The oil and gas industry's vision for the nation is one in which the government gets out of the way and the industry is allowed to grow and export U.S. gas and oil.
View full sizeU.S. shale oil wells are less dramatic than the famous 1901 "Lucas gusher" at Spindletop near Beaumont, Texas, but U.S. oil shale production levels are every bit as dramatic. U.S. oil production will soon make the nation the world's number one oil producer, said the American Petroleum Institute's top executive. WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The oil and gas industry is looking to Congress to authorize the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline from the Canadian border to the Gulf Coast and override President Obama's threatened veto of legislation authorizing the pipeline that may be voted on this week.
The industry also wants Congress to repeal the 1970s-era ban on exporting U.S. crude, to make it a lot easier for natural gas producers to export liquefied natural gas, and significantly reduce the amount of ethanol and bio-diesel that must be added to petroleum-based gasoline and diesel.
All of these developments will be good for consumers because they will keep prices low, said Jack Gerard, president and CEO of the American Petroleum Institute, which describes itself as "the only national trade association that represents all aspects of America's oil and natural gas industry."
In a speech Tuesday accompanying the release of API's fifth annual "State of American Energy" report and coinciding with the first day of the new Republican-controlled Congress, Gerard tried to make it clear that if government would just get out of the way, the industry will create a new era of abundance, an "American moment" leading to U.S. domination of global energy.
He insisted that allowing the industry to export U.S. crude will keep global prices lower, saying the recent price plummet of oil prices is the result of oversupply and the simultaneous global economic slowdown -- both of which put pressure on global oil prices.
Exporting U.S. crude "allows us as producers here in the United States to expand our production to other markets around the world while at the same time putting additional supply into that same marketplace that is (already) putting downward pressure on the price. It only stands to reason," he said, adding that a number of studies have reached that same conclusion.
Gerard barely mentioned the environmental impact of the oil and gas industry or the ever-raging debate about global climate change. But he did say that this year's 29-page report includes overview chapters on renewable energy technologies such as solar and wind, biomass and hydro-power, and on nuclear power and energy efficiency.
Gerard focused instead on the bright future -- including hundreds of thousands of new jobs -- that the oil and gas industry is creating because of technological advances in drilling and hydraulic fracturing of shale.
He did criticize the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for its proposals to regulate methane emissions leaking from drilling sites and its proposed rules limiting carbon dioxide emissions from power plants. Technology will solve these problems, he said.
His purpose, he said, was to share "the oil and gas industry's vision for America's energy future and how we can take full advantage of this unique American moment -- a moment of abundance and global leadership, which no one predicted.
"Today the U.S. is the No. 1 natural gas producer in the world. Today we are the No. 1 petroleum refining industry in the world, and we are expected to soon become the No. 1 oil producer in the world," he said.
"For every 1-cent drop in the price of a gallon of gas for a year, American consumers save $1.2 billion. America's emergence as a global energy leader has fundamentally re-ordered the world's energy markets ... by reducing what had been the dominant roles of OPEC and Russia.
"And if we get our energy policies right today, this unique American moment can support millions of new well-paying jobs," he argued.