The oil industry is jumping ahead of the Obama administration in recommending offshore drilling safety standards changes to prevent oil spills, enhance spill-response efforts and improve well control.

Two industry task forces -- reviewing technologies for controlling the release of oil from its source and existing spill-response technologies -- today released initial reports on lessons learned from the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, making a series of 50 recommendations ranging from developing quicker and more effective methods for capping runaway wells to preventing oil from washing ashore.

The task forces, formed by industry trade groups including the National Ocean Industries Association and the American Petroleum Institute, made their recommendations to the Interior Department's Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement a day before BP PLC is scheduled to release the findings of its own internal investigation into the spill. President Obama's commission and the Coast Guard-Interior panel investigating the spill have yet to release findings or recommendations.

"The offshore energy industry has stepped up to the plate in response to the Deepwater Horizon tragedy," said Randall Luthi, president of the National Ocean Industries Association, in a statement. The report "shines a light on the path forward, but it is not the end of the journey. Continued study, evaluation and financial resources are part of the recommendations."

One of the reports finds that a fraction of the oil and gas released into the Gulf actually reached shore, but it cautions that spill-response and containment technology improvements are still needed. The task force also encouraged further study into the use of dispersants. The second task force suggested that the industry improve control over blowout preventers and other containment technology.

In an editorial today in the Houston Chronicle, three members of the task force wrote that the Obama administration, Congress and other stakeholders should work together with industry to identify priorities for future improvements in offshore drilling safety.

"It is the industry's intent to begin discussions with other stakeholders on these recommendations as soon as possible," the editorial says. "The ideas presented by our task forces are offered as a first step in that process."

Today's reports follow on two other task force findings released in May. Those reports focused on industry operating procedures and equipment (Greenwire, May 21).

"Recommendations from all four task forces already have helped improve the industry's safety and operations standards," the Houston Chronicle editorial says. "This is vital, since offshore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico plays a critical role in meeting America's demand for energy."

Click here to read the report on subsea well control and containment.

Click here to read the report on oil spill preparedness.