Keeping close eye on spiraling gasoline prices: White House

Carney said there has been significant reduction in US dependence on, and imports of, foreign oil. "We need to take steps so that that progress continues," he said.

Some Democrats have blamed speculation for pushing up energy prices. Hedge funds have placed large bets on higher oil prices, taking their total positions close to the highest level ever reported.

This week Bart Chilton, a Democratic commissioner at the top futures regulator, said more should be done to cap the number of contracts speculators can hold.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission had developed position limits for commodity markets, but they were struck down last year by a judge who ruled the regulator had failed to show speculators affect prices. The CFTC is appealing. Carney said the White House would "do all we can" to protect consumers from gasoline price shocks.

"Our overall focus has to be, however, on the need to insulate ourselves from these spikes in market prices" by boosting production of oil and alternative energy, Carney said.

Carney declined to comment on whether the White House is talking to refineries about specific logistics issues that could ease gasoline prices.

Many analysts say temporarily waiving the Jones Act, a law that prohibits foreign flagged vessels from shipping gasoline and other petroleum products from the Gulf of Mexico to Northeastern ports, could provide some relief from high oil prices. Jones Act waivers

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