US politicians are in no mood to consider plans to open up new areas for drilling but if the crisis drags on, it could also affect exploration in existing production areas, such as the Gulf.
The massive, uncontrolled oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is roiling president Barack Obama's carefully laid plans to open up America's coasts to drilling again, while rattling Congress to a point where the oil industry's exploratory plans could face a big shake-up.
US politicians are now in no mood to consider plans to open up new areas for drilling but if the crisis drags on, it could also affect exploration in existing production areas, such as the Gulf.
BP Plc's ruptured oil well is spewing some 5,000 barrels of oil a day and officials are saying it could take three months or more to cap the gusher. Depending on weather and currents, the oil could hit the coasts of Louisiana, Florida and other coastal states.
"Hopefully this accident is just that: an isolated accident," senator Joe Barton, a Texas Republican, said after meeting with BP executives in Washington. "What I don't want to happen is mass hysteria to take hold and we put a moratorium once again on exploration and a moratorium on new drilling and perhaps even a moratorium on existing production."
But Amy Myers Jaffe, director of the Baker Institute Energy Forum at Rice University in Houston, said the government might go so far as to order oil companies not to search for oil on any deepwater tracts they have already leased.
"If this spill turns out to be extremely severe, catastrophically severe, and by that I mean thousands and thousands of barrels of oil wash ashore in Louisiana, especially if it blows to Florida ... yes I think you could see a call to suspend any new drilling until a full investigation is made."
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