While the six-month moratorium on drilling in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) announced last week applied only to deepwater projects, the Interior Department clarified late Thursday that all drilling in shallow water also was being shut down until operators complied with new safety rules and inspections, outlined by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar.

While Interior Department spokesmen continued to state that shallow water drilling was not part of the moratorium (see Daily GPI, May 28), when pressed, they conceded that shallow drilling was nevertheless suspended for an undetermined amount of time.

Exploration and development plans that have already been approved by Interior’s Minerals Management Service (MMS), including those that were approved using “categorical exclusion” under the National Environmental Policy Act, will need to be resubmitted before any drilling can resume, said Acting MMS Director Bob Abbey in a statement.

Complying with the new environmental and safety requirements “shouldn’t result in a great delay” for GOM producers, said Interior spokesman Frank Quimby. For current drilling operations, it could take “one or two weeks to meet some of the requirements,” he said, adding that it “can be done relatively quickly.”

Interior spokeswoman Kendra Barkoff had stated that the six-month moratorium extends only to deepwater drilling, not to shallow-water drilling. “Shallow-water drilling may continue as long as oil and gas operations satisfy the environmental and safety requirements that Secretary Salazar outlined in his report to the president.”

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