Shell Wins Deep-Water Drilling Plan Approval for U.S. Gulf
Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) won U.S. approval for a second Gulf of Mexico deep-water exploration plan, making it the only company to pass environmental reviews introduced after the BP Plc (BP/) oil spill last year.
Shell, based in The Hague, won approval from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement to drill five exploratory wells in waters as deep as 7,259 feet (2,213 meters), 72 miles off the Louisiana coast, the regulator, known as BOEMRE, said today in an e-mailed statement.
“BOEMRE has approved only two deep-water exploration plans since the lifting of the moratorium, and Shell is pleased to have received both,” Marvin Odum, the chief of Shell’s U.S. operations, said in an e-mailed statement today. “This approval is further evidence of Shell’s expertise and confidence in the offshore and should be strongly considered as Shell moves forward with additional exploration.”
The U.S. increased scrutiny of environmental impacts from oil exploration after BP’s well exploded on April 20, 2010, and gushed for 87 days. Shell won approval on March 21 for the first post-spill exploration plan, for drilling in the Gulf 130 miles from the Louisiana shore.
To contact the reporter on this story: Katarzyna Klimasinska in Washington at kklimasinska@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Larry Liebert at lliebert@bloomberg.net
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