"U.S. Says No Deal With BP As It Seeks To Drill Again"

"The U.S. government lashed out at companies at the heart of last year's Gulf oil spill on Monday, denying reports it had negotiated a deal with BP to resume drilling.

The tough talk by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar highlights the Obama administration's sensitivity toward letting BP -- the biggest holder of deepwater acreage in the Gulf of Mexico -- drill there again a year after an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon rig led to the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history.

The blast killed 11 workers, ruptured the company's underwater Macondo well and unleashed millions of barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico."

Mica Rosenberg and Ayesha Rascoe report for Reuters April 5, 2011.