Why have gas prices become such a huge political issue in America? "There are two reasons, One, this is the one price everyone sees everyday. Two, its something that people feel very directly and it's a big and unexpected financial burden."

And how much responsibility should President Obama bear? "There's not much that any President can do about gasoline prices because they are determined by what haapens in the world oil market."

Then what will stop rising gas prices? "Other suppliers have to actually come into the market, and that's going to be critical over the next several months."

Is it a credit to Obama that we’re producing more oil and natural gas? "That was really set in motion by the private sector, by people applying for technologies, by companies taking initiatives. It's not only US oil production that's gone up, it's also Canadian oil sands production, which has tripled."

How much difference would the Keystone pipeline make? "The oil that would flow through Keystone is equivalent to about a third of Iran's total exports. Keystone would signal that within two years or so, there would be new oil that would help shrink the number of Iranian barrels on the tight oil market."

How does fracking change the picture? "The development of shale gas has created something like 600,000 jobs. I was on a committee with Energy Secretary Stephen Chu. What we concluded is that there are environmental issues to be addressed and identified 20 pragmatic ways to address them. The chemicals used, it is very very unlikely that they are getting into the water supply. What needs to be managed is what you do with the spent water from drilling."

It’s often said the U.S. dwells on its energy supply but not on using it efficiently. You wrote about this in The Quest, your recent book. -We're twice as energy efficient today as we were a few decades ago. We need to be twice as energy efficient again using the tools we now have. This is now a bi-partisan issue.