"MMS shouldn't want to please the oil companies..."

Not the point.

Point is:   the more drilling, the more income for the MMS--and the government. MMS no doubt wants to show a trajectory of increasing income--that was probably a measure of its success--and a much more tangible one than safety.

The desire for income more and more outweighed the other, contradictory function of the MMS--safety (and possibly also environmental concerns).   That's part of the reason for this tragedy.

We hope the problem of the contradictory functions will be lessened by the splitting of MMS----but you can bet the government will still want as much income as possible--especially because of the worsening deficits.   And historically, as I noted, MMS has been the #2 source of income for the US government--right after IRS. So there will still be pressure to sign off on industry plans--not to please oil firms but to maximize income for the federal government.