The turmoil in North Africa and the Middle East has put pressure on the Obama Administration to resume issuing permits for deep water drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. Noble Energy (NBL) was the first to obtain a permit since the BP (BP) disaster.

Noble is an international oil and gas exploration company that operates in the U.S. and internationally. In the U.S. it has operations on the West Coast, Rocky Mountains, mid continent and the Gulf of Mexico. Its international operations are located in the Middle East, South American and West Africa.

Two weeks ago, BP plc (BP) was able to stop oil from spilling into the Gulf of Mexico. The company announced today that it was time to being scaling back on the cleanup process.

Since the spill began back in April, there has been over eleven million feet of boom deployed in the Gulf, but these only last for a certain number of tide cycles, and in areas where the company feels that beaches are not in danger, the boom will be removed.

Lots of reports surrounding embattled BP (BP) CEO Tony Hayward surfaced Monday morning. Some are saying that the company's board has made up its mind on Hayward's fate while other outlets are stressing that no decision has been made.

Whatever the board's current status, it sure seems like Tony Hayward has one foot out of the door and his demise is related directly to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. Moreover, it appears that the company has tapped Bob Dudley to take over. Dudley is in charge of the cleanup and would be BP's first foreign CEO (Dudley is a U.S. citizen).

Since the April 20th explosion of BP's (BP) deepwater rig Horizon, the stock has been steadily falling, and shares fell to a 14 month low today.

The stock finished the day down 6% to $26.97, down $1.77, and traded as low as $26.83 during the day.

Oil has been gushing into the Gulf of Mexico for 62 days now, and no one is expecting BP to be able to stop it until at least August, and that is assuming that the two relief wells the company is drilling will be ready in time.

Monday morning, BP (BP) announced that the costs of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill have hit $2 billion.

What's more, it is the 60th day for the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and it sure doesn't seem like a solution is forthcoming. BP is already paying for spill containment, relief well drilling, grants to Gulf states, and the construction of sand barriers to protect coastal areas, but it will also pay claims from local businesses and potential litigation from Anadarko Petroleum (APC). For those unfamiliar with APC's part in the spill, it owns 25% interest in the Macondo well and is accusing BP of "reckless" decisions that lead to the rig explosion on April 20.

BP Plc (BP) is facing many problems as a result of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico -- and now we are getting an idea of the financial ramifications of the spill (or at least one research firm's estimate). According to research firm Tudor Pickering Holt, BP and other companies face a liability of $35 billion to $40 billion as a result of the ongoing oil spill in the Gulf.

Analysts from the firm compared the current spill to the costs associated with the Exxon Valdez spill and added in some timing estimates and "guess work" to come up with a potential price tag. The analysts told Fox Business, "You've got to try and put some realistic projections on oil spill liability before you can try to value any stock involved."

It's already Wednesday but BP (BP) is still trying to decide whether to use its "top kill" method to stop the oil gushing out of a broken well at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico. It's been more than a month since the explosion that caused the massive spill. The latest attempt includes "force-feeding" the leak with "heavy drilling mud and cement."

BP's CEO Tony Hayward told NBC's Today show that the "top kill" procedure could happen Wednesday if he okays the procedure. This is just the latest in a series of attempts by BP to stem the tide of flowing black gold from the busted pipeline.