Obama announces suspension of new oil drilling

WASHINGTON, May 27 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Barack Obama on Thursday announced a widespread suspension of new oil drilling and exploration in an effort to improve oversight of oil and gas industry.

After reviewing an Interior Department report into the massive oil spill, Obama outlined four steps to stop such an accident happening again.

"First, we will suspend the planned exploration of two locations off the coast of Alaska. Second, we will cancel the pending lease sale in the Gulf of Mexico and the proposed lease sale off the coast of Virginia," Obama told a news conference in the White House.

"Third, we will continue the existing moratorium and suspend the issuance of new permits to drill new deepwater wells for six months.

"And four, we will suspend action on 33 deepwater exploratory wells currently being drilled in the Gulf of Mexico."

Analysts say the new announcements could be an early sign of a fundamental shift in the administration's policies on offshore drilling, which Obama promoted prior to the April 20 explosion of a drilling rig off the Gulf of Mexico coast.

The Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, owned by Transocean and leased by BP, sank April 22 some 52 km off Venice, Louisiana, after burning for roughly 36 hours. The untapped wellhead continues gushing oil into the Gulf of Mexico.

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