McCain campaigns for off-shore drilling on Gulf rig

By Ellen Wulfhorst

ABOARD THE CHEVRON GENESIS (Reuters) - Republican John McCain took his campaign high above the waters of the Gulf of Mexico on Tuesday, visiting an offshore oil and gas rig and predicting many more like it along the U.S. coasts if he is elected president.

Hoping to highlight his support for new offshore drilling, a hot political issue as Americans face rising energy costs, McCain climbed around open-air platforms, peered at the giant drills and chatted with workers over the roar of machinery.

"We need to start drilling offshore on advanced oil rigs like this one," he said on board the 9-year-old Chevron Genesis hull/spar facility. "New drilling has got to be part of our energy solution."

McCain claimed his Democratic opponent Barack Obama, whom he faces in the November 4 election, opposes new drilling.

However, Obama recently said he would back limited offshore drilling as part of a broader package in an attempt to bring down gas prices and reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil.

Dropping his blanket opposition to expanded offshore drilling, the Illinois senator signaled support for a bipartisan compromise in Congress aimed at breaking a deadlock on energy that includes limited drilling.

Opinion polls show a majority of the public supports expanded drilling to try to battle rising gas prices, although federal officials say it would take years for any oil to be produced from new drilling, and experts say perhaps a decade before the drilling would have any effect on prices at the pump.

Chevron's Genesis facility, some 100 miles offshore and 140 miles from New Orleans, produces 10,000 barrels of oil a day and 15 million cubic feet of natural gas, officials said.