PREDICTABLE—IF NOT PERFECT

摘要

Ask an operator—any operator—about the status of the permitting process in the Gulf of Mexico post-Macondo, and they all answer uniformly. Predictable. Not perfect, not fast, not like it was pre-Macondo, but predictable. After months of uncertainty and numerous back-and-forth processes while learning what the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) required, all can agree that—finally—the process to get a permission slip to get on with the business of drilling for offshore oil and gas is known and doable.