WASHINGTON | With gasoline topping $4 a gallon, President Bush urged Congress on Wednesday to lift its long-standing ban on offshore oil and gas drilling, saying the United States needs to increase its energy production. Democrats quickly rejected the idea.

"There is no excuse for delay," the president said in a statement in the Rose Garden. With the presidential election just months away, Bush made a pointed attack on Democrats, accusing them of obstructing his energy proposals and blaming them for high gasoline costs. His proposal echoed a call by Republican presidential candidate John McCain to open the Continental Shelf for exploration.

"Families across the country are looking to Washington for a response," Bush said.

Congressional Democrats were quick to reject the push for lifting the drilling moratorium, saying oil companies already have 68 million acres offshore waters under lease that are not being developed.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called Bush's proposals "another page from (an) ... energy policy that was literally written by the oil industry -- (to) give away more public resources."

Sen. Barack Obama, the Democrats' presumptive presidential nominee, rejected lifting the drilling moratorium that has been supported by a succession of presidents for nearly two decades.

Bush said offshore drilling would take pressure off prices over time.

Bush also proposed opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for drilling, lifting restrictions on oil shale leasing in the Green River Basin of Colorado, Utah and Wyoming and easing the regulatory process to expand oil refining capacity.

John Felmy, chief economist for the American Petroleum Institute, said offshore drilling could produce 18 billion barrels of oil over time, twice what is estimated to be in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. But it would take time to produce it, he said.

It could produce 1 million to 2 million barrels of crude oil daily, which would yield 500,000 barrels of gasoline and 250,000 barrels of diesel fuel or heating oil a day. The U.S. uses 20.6 million barrels a day of all petroleum products.

"Every small increment of supply can have a beneficial effect," Felmy said. "(Drilling) would require a whole host of things, leases, permits. It would take several years and there is uncertainty on the amount because that's really unknown until you drill.

"It's an important step forward in terms of developing more oil supplies," he said. "So it's part of what we think is an appropriate energy policy that includes increasing supplies, reducing demand and improving infrastructure."

Times staff writer Andrea Holecek contributed to this report.