UPDATE 1-W.House: Interior report may spur moratorium lift

(Updates with quote)

WASHINGTON, Sept 30 (Reuters) - A report from the Department of the Interior likely means it is closer to lifting a moratorium on offshore drilling imposed after the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, a White House spokesman said on Thursday.

Michael Bromwich, head of Interior's Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, is slated to give Secretary Ken Salazar a report over the next few days with guidance on whether the drilling ban should be modified.

The Obama administration on Thursday unveiled new regulations aimed at permanently reshaping U.S. offshore drilling in the wake of the BP oil spill, but kept its deepwater drilling ban in place for now.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs, asked whether the report meant the department was closer to lifting the moratorium, said: "I think in many ways it likely does."