The nation's top offshore drilling regulator insisted Monday that the federal government will continue carefully scrutinizing applications for shallow-water wells -- even if that stepped-up analysis means more delays for some stalled projects.But, in a meeting with shallow-water drilling advocates in Lafayette, La., Michael Bromwich also sought to assure oil and gas companies that his Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement would help them clarify and comply with new regulations imposed since the Deepwater Horizon disaster. 'I understand the frustration that people feel because we are not able to review and approve applications as expeditiously as we have in the past,' Bromwich said in a statement after the meeting with the Shallow Water Energy Security Coalition. 'But the central fact is that it has taken time to submit and verify the additional required information.'Bromwich, the bureau director, insisted that safety was paramount and vowed that his agency 'will not approve applications until and unless they fully comply with the new requirements. 'That will not make everyone happy, but it is the right way to proceed,' he added.Beginning in June, the energy bureau imposed several new rules on offshore oil and gas projects, including new safety and inspection mandates and requirements that drilling proposals include plans for worst case scenarios. But the agency has so far approved just five new wells that must meet the stepped-up standards. Eight more drilling applications are pending. The slowdown in approvals means that 15 of 46 available shallow-water rigs are now idle, said Jim Noe, a vice president of Hercules Offshore and executive director of the coalition that met with Bromwich. 'We are clearly at an impasse with the regulators,' Noe said. 'While we share Director Bromwich's commitment to safety, BOEM must recognize that it cannot continue to shove a square peg into a round hole by treating all offshore drilling operations the same, disregarding history and geological facts.'The coalition has been furiously lobbying lawmakers and regulators, trying to convince them that shallow-water wells are safer than their deep-water counterparts, such as BP's doomed Macondo well, which blew out on April 20 in about 5,000 feet of water. The resulting explosion killed 11 people on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig and triggered the nation's worst oil spill. Shallow-water is generally defined as projects where fewer than 500 feet separate the sea floor from its surface. On Monday, the shallow-water advocates implored Bromwich to establish a new, tiered review process for examining well applications, with the level of analysis and review pegged to risk.'Shallow-water wells are mostly natural gas wells drilled into well-understood, predictable and mature reservoirs,' Noe said. 'Shallow-water rigs use simple, proven well-control techniques, with blowout prevention equipment located on the rig above the surface of the water.'The meeting, which included Louisiana Lt. Gov. Scott Angelle as well as representatives from drilling rig and oil companies, took place just before the bureau's eighth and final forum on offshore drilling safety.-- (Jennifer A. Dlouhy can be reached at 202-263-6400 or at the e-mail address jdlouhy(a)hearstdc.com) 