Exxon (XOM) Resuming Gulf Drilling within weeks

ExxonMobil announced a couple of days after receiving a permit to drill in the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico that it will begin drilling there in a few short weeks.

ExxonMobil spokeswoman Margaret Ross said, "We have a newly built, state-of-the-art drilling rig standing by and we are prepared to spud the well within a few weeks."

On Tuesday, the US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement granted a permit to ExxonMobil to drill a well in the Keathley Canyon Block 919 in 6,941 feet of water, about 240 miles off the coast of Louisiana. It was the fourth of five deepwater permits issued by BOEM since the moratorium was lifted in October.

A spokeswoman for Danish rig owner Maersk said the company had already begun drilling the deepwater exploration well and predicted the job would take five to six months to complete.

But Ross said only staging operations had resumed.

Exxon closed Thursday at $82.73, gaining $0.13, or 0.16 percent.




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