WASHINGTON, Oct. 13 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Tom Fry has announced he will retire as the President of the National Ocean Industries Association (NOIA) in early 2010.

By DINA CAPPIELLO By Dina Cappiello The Associated Press WASHINGTON Government officials handling billions of dollars in oil royalties improperly engaged in sex with employees of energy companies they were dealing with and received numerous gifts from them, federal investigators said Wednesday.

By Anonymous The Minerals Management Service's Gulf of Mexico region has received 423 bids from 47 companies on 319 tracts offered for lease off the coast of Texas as part of the agency's gas lease sale No. 207 Wednesday. Reading of the sealed bids will begin at 9 a.m.

The federal government will open up nearly 46,000 square miles off Alaska's northwest coast to petroleum leases next month, a decision condemned by enviromental groups that contend the industrial activity will harm northern marine mammals.

By Anonymous A record number of drilling rigs are currently working in the ultradeep water in the Gulf of Mexico, according to the US Minerals Management Service. "For the first time, 1 5 rigs are drilling for oil and gas in 5,000 ft of water or greater in the gulf," said MMS director Randall Luthi.