Washington, The Obamas' have changed their vacation plans and will now "spend the weekend" in the Gulf Coast the weekend of August, 14th, the White House announced Thursday. Both President Barack Obama and US First Lady Michelle Obama have made a big public pitch, encouraging people to vacation on the region's beaches that have not been directly impacted by oil spill.

Beijing. Improper desulfurizer injections into the oil pipeline that exploded in the northeast China port city of Dalian on July 16 caused its explosion, results of a State Administration of Work Safety and Ministry of Public Security investigation showed Friday. The 0.9-meter-diameter oil pipeline exploded at 6 p.m., triggering a smaller adjacent pipeline to also explode.

Washington. Congressman Chaka Fattah(D-PA), a member of the House Appropriations Committee's Energy and Water Subcommittee, issued this statement concerning an oil spill containment system announced by four major oil companies.

Alaska. The leak was discovered at the Swanson River oil field in the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge south of Anchorage, the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) said. The field, which produces both oil and natural gas, is operated by Chevron Corp.Chevron has shut in the two wells that feed the affected pipeline, said Steve Russell, an environmental program specialist with the DEC.

New Orleans. BP PLC's well team leader in Houston said he never got an "accurate picture'' from Robert Kaluza, a well-site leader who was on temporary assignment to the doomed Deepwater Horizon rig, about a pressure test before an April explosion.

Texas. A tropical depression that formed earlier Thursday is slowly moving west through the Bahamas toward the Gulf of Mexico, the National Hurricane Center reports in its 2 p.m. EDT advisory.

Texas. Information about how Chevron Canada would launch an emergency response to an oil spill in deep waters off Newfoundland — details initially withheld by a regulator — is now being released. Chevron Canada raised the ire of environmental groups in May when it proceeded with plans to explore for oil in an area called the Orphan Basin, north of the Grand Banks, soon after the Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.

Texas. Chevron has named Hughes Network System LLC as the certified provider of secure managed broadband services for Chevron marketer and retailer stations across the US beginning July 2010.