The US on May 11 approved a Royal Dutch Shell plan to drill for oil in five locations deep under the Gulf of Mexico. The proposal, for drilling in the so-called Appomattox discovery, was the second exploration plan submitted by Shell to win approval from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE [2]) since the agency introduced stricter criteria for new drilling following last year’s Macondo disaster. The company’s Cardamom discovery in the Garden Banks area of the Gulf was approved in March. At least six other deep-water plans are now pending for the Gulf. Companies apply for permits to actually exploit oil after receiving approval for an exploration plan. The government lifted a moratorium [3] on deep-water Gulf drilling in October. Shell runs the Appomattox venture and holds an 80% stake, with Nexen Inc. holding the remaining 20%. (WSJ [4], Upstream Online [5], May 11)
See our last post on the Gulf of Mexico disaster [6]
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