With the price of crude oil driving the cost of gasoline up, Americans may think little can be done about prices at the pump. Not so. A renewed focus on tapping American sources of oil would send an important message to the global market and, long-term, will help with demand pressures forcing crude prices higher.

That's a key takeaway from API President and CEO Jack Gerard's "Newsmakers" conversation with reporters on C-SPAN. "The message the Congress needs to send the marketplace right now is that help is on the way," Gerard said of new pro-exploration legislation now under consideration. The interview with reporters Dina Cappiello of the Associated Press and Jim Snyder of Bloomberg News aired Sunday. Take a look:

Highlights:

• Gasoline prices are tied to the price of crude oil, which hinges on world demand.

• Using American oil supplies is the one factor in the price of gasoline the United States can control, Gerard said. Increasing access to U.S. supplies would have impact globally. "One of the great things we can do now in that component of supply is to send a signal to the marketplace that we're serious about providing American energy, by Americans, for Americans," he said.

• Production in the Gulf of Mexico will likely be down by about 25 percent next year compared to 2010, according to Energy Information Administration data - which coincides with the administration's drilling moratorium. "This doesn't help us in this energy reality and through the rising gas prices scenario we're struggling with," Gerard said.

• Gulf production should resume even as study of last year's spill continues. On its own the oil and natural gas industry created its own task force, has shared best practices and invested $1 billion to build a new containment system everyone hopes will never be used, Gerard said.