WASHINGTON - US President Barack Obama pressed the Congress on Thursday to end billions of dollars in subsides handed out to oil companies each year.

"Today, Members of Congress have a simple choice to make," said Obama. "They can stand with big oil companies, or they can stand with the American people."

Last year, the three biggest US oil companies took home more than 80 billion dollars in profit. Exxon pocketed nearly 4.7 million dollars every hour. Every time gas goes up by a penny, these companies usually pocket another 200 million in quarterly profits, said Obama in the White House.

"Instead of taxpayer giveaways to an industry that's never been more profitable, we should be using that money to double-down on investments in clean energy technologies that have never been more promising," said Obama. He listed wind power, solar power, biofuels, fuel-efficient cars, trucks and buildings as the future priorities.

The address came in response to rising pump prices, which had turned out to be a campaign issue and dragged down the supporting rate of Obama in the Gallup's poll. The US national average regular gasoline price rose to 3.92 dollars per gallon on March 26, 2012, 18.76 percent increase since the beginning of this year, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA).

Higher fuel prices hurt the economy and could dampen the moderate recovery. Most post-World War II US recessions are linked to surging oil prices. GOP lawmakers, presidential candidates, and the oil industry had attacked the Obama administration's energy and economic policy.

Saying no silver bullets in the short term to help cushion against prices, Obama mocked the critics and trumpeted an "all-of- the-above" energy approach, in which he emphasized to develop oil and gas resources "in a responsible way" and keep investing in clean energy.

The US Department of Interior announced on Wednesday to allow for oil and gas exploration off the coast of Alaska and in the Atlantic Ocean as an evidence that the Obama Administration was not hostile to fossil-fuel development.

"This is political rhetoric to make it appear the administration is doing something on gas prices, but in reality it is little more than an empty gesture," said Erik Milito, American Petroleum Institute upstream director.