Regulations & Guidance

Status of Gulf of Mexico Well Permits

Subject to Enhanced Safety and Environmental Requirements in the Gulf of Mexico

In the wake of the Deepwater Horizon tragedy, the Obama Administration has put in place significant new safeguards to protect the environment beyond what has ever existed before. These new safety measures include heightened drilling safety standards to reduce the chances that a loss of well control might occur in the first place, as well as a new focus on containment capabilities in the event of an oil spill. For more information on new applicable regulations and standards for both shallow and deepwater drilling operations, see Offshore Drilling Safety Reforms.

Ongoing permitting: facts and figures (Please note that these numbers are updated daily)

Shallow water: To date, 145 new shallow water well permits have been issued since the implementation of new safety and environmental standards on June 8, 2010. Just 5 of these permits are currently pending; with 11 having been returned to the operator for more information.

Deepwater drilling applications fall into two categories for the implementation of our new regulations. To clarify these differences, we have included the narrative below. The deepwater moratorium was lifted on October 12, 2010, and is the reference for inclusion of new rules in applications:

Deepwater permits requiring subsea containment: Since an applicant first successfully demonstrated containment capabilities in mid-February 2011, we have approved 570 of these permits for 155 unique wells, with 24 permits pending, and 19 permits returned to the operator with requests for additional information, particularly information regarding containment.

Deepwater activities not requiring subsea containment: Since the implementation of new safety and environmental standards, 70 of these permits have been approved, with 2 permits pending, and 0 permits returned to the operator with requests for additional information. These activities include water injection wells and procedures using surface blowout preventers.

The tables below demonstrate aggregate permitting statistics for both shallow water and deepwater. The table for deepwater includes both those permits that are subject to containment requirements and those that are not.

To download copies of approved permits see the eWell Online Query.

To download copies of the presentation from the Permitting Workshop which took place Tuesday, August 30, 2011, click here.

Click here for Drilling Permit definitions.

Shallow Permits to Drill¹ Data last updated on 09/14/2012 11:00 AM (CST) and will be updated each business day.
Water Depth Less than or equal to 500 feet
Permit Type	Submitted prior to June 8, 2010	Submitted since June 8, 2010	Returned²	Withdrawn³	Pending⁴	Approved since June 8, 2010⁵
New Well	20	158	11	17	5	145
Revised New Well	9	237	0	7	1	238
Bypass	0	81	1	2	0	78
Revised Bypass	0	73	0	2	0	71
Sidetrack	17	223	13	10	6	211
Revised Sidetrack	6	213	2	4	2	211
Deepwater Permits to Drill⁶
Water Depth Greater than 500 feet
Permit Type	Submitted prior to October 12, 2010	Submitted since October 12, 2010	Returned²	Withdrawn³	Pending⁷	Approved since October 12, 2010⁸
New Well	20	139	9	15	19	116
Revised New Well	3	329	7	5	3	317
Bypass	0	39	1	1	0	37
Revised Bypass	1	60	0	5	0	56
Sidetrack	4	43	2	2	4	39
Revised Sidetrack	4	74	0	3	0	75

Shallow water drilling operations became subject to new rules and information requirements as of June 8, 2010.
Submitted permit applications may be returned to the operator for further information or clarification. These applications are not counted as pending applications.
Applications may be withdrawn by an operator at any time in the application process.
Pending permit figures in this table include applications submitted before and after June 8, 2010. They do not include applications that have been returned.
Approved permit figures in this table include applications submitted before and after June 8, 2010.
The deepwater moratorium was lifted on October 12 and is the reference for inclusion of new rules in applications.
Pending permit figures in this table include applications submitted before and after October 12, 2010. They do not include applications that have been returned.
Approved permit figures in this table include applications submitted before and after October 12, 2010.

Status of Exploration and Development Plans Subject to Enhanced Safety and Environmental Requirements in the Gulf of Mexico has been moved to it's own page and can be found by clicking here.