BP Gulf Drilling Permit: U.S. Officials Give Company First Deepwater Go-Ahead Since Oil Spill

-- U.S. officials have given BP the go-ahead to drill a new deepwater well in the Gulf of Mexico, its first such permit since last year's catastrophic oil spill.

Regulators said Wednesday BP has met strict safety requirements implemented after the Deepwater Horizon disaster.

The proposed exploratory well is located roughly 246 miles south of Lafayette, La., in water more than 6,000 feet deep. That's about 1,000 feet deeper than BP's Macondo well that blew out in April 2010, killing 11 rig workers and leading to the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history.

This is BP's first permit to drill, but the company has been active in the Gulf for months.

Other companies have also received deepwater permits in recent months.

Comments

[Sissyld]

03:11 PM on 12/01/2011

It does not seem fair that BP should be allowed to resume drilling in the Gulf of Mexico when so many residents of the area have yet to be reimbursed for their losses due to the oil spill. I would like to know what is holding up processing of what must be thousands of remaining claims.

[CB5]

02:23 PM on 10/27/2011

Thou shall not be allowed until the Gulf Coast Oil Rig Explosion is cleaned up and business and life are back to normal again in the Gulf and along the Gulf. BP reminds me of the Banksters. Mess it up and just move on without accountability to new territory. B)ad P)rinciples.

[Transitteer]

11:23 PM on 10/26/2011

Well let's DO hope that BP has some actual competent management on the go this time, and will hire some actual competent people. We're not forgiving of Corporate Buffoonery that only costs them money, but costs us everything.

[windshield42]

11:05 PM on 10/26/2011

Seems to me nobody listens to facts and that money is the only issue people will listen too..When we look back on a lesson.... learned? From deep water drilling the problem of intense pressure was a serious issue and now learned, sabotage is an issue..is it not? It is truly sad to say that the results could justify the means..but it does not! We have been told that we have enough natural gas to out way any oil we need and coal to back it up...and hear we are playing with two of the deadliest sources of energy all because of money..deep water oil and nuclear
energy..people I can only sit and watch the destruction of life itself.

[Snoop In the Crib]

06:29 PM on 10/26/2011

i'll give it about 2 months before the next oil spill. I'm not saying BP is giong to do it again. But i'm saying it will happen.

[lambdin1]

06:40 PM on 10/26/2011

Yes! It will happen again! All should be made to put up a 40 billion dollar bond before drilling starts. We have not seen the last of the spill since last time BP drilled. Despite BP and the government saying that the oil would disapate, such nonsense statements have proved not to be true. Perhaps they need to wait a billion years to drill. By that time the oil from the last spill will have disapated and the planet will have healed!

[MurCal]

06:11 PM on 10/26/2011

How soon we forget.

[Andrew Caldarone]

02:14 PM on 10/26/2011

And so it begins...again.