Washington (Platts)--5May2011/443 pm EDT/2043 GMT

The US House of Representatives Thursday passed a bill that would force the Obama administration to hold the four offshore oil and gas lease sales remaining in the current five-year plan, including a sale off the coast of Virginia.

The "Restarting American Offshore Drilling Now Act," one of three offshore drilling bills proposed by House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings, Republican-Washington, passed by a vote of 266 to 149.

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It would direct the administration to hold the lease sales remaining in the current 2007-2012 Outer Continental Shelf lease plan. Several of the sales in the Gulf of Mexico were either canceled or postponed because of last year's BP Macondo blowout and oil spill in the Gulf.

Lease Sale 220, which would have opened up hundreds of acres in the Atlantic off the coast of Virgina, was originally scheduled to be held this year, but was canceled by the Obama administration.

The bill that passed is one of three bills Republicans have proposed to expand and speed offshore drilling. A companion bill, set to be considered by the House next week, would, for the first time, put a time limit on regulators for deciding on offshore drilling permits. Regulators would be required to decide within 30 days, with two optional 15-day extensions.

The companion bill would also extend offshore leases for companies that were ordered to halt activities during the deepwater drilling moratorium imposed after the Macondo spill.

--Gary Gentile, gary_gentile@platts.com