ABOARD SEAHAWK 2007, Gulf of Mexico  For the 31 workers on this jackup oil rig, the waiting is finally over.

In recent weeks, they have been doing basic chores like painting handrails and scrubbing the deck while the federal government reviewed Castex Energy’s application to drill a natural gas well in 150 feet of water in the Gulf of Mexico  a normally quick process that turned glacial after the BP oil spill on April 20 prompted regulators to shut down almost all new drilling in the region.

The usual deafening clatter of the driller shack and engine room on the Seahawk 2007 had been replaced by relative silence. After finishing a shift, the men typically went to their cabins instead of playing poker with their buddies, hitting the weight room or watching football in the television room. With no alcohol on board, many of the men had been eating more, Kenneth Milton, a rig cook, told a reporter visiting on Monday. “Everyone’s tensed up, nervous.”

Much of that tension will now ease. On Tuesday, regulators finally granted a drilling permit to Castex, which has a contract with the Seahawk 2007 to drill the well. Over the next few days, the structure will be towed from its current location near Cameron, La., to a drill site off the Texas coast.