U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said on Thursday that gasoline prices in the United States probably do not merit emergency action by the government because they are forecast to go down in the coming months.

Asked on CNN whether the government might consider banning U.S. crude exports or tapping emergency oil reserves, Granholm said: "There are some tools - some are more extreme than others. The president will make some decisions about whether to use any of them based upon whether there's an emergency or not."

She noted that current retail prices of around $3.40 a gallon are projected to drop closer to $3.00 a gallon by December: "Three dollars a gallon gasoline probably doesn't fall into that category."