Sixth deep water permit granted to Norwegian company

The oil platform Statfjord A with the flotel P...Image via Wikipedia
Houston Chronicle:

The federal government today granted a permit to Statoil that allows the company to launch work on an offshore well halted by last year’s ban on deep-water exploration.

The Norwegian company now will be able to begin drilling a well in its Cobra prospect in the Gulf of Mexico, about 216 miles off the Texas coastline, south of Texas City. According to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement, which issued the permit, Statoil will drill the well in 7,134 feet of water in Alaminos Canyon Block 810.

Statoil made news in 2007 by bidding $37.6 million for the tract — the highest bid in the western Gulf of Mexico lease sale where it was up for grabs.

Statoil was close to drilling the well last year — and had a key permit in hand and a rig under contract for the work — but those plans were halted by the oil spill and the administration’s subsequent ban on deep-water exploration.

...
Like most of the other permits this one just grants the rights to drill that were pulled out from under the operators because of the Gulf blowout. It is long overdue. It appears the government is going to first approve wells for existing projects before getting to the new applications.
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