Interior official: Gulf oil platform fire won’t alter deepwater drilling ban

The Interior Department’s top offshore regulator said in Houston Tuesday that last week’s fire at a Gulf of Mexico oil production platform will not affect the duration of the federal freeze on deepwater drilling, according to Reuters.

“I don't think it changes the timeline,” said Michael Bromwich, director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement, which is holding hearings in various cities on offshore drilling safety.

The fire Thursday at Mariner Energy Inc.’s shallow-water oil-and-gas production platform prompted some environmentalists to call for continued restrictions on drilling wells, alleging it broadly reveals gaps in the safety of offshore development.

The Interior Department imposed a freeze on deepwater oil-and-gas drilling (not production) in the wake of the BP oil spill.

The freeze is slated to end in late November, but Bromwich and White House officials have said it could end earlier if they’re confident that new requirements will ensure development can proceed safely.

The oil industry, many Republicans and Gulf Coast lawmakers from both parties are pressing the Obama administration to lift the ban earlier than its scheduled expiration.