March 6, 2026 — The Trump administration on Friday approved a $5 billion oil drilling project in ultradeep waters of the Gulf of Mexico over protests from Democrats and environmental activists who said the venture posed significant risks to wildlife and communities.
The project by the British energy giant BP would be about 250 miles off the coast of Louisiana. The company projects it will produce 80,000 barrels of oil per day from six wells starting in 2029 in a section of the seafloor that is estimated to hold 10 billion barrels of crude.
Known as Kaskida, it would be the company’s second deepwater project in the Gulf since the Deepwater Horizon explosion in 2010, which set off the worst oil spill disaster in U.S. history.
“Kaskida is a world-class project that reflects decades of technological innovation by BP and the offshore oil and gas industry,” Paul Takahashi, a BP spokesman, said in a statement. Approval “marks an important step forward for the project and is all the more important at a time of heightened global concerns about energy security and affordability,” he added.