Washington (Platts)--20May2008

Republicans in the US House of Representatives on Tuesday said that they
will release the details of an energy plan Wednesday to increase domestic oil
and natural gas production and open new areas to drilling.

Led by Missouri Representative and minority whip Roy Blunt, Republicans
will attempt to increase domestic production of natural gas and oil by opening
portions of the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, as well as the Arctic National
Wildlife Refuge in Alaska, for oil and gas leasing, they said.

There is currently a moratorium on oil and gas development in those
areas. They will also push for increasing access to domestic sources of oil
shale in the West.

The plan will include conservation and the use of biofuels and other
alternative sources of energy, as well as nuclear energy, minority leader and
Ohio Republican John Boehner said.

Republican John Peterson of Pennsylvania said he would offer another
amendment in the "next few weeks" to allow production of gas and oil 50 miles
offshore or farther. Peterson has tried several times to lift a decades-old
moratorium on natural gas and oil drilling on the Outer Continental Shelf
during the last four years.

"If we opened up all of our shorelines to production we could send a
message to the energy markets, get rid of some of the jitters, and get some of
that 15% to 20% hype out of the marketplace and we could affect prices this
winter," Peterson said.

The Republicans in the Senate tried to pass the American Energy
Production Act, which included provisions to increase domestic production and
open the OCS for drilling, but the Senate defeated it May 13.

--Derek Sands, derek_sands@platts.com