Focus will turn to restoring areas damaged in the oil spill, which the coast guard says represents an important milestone

This article is more than 8 years old

This article is more than 8 years old

BP will officially be off the hook for any deposits of oil that wash up on the shores of the Gulf of Mexico – unless they can be traced directly to the Macondo well, it has emerged.

Under a plan approved by the Coast Guard on 2 November, the oil company will end active cleanup operations and focus on restoring the areas damaged by last year's oil disaster.

The plan, which was obtained by the Associated Press, sets out a protocol for determining which areas of the Gulf still need to be cleaned, and when BP's responsibility for that would end.

The plan "provides the mechanisms for ceasing active cleanup operations", AP said.

It went on to suggest the biggest effort would be reserved for the most popular, heavily visited beaches. More oil would be tolerated on remote beaches. BP will be responsible for cleaning up thick oil in marshes – unless officials decide it is best to let nature do its work.

The agency quoted coast guard officials saying the plan represented an important milestone in restoring the Gulf. BP has set aside about $1bn for restoration.

The Obama administration has been indicating for some time that the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster, which began on 20 April 2010 with an explosion on board the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig that killed 11 workers, was moving into a second phase.

Earlier on Tuesday, the US government rolled out a new five-year plan for selling offshore drilling leases.

The proposal was a radically scaled back version of the president's earlier plans for offshore drilling – put forward just a few weeks before the Deepwater Horizon blowout – that would have opened up the Arctic and Atlantic coasts for drilling.

Oil companies will still be able to apply for leases in the eastern Gulf of Mexico and in two unexplored areas off the northern coast of Alaska.

But the government has placed the Atlantic and Pacific coasts off-limits.

"It will have an emphasis in the Gulf of Mexico," the interior secretary, Ken Salazar, told a meeting. "We see robust oil and gas development in the Gulf of Mexico."

A number of commentators described the plan as an attempt to please two implacable enemies: the oil industry and the environmental movement.

But the proposals drew heavy criticism from both sides. Oil companies said the plan did not go far enough while environmental groups were angry that Obama was opening up pristine Arctic waters to drilling.