plc was accused by Amnesty International and Friends of the Earth International of using discredited and misleading information in blaming the majority of oil spills in the Niger Delta on saboteurs.”

And a polar bear went on a long journey to find sea ice in Alaska.

“Scientists say a female polar bear embarked on a swimming search for sea ice north of Alaska that lasted nine days and covered 426 miles,” United Press International says.