Plans to strengthen supervision of the oil markets and increase penalties for market manipulation were unveilved by the Obama administration on Tuesday in a bid to show that the White House is acting to curtail high petrol prices. The measures, most of which require Congressional approval, are the latest effort by the administration to crack down on market abuses, and come ahead of the summer driving season, when high petrol prices inflict the most pain. "I call on Congress to pass a package of measures to crack down on illegal activity and hold accountable those who manipulate the market for private gain at the expense of millions of working families," President Barack Obama told reporters on Tuesday. Mr Obama's $52m plan is part of an "all of the above" energy strategy, aimed at increasing the US's use of alternative energies and curtailing its reliance on fossil fuels. The strategy has been pilloried by the Republican party, which immediately derided Tuesday's announcement as a political gambit and as further evidence of the heavy-handed regulation promoted by the Obama administration. John Boehner, the Republican speaker of the House of Representatives, said the administration already had the tools to crack down on market manipulation, a signal that the measures have little chance of being passed by Congress this year. Where is his Federal Trade Commission? Where is the SEC? Mr Boehner said. Instead of just another political gimmick why doesn't he doesn't he put his administration to work to get to the bottom of it. But senior administration officials said the measures aimed to detect and deter illegal manipulation by speculators, a practice that many Democrats say is partly to blame for the high cost of petrol. The administration also wants a 10-fold increase in maximum civil and criminal penalties for manipulative activity in oil futures markets, from $1m to $10m, and not just for every violation but for every day a violation occurs. The president is asking Congress to give the CFTC authority to direct exchanges to raise margin requirements to address increased price volatility or prevent excessive speculation or manipulation, a change it says will help limit disruptions and reduce volatility in oil markets. Finally, through executive actions - which do not require Congressional approval - the CFTC will be charged with looking for patterns and to better understand trading activity in energy markets. The US government launched a nationwide investigation into oil markets after the spike of 2008, but has only brought two cases since then - and in both cases federal regulators alleged the manipulation caused only a tiny impact on prices. Gregory Mocek, a former CFTC enforcement director with the law firm Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft, said the announcement seemed to be a political reaction to higher gasoline prices. But Randa Fahmy Hudome, an energy consultant and former Bush administration energy official, said that speculators were having an impact on the market. "I do believe this is a factor because, aside from the Iran premium, there is no other reason for high prices, particularly as the Saudis are pumping the maximum amount they can produce," she said. Although prices at the pump have stablised, a gallon of petrol still costs an average of $3.92, up 78 cents from a year ago, according to the Energy Information Administration. This is perilously close to the politically sensitive $4 a gallon mark, a level that the White House will want to avoid as Mr Obama's re-election campaign gets underway. A recent CNN survey found that 24 per cent of respondents blamed Mr Obama for high petrol prices, while 21 per cent thought the Republicans were at fault. The majority blamed oil companies or foreign countries.