The Speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi said Saturday she will "consider" allowing offshore drilling in some areas, with "appropriate safeguards", dpa reported.
Pelosi outlined this shift from her earlier opposition to opening new areas to oil exploration, during the Democratic Party's weekly radio address.
She said an upcoming legislative proposal would include plans to "expand drilling in the Alaska oil reserve already designated for drilling" and "consider opening portions of the Outer Continental Shelf for drilling, with appropriate safeguards."
Pelosi said, "Our plan will reduce the price at the pump within 10 days by releasing oil from the 700-million barrel federal stockpile."
She said the Republicans have offered "a 'drill-only' plan that would lower oil prices by only 2 cents a gallon over 10 years."
The House speaker said the "comprehensive Democratic approach will ensure energy independence which is essential to our national security, will create millions of good paying jobs here at home in a new green economy and will take major steps forward in addressing the global climate crisis."
Earlier this month, presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama voiced willingness to compromise on offshore oil drilling as part of "comprehensive" energy legislation.
In what was quickly seen as a significant reversal, Obama said that he was open to offshore drilling if it would break a logjam on energy legislation in Congress.
Amid recent record oil prices, Congress, which is controlled by the centre-left opposition Democrats, has been unable to pass major energy legislation to promote alternative energy sources and would include other measures to ease energy prices.
Arizona Senator John McCain, Obama's centre-right Republican Party presidential opponent in the November elections, changed his position earlier this year to support offshore drilling as a way to increase US energy production and reduce dependence on foreign oil.
In July, President George W Bush renewed his call for the lifting of a federal ban on oil drilling off the US coast and placed the blame for high petrol prices with Congress.
Bush lifted an executive ban on offshore drilling last month, a largely symbolic move because Congress has to lift its own ban, which has been in place since the 1980s and bars new licences except in the Gulf Coast states of Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, and off parts of Alaska.