API President Provides Update On Oil & Gas Industry

By American Petroleum Institute (API)

Before there was Steve Jobs, there was Edwin Drake. In 1859 Pennsylvania, Drake drilled America’s first successful oil well, creating – as Jobs did with computers more than a century later – a new industry that made so many other industries possible. That includes Jobs’ industry as well. The capacity of petroleum to power transportation and manufacturing was a game-changer that marked America’s first Generation Energy.

Today’s Generation Energy, like Drake’s, is made up of innovators, problem solvers and disruptors – in the sense that American energy is changing our country’s narrative and altering its trajectory in historic terms. America’s Generation Energy supplies the foundation for modern life. It provides the fuel, power and products that make everyday life safer, healthier and more comfortable.

America’s Generation Energy creates jobs, lifts entire communities, revitalizes manufacturing, strengthens U.S. security and develops the technology of the future. This generation also leads the charge in solving complex challenges. Or, as we call it, Powering Past Impossible.

That’s why the United States leads the world in both producing natural gas and oil, and in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The old paradigm of energy and economic growth interlocked with increased emissions has been replaced. Today, growth and decreased emissions have occurred together. U.S. carbon dioxide emissions have plunged to their lowest level in a generation, while CO2 emissions around the globe have risen 50 percent since 1990.

The industry has invested billions in improving the environmental performance of its products, facilities and operations. From clean natural gas for power generation, to cleaner fuels and vehicle technology for transportation, and countless other innovations, America’s Generation Energy is on the cutting edge of environmental progress. The same innovations helping to drive down emissions are generating record energy production. That means jobs and economic growth. Energy infrastructure investment alone can support a projected 1 million-plus jobs per year– a major opportunity for bipartisan achievement in the next Congress.

It means security for the United States and our allies. U.S. energy imports are on track to reach their lowest level in decades, and our exports provide a stable source of energy for our friends around the globe.

It means a competitive advantage for American manufacturers and budget relief for American families, who are less vulnerable to price shocks caused by overseas instability.

Every era and every industry has its innovators. Energy has been so ubiquitous in our daily lives for so long, we may take it for granted and assume there are no innovations left to achieve. But that’s not how America’s Generation Energy sees it.

It has already made history – with a shale revolution that has reshaped the global energy balance in our favor. Making history is one thing, but making the future is our focus. America’s Generation Energy has the skill, the technological expertise and the drive to make our future safer, cleaner and better.