WASHINGTON, July 12: Faced with skyrocketing gasoline prices, US President George W. Bush called on Saturday for more oil exploration in US territory and blamed Democratic-controlled Congress for lack of action on the issue.

“One of the factors driving up high gas prices is that many of our oil deposits here in the United States have been put off-limits for exploration and production,” the president said in his weekly radio address.

“Past efforts to meet the demand for oil by expanding domestic resources have been repeatedly rejected by Democrats in Congress,” he added.

Bush proposed increased drilling on the US continental shelf, expanding shale oil production on the western slopes of the Rocky Mountain, permitting oil exploration in northern Alaska, and enhancing the nation’s oil refining capacity.

“It’s time for members of Congress to address the pain that high gas prices are causing our citizens,” Bush argued. “Every extra dollar that American families spend because of high gas prices is one less dollar they can use to put food on the table or send a child to college.”—AFP