WASHINGTON, August 5, 2008 (AFP) - Democratic White House hopeful Barack Obama Tuesday charged that oil giants were betting that only his Republican rival John McCain would let them keep on raking in record profits.

Ratcheting up his assault on McCain over prices at the pump, Obama argued that his new energy plan would wean the United States off foreign oil and ease the pain of families struggling with high gasoline prices.

'Under Senator McCain's plan, the oil companies get billions more, we don't pay any less at the pump, and we stay in the same cycle of dependence on oil that got us into this crisis,' Obama said in remarks released by his campaign.

'The oil companies have placed their bet on Senator McCain, and if he wins, they will continue to cash in while our families and our economy suffer and our future is put in jeopardy.'

Obama was due to press home his attack on McCain on energy, one dimension of the dominant campaign debate over the economy, in Ohio, traditionally a bellwether state in US presidential elections.

The McCain camp rejects the Illinois senator's recent policy reversal on backing limited offshore oil drilling and tapping the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve, saying his sweeping plan would do little to forge energy independence.

'The new plan is really just a lot of words warmed over,' said Doug Holz-Eakin, an economic adviser to McCain, on the Fox Business Channel.

'It's easy to try to hide behind the words, but the reality is Barack Obama is not leading on this issue.'

Obama said last week that though he still opposed more offshore oil and gas drilling -- a key demand of Republicans -- he would agree to some limited exploration to break a political deadlock over comprehensive energy reform.

The McCain campaign argues that more a major drilling effort and more nuclear power is needed to meet US energy needs, over and above Obama's call for more renewable energy, oil consumption cuts and new generation fuels.