US clears more deepwater oil drilling in Gulf

The US government is allowing deepwater drilling to resume on another Gulf of Mexico well as the region recovers from BP's devastating oil spill 11 months ago.

Updated on: Mar 13, 2011, 01:15:40 IST

AP | By HT Correspondent, New Orleans

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The US government is allowing deepwater drilling to resume on another Gulf of Mexico well as the region recovers from BP's devastating oil spill 11 months ago.

BHP Billiton PLC says the clearance will allow it to get back to work in its Shenzi field, located about 120 miles (193 kilometers) off of Louisiana's coast. The oil and natural gas well is located about 4,300 feet (1,300 meters) below the surface. It's the second permit that the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement has issued within the past two weeks.

They're the first to be granted in the Gulf since the agency imposed a moratorium on exploration in waters deeper than 500 feet (150 meters) after an April 2010 blowout of a BP PLC well caused the worst offshore oil spill in US history.

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