Nexen eyes return to Gulf of Mexico

Calgary-based Nexen said Tuesday it expects to be able to meet tougher regulatory hurdles in its plans to develop a promising oil find in the deep offshore Gulf of Mexico.

Washington imposed a moratorium on new drilling after a blowout and explosion on a BP well on April 20 killed 11 workers and over the ensuing three months allowed an estimated 780 million litres of oil to spew into the Gulf.

The moratorium is due to end Nov. 30, but officials with the U.S. government have indicated it might end earlier.

A month before the BP blowout, Nexen announced the Appomattox well in the eastern Gulf was a "significant" discovery. More recently, it and majority partner Royal Dutch Shell have come out with an estimate that the find contains 250 million barrels of oil.

Nexen, which owns 20 per cent of the Shell-operated project, said more drilling is planned to better assess the size of the discovery.

Tim Chatten, an investor relations analyst for Nexen, declined to speculate on how the American government will toughen up the rules, but told CBC News that Nexen expects to be able to adapt to the changes.

"We see this as a fabulous discovery for us and there's some upside opportunity that we would like to pursue upon the moratorium being lifted," Chatten said. "We like this. We see more upside. We'd be happy to move on this as quickly as we can."