HOUMA – Federal regulators gave approval to a sixth deepwater drilling permit since the Deepwater Horizon spill late Friday afternoon, following the approval of two more permits and the first exploration plan for a deepwater site earlier this week.
The latest permit is for Statoil Gulf of Mexico to drill in Alaminos Canyon Block 810 in 7,134 feet of water. That’s about 200 miles off the Texas coastline.
“This permit is the sixth we have approved since February 17, when industry demonstrated that it had the capacity to handle subsea blowouts and spills. Some say we are now proceeding too quickly; some say we are still proceeding too slowly. The truth is, we are proceeding as quickly as our resources allow to approve permit applications that satisfy our rigorous safety and environmental standards,” said BOEMRE Director Michael R. Bromwich. “We will continue to do so.”
