Oynes was named in 2007 as the associate director of the Offshore Energy and Minerals Management Program in the MMS, with responsibilities including administering the Outer Continental Shelf oil and gas program.

"After 35 years of service he will be retiring from the agency," an official at the US Department of the Interior, which includes MMS, told AFP on condition of anonymity.

His retirement comes amid scathing criticism of the agency for being too lax on enforcement of safety standards in offshore drilling. Last week President Barack Obama himself slammed it as being too "cozy" with the companies it regulates.

The Washington Post said the retirement would come May 31 and that Oynes -- who oversaw oil and gas leasing in the Gulf of Mexico for 12 years before being promoted to MMS associate director -- had come under fire for being too close to the industry officials he regulated.

After the Gulf of Mexico disaster at the BP-leased offshore oil rig, the Obama administration announced it was separating the agency's leasing and regulatory functions into two separate entities.

Obama ordered a "top to bottom" reform of the MMS after allegations it allowed BP and other oil companies to drill in the Gulf without first obtaining required permits.

"For too long, for a decade or more, there's been a cozy relationship between the oil companies and the federal agency that permits them to drill," he said.

MMS separately drew criticism from senators Monday by failing to send an official to a hearing on the response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

"There's one set of witnesses that are not here, and I must say that's from MMS," said Senator Joe Lieberman, who heads the committee on homeland security.

"I regret that the MMS leadership has chosen not to appear before our committee today," because MMS "must approve or reject the oil spill response plans for wells, which is where this accident occurred before those wells can be drilled."

Last week one MMS official told a hearing in New Orleans that the oil and gas industry largely policed its own drilling operations in the Gulf of Mexico with little government supervision.

An MMS official said the regulatory agency did not enforce compliance with its "safety alerts" on underwater blowout preventers and allowed oil companies to inspect their own drilling equipment.

"I am not aware of who does the self-certification," Michael Saucier, the Minerals Management Service regional supervisor, said when asked about the inspections.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced plans to break up the functions of the MMS to eliminate a conflict of interest in its role as oil industry regulator and a lessor of lucrative federal oil rights.

Allegations of misconduct at MMS are not new: a September 2008 report by the department's internal watchdog said that agency workers engaged in a "culture of substance abuse and promiscuity."

At least 13 MMS employees were accused of rigging contracts, accepting gifts and engaging in "illicit sexual encounters" with subordinates and industry representatives, read the report by inspector general Earl Devaney.

Between 2002 and 2006, nearly one-third of the MMS staff -- in Washington and the western city of Denver -- received gifts and gratuities from energy companies, according to the report.

One MMS supervisor used cocaine and engaged in sex with subordinates, read the report.

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