Calling the federal ban "outdated and counterproductive," Bush asked the Democratic-controlled Congress to take action to expand access to the nation's Outer Continental Shelf.

"Congress must face a hard reality. 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," Bush said in a news conference in the White House Rose Garden.

Bush called on lawmakers to expand US oil production by increasing access to the Outer Continental Shelf, citing experts who say access the OCS could produce about 18 billion barrels of oil.

"That would be enough to match America's current oil production for almost 10 years," he said.

Under the 1981 federal moratorium, states are prohibited from allowing offshore oil and gas drilling and exploration, protecting virtually the entire Atlantic and Pacific coastlines and sections of the Gulf of Mexico.

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