U.S. agrees to allow BP back into gulf waters to seek oil

BP reached an agreement on Thursday with the Environmental Protection Agency that allows the energy company back into the Gulf of Mexico.

The agreement comes four years after the explosion on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig that killed 11 people and did significant environmental damage to the ecosystem, and 17 months after a ban was imposed against BP for not correcting problems that caused the explosion.

Lifting the ban allows BP to seek new oil leases in the gulf, potentially earning the company millions of dollars in new business, the New York Times reports.

Read more from the New York Times.