WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Interior Department will issue a new offshore drilling moratorium on Monday that will end November 30 or sooner, said a government source familiar with the new drilling plan.
The White House said the new drilling moratorium will come out later on Monday. Unlike the initial moratorium, which was blocked by a federal court, the new one has a specific end date.
The moratorium could end sooner than November 30 if Interior Secretary Ken Salazar determines that deepwater drilling can be carried out safely.
Under the new moratorium, drilling in shallow waters would be allowed to continue as is the case now if oil companies meet new safety and environmental requirements and deepwater oil production would also be allowed to continue.
The Interior Department will be "open to modifying" the new exploratory drilling suspensions if the oil industry can show it can operate safely in deep waters, the source said.
(Reporting by Tom Doggett and Richard Cowan)
