Barack Obama has defended his decision to soften his opposition to offshore drilling for oil in the US, saying he would be willing to compromise to secure bipartisan agreement on an energy plan.

He said at the weekend that he continued to believe that “we can’t drill our way out of the problem”. But, he added, he was “open” to accepting some things he did not like in order to achieve “a genuine bipartisan compromise” that would include raising fuel efficiency standards and developing alternative energy sources.