The American Petroleum Institute (API) President and CEO Mike Sommers released a new report outlining the policies needed to move and improve American energy and prioritize U.S. natural gas and oil as a long-term strategic asset during API’s annual State of American Energy event.
API announced a plan for the 118th Congress to make, move and improve America’s energy. As consumers face growing energy costs, API urges policymakers to take a more realistic approach and ensure that American natural gas and oil are prioritized as long-term strategic assets.
“The state of American energy is strong and resilient,” Sommers said in his keynote address. “But we need policies to enhance the American energy supply chain and not hinder it. The State of American Energy could be much stronger through bipartisan cooperation, a reversal of rhetoric from the Administration, and serious policies that encourage investment and enable development.”
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The theme of the 2023 State of American Energy, “The Solution is Here,” and the new report focus on three main components:
- Make: Lifting restrictions on energy development in federal waters and lands could increase domestic energy production and increase investment in the U.S. economy, according to a new Rystad study.
- Move: New pipeline infrastructure in the Northeast could add 4.6 bcf per day of natural gas and invest billions locally.
- Improve: American energy is produced to among the highest environmental standards in the world and is leading the way to a lower-carbon future.
“We know the solution is here. Government policy must reflect our resource abundance, our ability to build, and our willingness to get better every step of the way,” Sommers concluded. “API and our industry are here for it. Ready to do the work. Ready to put in the time—this year, with this administration, with this new Congress—to craft and enact bipartisan policies to make, move, and improve American energy.”
During a press conference, Abasto Media, a member of the NAHP, presented the following question to API President and CEO Mike Sommers: “The food industry primarily uses trucking to move food products around the nation. What do you propose to do to control fuel costs and help keep food costs from rising in the short term? And what do you think about electric trucks replacing fuel power freight vehicles?”
Sommers said: “The most important thing we could do to ensure that the trucking industry has low-cost fuel is to continue producing here in the United States. “
“We have a plan that we unveiled today (Wednesday, January 11), The Make Move and Improve Plan, that focuses on three primary points. One, increasing production here in the United States to ensure we have the product that we need, and two, to have the infrastructure in place to move that product from where it is to where it needs to be. That means more pipelines, and three, how do we continue to improve our operations so that we have the smallest environmental footprint possible, those are the three components of our plan. If we produce more here in the United States, prices will be lower for American consumers, and that’s not just for oil and diesel fuel but, by the way, all the fertilizers used in the United States. The most important component of that is natural gas, so we need to produce more natural gas as well so we can make fertilizer prices go lower for American farmers and ranchers,” the API president emphasized.
API represents all segments of America’s natural gas and oil industry, which supports more than 11 million U.S. jobs. API was formed in 1919 as a standards-setting organization and has developed more than 800 standards to enhance operational and environmental safety, efficiency, and sustainability.