BP Approved to Return to Exploration in the Gulf of Mexico

BP has been approved to return to deepwater exploration in the Gulf of Mexico.

The British energy giant, responsible for the biggest offshore oil spill in U.S. history last year in the Gulf, won $27 million worth of leases to conduct new oil and gas exploration in the Gulf, reported the National Journal. The awards from the Interior Department came in the first Gulf lease sale since the BP spill last year, with all winning bids bringing $337.6 million into government coffers.

The lease sale, which involved oil and gas rights for tracts in the western Gulf, attracted 241 bids from 20 companies totaling $712 million, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said," according to the National Journal.

BP bid a total of $109.9 million on 15 leases and won 11 for $27.4 million, Interior's Bureau of Ocean Energy Management reported in a list of sales posted on its website, the National Journal reported.