US lets some companies resume Gulf drilling

Thirteen oil companies have been authorized to resume deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico without submitting new plans for environmental review, the US Department of the Interior said.

But the companies will still have to comply with tougher safety rules on offshore drilling that were put in place last year to try to avoid a repeat of the April 2010 accident on a BP rig, which killed 11 workers and sparked a massive oil spill, the Interior Department said.

Companies that were already drilling in the Gulf when a deepwater moratorium was imposed may be allowed to resume their activities without submitting new exploration or development plans for scrutiny.