The US Environmental Protection Agency announced Thursday an end to its ban on BP obtaining government contracts following the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.

The EPA said in a tweeted statement that BP “agreed to safety and ethics improvements” in exchange for removing the ban, which had hurt the British company’s ability to do business in the United States.

BP said the five-year deal with the EPA will allow it to pursue new oil exploration leases in deepwater tracts in the Gulf of Mexico, which still bear many traces of the worst oil spill in US history.