BP Seeks to Resume Drilling in the Gulf

Deepwater Horizon Explosion

It's been 100 days since the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig caught fire. Look back on the explosion that left 11 dead and caused the worst oil spill in U.S. history.

BP is looking for the green light to drill 10 development wells in the Gulf of Mexico, the same area where just 15 months ago one of its wells exploded, creating an environmental disaster at the time.

The company had been pushing for these wells before the Deepwater Horizon explosion. Since then, the Obama administration issued a moratorium on deepwater drilling, reported the Wall Street Journal.

BP is waiting for the final step before it can restart the project.

A person familiar with the matter told the Journal that as a condition of its permit, BP will agree to give government overseers 24-hour access to its drilling operations.

Environmentalists reportedly bristled at the thought of BP’s approval.

"It's hard to see how such monitoring will adequately mitigate the dangers of deepwater drilling," said Charlie Kronick, senior climate adviser at Greenpeace U.K. told the Journal. He called the decision to allow BP back "premature."

The news comes as Federal officials heard recommendations from people along the Alabama coast on how to spend money dedicated to rehabilitating the Gulf Coast from the effects of the massive oil spill.

Officials held a meeting at the Five Rivers Delta Resource Center in Spanish Fort Thursday night and listened to suggestions, which included restoring oyster reefs and controlling storm water runoff.

Recently Transocean Ltd. gave its top executives bonuses for achieving the "best year in safety performance in our company's history" - despite the explosion of its oil rig that killed 11 people and spilled 200 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.

The company said in a regulatory filing that its most senior managers were given two thirds of their total possible safety bonus.

Transocean noted "the tragic loss of life" in the Gulf when the rig operated by BP PLC exploded last April. But it said the company still had an "exemplary" safety record because it met or exceeded certain internal safety targets concerning the frequency and severity of its accidents,according to the filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday.

Please read the Wall Street Journal's report here.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.