BP suspension could affect Gulf lease awards: Interior Department

The Interior Department would not award any lease to British oil company BP Plc in Wednesday's Gulf of Mexico lease sale "unless and until" the company resolves its suspension from federal contracts, a department official said on Wednesday.

The department's Bureau of Ocean Energy Management did not comment on whether BP is participating in the sale of about 20 million acres off the Texas coast.

(Reporting by Ayesha Rascoe and Roberta Rampton; Editing by Gerald E. McCormick)