WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama said today he’s prepared to tap the country’s emergency oil reserve should the situation demand it.

But as gas prices climbed toward $4 a gallon, the president said the U.S. must adopt a long-term strategy of conservation and domestic production to wean itself off foreign oil.

Some in Congress have been calling on Obama to tap the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. And the president made clear Friday that that was an option.

He declined to specify the conditions that would trigger the step.

The government is cautious about going to the petroleum reserve, typically holding off except in very extreme cases such as hurricanes. The reserves — 727 million barrels stored in salt caverns along the Texas and Louisiana coasts — were created in response to the Arab oil embargo in the 1970s and last tapped in 2008 after hurricanes Gustav and Ike hit.