Shell on Wednesday secured the second deepwater exploration plan that US regulators have issued since lifting the moratorium put in place during BP's Macondo disaster.
The US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement approved the proposal for five exploratory wells in about 7,200 feet of water, about 72 miles from Louisiana's coast.
BOEM said it conducted a "site-specific environmental assessment" to judge the drilling's potential harm, finding "no evidence that the proposed actions would significantly affect the quality of the human environment."
"This exploration plan was reviewed under the heightened standards we are now using to conduct site-specific environmental assessments," BOEM Director Michael Bromwich said in a statement. "The standards are higher than they used to be and further support our goal of ensuring that deepwater exploration is done more safely and with greater protections for the environment than ever before."
In March, Shell received the first exploration plan approval since regulators started issuing permits again in late February. That one covered three exploratory wells in about 2,950 feet of water in its Auger Field, offshore Louisiana.
