U.S. regulators said Thursday Chevron Corp. (CVX) has been approved to conduct new oil-and-gas exploratory drilling in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico , the first authorization since a drilling ban was lifted in the area.

The approved permit allows Chevron to drill a new well in Keathley Canyon Block 736, about 216 miles off the Louisiana coastline, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement said in a press release. Chevron's permit is the fifth approved this month by the federal agency to resume drilling in the deepwater Gulf but is the first that allows exploratory drilling into a field that has never produced, the government said.

Initial drilling on Chevron's well began in March of last year, but activity was suspended on early June due to the drilling ban imposed following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, the government said.

Regulators issued the permit because Chevron complied with the new safety standards, including a requirement to demonstrate the capacity to contain a subsea blowout, the government said.

Chevron will use the Marine Well Containment Company containment system as its oil spill containment solution. The system was built by a nonprofit consortium of large oil companies led by ExxonMobil Corp. (XOM), which also received a permit to drill in the deepwater Gulf this week.
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