Scientists aboard a U.S. research ship have started an around-the-clock search for elusive signs of oil lurking beneath the Gulf of Mexico’s surface in what they jokingly call “Operation Dipstick.” As debate rages among scientists over how much oil remains in the water after BP Plc’s massive oil spill, their research vessel circles above the…

Commercial fishermen can now trawl Louisiana’s waters for white shrimp as the season opened on Monday, but questions linger about the effects BP Plc’s Gulf of Mexico oil spill will have on the harvest. Some state waters have been open for brown shrimping since the well ruptured on April 20, but the overall catch has…

BP made promising strides in its latest bid to capture some of the oil spewing from its ruptured deep-sea well in the Gulf of Mexico, while President Barack Obama called off an overseas trip and prepared for another visit on Friday to the spill-stricken U.S. Gulf Coast. After failing days ago to plug the well,…