"BP Plc is looking to ramp up activity in the Gulf of Mexico in the coming months and is applying for new well permits there this quarter, an executive said on Tuesday, as the firm looks to move on from a huge oil spill last year."

"The London-listed firm, which has failed to convince investors of its post-spill strategy, could take up to two years to increase output from a key gas field of India's Reliance Industries Ltd, another executive said.

BP, Europe's second-largest oil company by market capitalization, has struggled since President Barack Obama banned drilling in the Gulf from late May to mid-October last year after BP's deepwater Macondo well ruptured and spewed more than 4 million barrels of oil into the basin."

Prashant Mehra and Henry Foy report for Reuters September 7, 2011. [2]