Interior Secretary Ken Salazar scheduled a conference call at 1 p.m. Washington time today to make an announcement on deep- water drilling.
The end of the moratorium will come with conditions for drilling that will be outlined by the Interior Department, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity before the formal announcement is made.
Administration officials have been meeting in recent days to finish work on safeguards for offshore energy exploration, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said earlier today.
"The process is coming to its natural end," Gibbs told reporters this morning.
President Barack Obama halted oil and natural-gas drilling in waters deeper than 500 feet (152 meters) after BP's Macondo well off the Louisiana coast blew out April 20, killing 11 workers and setting off the biggest U.S. oil spill.
Lifting the six-month moratorium, in place since May 27, won't immediately lead to new drilling, Michael Bromwich, director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy, the Interior Department unit that oversees energy production, has said. Few drilling permits are likely to be issued in the month after the suspension is lifted as companies work to meet new requirements, Bromwich told a panel investigating the spill Sept. 28.
$183 Million a Year.
Read more:White House Set to Lift Oil Drilling Moratorium Today
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