Faced with skyrocketing prices for oil and gasoline, President George W. Bush called Wednesday for a reopening of offshore drilling in U.S. coastal waters.

Bush wants Congress to lift a ban on drilling in about 80 per cent of the U.S. coastal shelf that has been in place since 1981.

The call for more offshore drilling comes as the global price for oil continues to top $130 US a barrel, and the average U.S. price for gasoline exceeds $4 per gallon.

"Congress must face the hard reality," Bush said in a statement to reporters at the White House. "Unless members are willing to accept gas prices at today's painful levels, or even higher, our nation must produce more oil. And we must start now."

The area under the ban includes about 232 million hectares of coastal water, which are thought to contain undersea reserves of 18 billion barrels of oil and 77 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, according to the U.S. Interior Department.

Bush said that amount of oil would match U.S. current production for almost 10 years.

Political opposition

Currently, the only U.S. coastal areas where drilling is permitted include the western Gulf of Mexico and some parts of Alaska.

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Bush's plan is expected to run into political opposition. Democrats oppose lifting the ban. Legislation on extending the ban to 2009 was to be voted on by a House of Representatives committee on Wednesday, but that session was postponed.

Bush has an executive order in place banning offshore drilling but he said he would drop that if Congress moves first.

Even if the ban is lifted, it is not expected to have an immediate impact on supplies of oil.

Keith Hennessey, the director of Bush's economic council, said the results will be "definitely measured in years."

Bush also reiterated his push for access to drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska.

Earlier this week, Republican presidential candidate John McCain made lifting the ban part of his election campaign platform. Senator Barack Obama, the Democratic candidate, opposes it.

With files from the Associated Press