ENSCO Offshore was awarded the U.S. Department of the Interior's Minerals Management Service 2000 Safety Award for Excellence in the drilling contractor category. The award was presented to ENSCO by Gale A. Norton, Secretary of the Interior. In addition to receiving the national award this year, ENSCO Offshore Company also received two regional awards for its Gulf of Mexico operations. The MMS Lafayette District awarded ENSCO the SAFE Award in the local district drilling contractor category, and the New Orleans District awarded ENSCO and Texaco, jointly, a SAFE award for the operation of ENSCO 25 on Texaco's Petronius platform. Carl Thorne…