the capability to launch a successful recovery effort.

The new permit announced Monday has been seen as an attempt by the Obama administration to play it safe. The permit is not for a new well but for one which has already been started. Going forward, the test will be if more permits follow and include any new wells, experts say.

Other permits could be “approved in coming weeks and months,” said Michael Bromwich, director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE). But critics note that he has made similar promises before: At the time the moratorium was lifted, Mr. Bromwich said the first new permits would be issued by the end of the year.

Who got the permit and why

Noble Energy, Inc. received the permit Monday. Thecompany, located in Houston, sought the permit to continue drilling a well it abandoned in June following the moratorium. The well project is located about 70 miles southeast of Venice, La., near the Deepwater Horizon disaster site, and is below 6,500 feet of water.

Drilling will resume this month and is expected to reach a total depth of 19,000 feet by May, the company said. By comparison, the Macondo well drilled by the Deepwater Horizon had a water depth of 5,000 feet at the time of the explosion.

The fact that the well is an existing well is significant. The geology of the well makes risk assessment easier to mitigate.

Moreover, BOEMRE highlighted the robustness of the capping stack on the well. It is meant to cap a well up to