2006 Archives

12/14/2006
Fuel switching takes edge off U.S. oil demand
WASHINGTON – A sharp drop in residual fuel oil use pushed overall U.S. oil demand down in November compared to year-ago levels though demand for other refined products remained buoyant.  In its Monthly Statistical Report covering November 2006, API attributed the 500,000-barrel-per-day decline in residual fuel oil demand to the fact that November 2005 demand was boosted by a high level of fuel switching by utilities that substituted costly natural gas with heavy fuel oil.  Click here for Petroleum Facts at a Glance and Monthly Import Statistics for September (latest available).

12/06/2006
API Issues Portable Building Siting Recommendations
WASHINGTON – API has issued a new draft recommended practice (RP753 - Management of Hazards Associated with Location of Process Plant Portable Buildings) which provides guidance on locating occupied trailers and similar structures in refineries and other chemical process plants.  The draft RP is being made available to industry free of charge.

11/14/2006
API President to Congress: discriminatory taxes threaten supply
In a November 14 letter to Congress, API President and CEO Red Cavaney reminded lawmakers that America’s oil and natural gas industry annually reinvests more than its total net income to improve industry efficiency and productivity as well as search for, and produce, new energy supplies. "These investments are essential to ensuring America’s future energy security and are placed at risk by discriminatory tax regimes that hinder our ability to compete in the global search for, and production of, energy supplies," he said. Click here to download letter

11/15/2006
October U.S. gasoline demand surges amid record price fall
WASHINGTON – A record two-month price drop contributed to a surge in U.S. gasoline demand of more than six percent in October compared to year-ago levels though overall oil demand is still lagging 2005 levels on a year-to-date basis, according to API's Monthly Statistical Report. Click here to see report summary Click here for Petroleum Facts at a Glance Click here for monthly import statistics

10/18/2006
API Monthly Statistical Report for September 2006
WASHINGTON - U.S. refiners pumped up the volume in September, producing more distillate than ever before and the highest levels of gasoline for the month, boosting inventories ahead of the winter, data compiled by the American Petroleum Institute shows. In its Monthly Statistical Report covering September 2006, API noted that U.S. stockpiles of crude oil and refined products stood well above their five-year average for the month, thanks to extraordinary high imports and record domestic refinery production. Click here to see report summary Click here for Petroleum Facts at a Glance Click here for monthly import statistics 

10/16/2006
API Elects ExxonMobil's Tillerson as New Chairman
WASHINGTON, October 16 – API has elected Rex W. Tillerson, chairman and chief executive officer of ExxonMobil, as chairman of its board, effective January 1, 2007. Larry Nichols, chairman and chief executive officer of Devon Energy, has been elected as API’s treasurer, also effective January 1. The announcement was made at API’s annual meeting.

10/16/2006
API 2006 Gold Medal for Distinguished Achievement
WASHINGTON – Lee R. Raymond, retired chairman and chief executive officer of Exxon Mobil Corporation, today was awarded the American Petroleum Institute's highest honor, the API Gold Medal for Distinguished Achievement. The presentation of the 2006 API Gold Medal was made at API's awards luncheon today. Raymond served nearly 20 years as a member of the API Board of Directors, including two terms as chairman.

10/11/2006
Cavaney Address Key Renewable Fuels Conference
ST. LOUIS -– Ethanol and other renewable fuels will play an important role in meeting the  nation’s energy challenges in the 21st century, API President and CEO Red Cavaney told the Advancing Renewable Energy Conference.

10/09/2006
API, PEI launches "Stop Static at the Pump" Awareness Campaign
Fires caused by static electricity at the gasoline pump are no urban myth, but they are preventable if motorists follow all safe refueling practices when they top off their tanks. As National Fire Prevention Week begins October 9, API, the main trade association for the nation’s oil and natural gas industry, and the Petroleum Equipment Institute (PEI) are reminding drivers to avoid potential problems with static electricity at the gas pump by adhering to a few simple rules.

10/06/2006
New Safety Qualification Program for Service Station Contractors
API is offering a new voluntary safety qualification program for contractors performing construction and maintenance work at retail service stations.  API WorkSafe offers station operators a uniform way to know whether individual contractor personnel have been trained to meet accepted industry safety standards.  

09/29/2006
Cavaney updates Congress on nation's oil, gas picture
In a letter to Members of Congress, API President and CEO Red Cavaney noted that the nation is heading into the winter with fuel prices well below year-ago levels amid ample inventories of crude oil and refined products. "The market has responded to the high prices we witnessed earlier this year with increased supply and reduced demand, proving yet again that markets do work.," Cavaney wrote. Click here to download letter 

09/26/2006
API 2006 Basic Petroleum Data Book, Second Edition, Available
WASHINGTON – Orders are now being accepted for the American Petroleum Institute’s 2006 Basic Petroleum Data Book (Volume XXVI, No. 2), second edition, which will be available by September 29.

09/21/2006
Energy Policy at the Crossroads, Cavaney Says
In a speech to the Commonwealth Club of California, API President and CEO Red Cavaney stressed the need for policymakers to recognize the changing realities in the world of energy and shape policies that reflect those realities, rather than relying on discredited policies of the 1970s. Click Here To Read Speech

09/21/2006
API troubled by EPA rule on daily fine particles limit
WASHINGTON - API finds EPA’s decision on the daily limit for fine particles (PM2.5) in the final National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) to be overly conservative and based on incomplete science.

09/13/2006
API Monthly Statistical Report for August 2006
WASHINGTON – U.S. oil demand slipped in August compared to year-earlier levels as lower deliveries of jet fuel and residual fuel oil offset rising gasoline and distillate deliveries, data compiled by the American Petroleum Institute show. In its Monthly Statistical Report covering August 2006, API noted that U.S. stockpiles of crude oil and refined products stood at their highest levels for end-August in several years, thanks to extraordinary high imports and near-record domestic refinery production.

08/17/2006
U.S. gasoline demand rises in July, API data show
WASHINGTON – U.S. gasoline demand rose in July compared to year-earlier levels despite higher pump prices, data compiled by the American Petroleum Institute show. Click here to download report summary Click Here to Open Petroleum Facts at a Glance

07/28/2006
Cavaney Updates Congress On Nation’s Oil, Natural Gas Situation
In a letter to members of Congress ahead of the August recess, API President and CEO Red Cavaney provided an update of the nation’s energy situation. Cavaney explained that supply and demand fundamentals have driven crude oil and refined product prices sharply higher and consumers have responded by limiting fuel usage when they could. He also noted the industry’s hurricane preparedness and reiterated the readiness of API member companies to work with lawmakers to develop “workable solutions” to the nation’s long-term energy challenges.

07/27/2006
U.S. Oil, Gas Drilling Activity Hits Two-Decade High In Q2, API Says
WASHINGTON, July 26 – High oil prices continue to stoke U.S. drilling activity as first-half 2006 data reveals nearly twice the level of activity recorded during the lows of the early to mid-1990s, the American Petroleum Institute reported.

07/19/2006
API’s 2006 Mid-Year Review- U.S. Refined Product Demand Down
WASHINGTON, July 19 — Record high crude oil prices led to lower U.S. refined product demand in the first half of 2006 though the nation imported more gasoline than ever before, the American Petroleum Institute reported today in its Monthly Statistical Report for June, which includes supply and demand statistics for the first six months of the year. Text of statements by Ron Planting and John Felmy.

07/19/2006
API Monthly Statistical Report for June 2006
WASHINGTON, July 19 — The impact of substantially higher retail prices has apparently permeated further into consumers’ travel behavior in recent months. The result has been a second-quarter decline in gasoline deliveries. ("Deliveries" is a measure of demand). Specifically, gasoline deliveries fell 0.4 percent for the second quarter compared with a year ago, contrasting with an increase for the first quarter of 0.5 percent. With flat-to-declining deliveries for distillate fuel oil and residual fuel oil, along with an only-modest rise for jet fuel, total petroleum deliveries for the second quarter shrank from year-ago levels by 1.3 percent.

07/19/2006
Petroleum Facts at a Glance- June 2006
U.S. petroleum imports, including crude oil and refined petroleum products, in June 2006 were 13,906,000 barrels per day. Total imports in June as a percentage of total domestic petroleum deliveries, a key measure of demand, were 67.4 percent. U.S. crude oil production in June was 5,146,000 per day, of which 810,000 b/d was Alaskan.

06/29/2006
API Updates Congress on Energy Situation
API President Red Cavaney, in a letter to Congress dated 6/29, said that government should implement policies that allow access and encourage the application of private capital to develop existing and new sources of energy to ensure a diverse and robust supply. In a letter to lawmakers, Cavaney said that as an industry that annually reinvests more than its total net income in the search for new energy supplies for consumers, it is important that elected leaders resist the temptation to burden the industry with confiscatory and discriminatory taxation schemes that would reduce the industry’s ability to make the reinvestments necessary to deliver future energy to American consumers.

06/23/2006
API Clarifies Oil Industry’s Position On Boutique Fuels
WASHINGTON – In response to what appears to be some misunderstanding concerning the findings of a draft report issued by the Environmental Protection Agency on the impact of boutique fuels, API has issued the following statement:

“API, the primary trade association for the nation’s oil and natural gas industry, has consistently stated that it does not believe the patchwork of localized gasoline and diesel specifications – the so-called boutique fuels – has led to the recent run-up in prices. It is inaccurate to say, as some press reports have, that the industry has claimed that boutique fuels have contributed to current high fuel prices. However, this rigid system of state- and local-specific fuel qualities can reduce supply reliability by making it more difficult to reallocate supplies in response to even relatively minor disruptions in the gasoline supply and distribution system.   In this way, boutique fuels could increase price volatility and add to consumer costs during those disruptions.

”New laws designed to reduce the current number of regional fuels could help to reduce gasoline price volatility if they address the primary driver for increased boutique fuels—state renewable fuels mandates.

06/14/2006
Gasoline Demand Slumps In May As Pump Prices Soar-API
WASHINGTON June 14 – U.S. motorists appear to be doing what they can to cut back on their fuel use to offset the impact of higher pump prices as May gasoline deliveries, a proxy for demand, plunged 3.3 percent from May 2005 levels amid a 35 percent rise in retail prices, data compiled by the American Petroleum Institute shows. Click here to read report summary Click here to open Petroleum Facts at a Glance

5/22/2006
API: FTC Finds “No Instances Of Illegal Market Manipulation”
WASHINGTON – The American Petroleum Institute today issued the following statement regarding a Federal Trade Commission’s report that found “no instances of illegal market manipulation” to influence gasoline prices

05/11/2006
U.S. Needs Multi-Pronged Energy Policy: API Tells House
WASHINGTON – The United States should avoid repeating the energy policy mistakes of the past and concentrate on a multi-pronged approach to meet the energy challenges of the future, API President and CEO Red Cavaney told a House panel on May 11.

05/04/2006
Alyeska Pipeline Wins API Safety, Environmental Performance Awards
WASHINGTON – Alyeska Pipeline Service Company was recently presented with API’s 2005 Distinguished Award for Outstanding Safety and Environmental Performance. Alyeska, operator of the 800-mile-long Trans Alaska Pipeline System, won the award based on its release performance per mile of pipeline operated as reported to the Pipeline Performance Tracking System, its low rate of safety incidents, and its community outreach program, which was widely praised as standard-setting for the pipeline industry as a whole.

05/03/2006
API: Industry Earnings in Line With Those of Other Industries
WASHINGTON - The American Petroleum Institute today issued the following statement regarding oil and natural gas company earnings.

05/03/2006
Nineteen Pipeline Companies Join Public Awareness Survey Program
WASHINGTON, April 20 – Nineteen pipeline companies representing 140,000 miles of the nation’s pipelines have signed up for the API/INGAA/AOPL public awareness survey program.  The survey program is a response to new federal regulations that incorporate API standard RP 1162, Public Awareness Programs for Pipeline Operators.  RP 1162 provides a framework for communication between pipeline companies and residents living and working along the pipeline route, emergency responders, public officials and excavators.

04/26/2006
Sound Energy Policy Should Be Based on Fact: API’s Cavaney
In the oil and natural gas business size is everything, and it is critical to understand that fact when looking at the operational financial performance of our industry, API President and CEO Red Cavaney told a media briefing at API headquarters. “Earnings and reinvestment numbers may seem big to you, but in an industry that must make multi-billion dollar investment decisions annually to remain competitive, they absolutely are necessary,” Cavaney said. He said API member companies understood the frustration that consumers have expressed about energy prices and noted that much of the information circulated about the current situation is “misleading and harmful if it becomes the basis for public policy and political actions.”

04/25/2006
API Statement on President Bush’s Energy Plan
WASHINGTON – America’s oil and natural gas industry welcomes the administration’s increased focus on the nation’s long-term and short-term energy issues. The industry’s one-hundred years of experience in motor fuels provides us with important insights in managing a complex fuels system in a way that insures consumers’ access to reliable and affordable energy supplies. We are working full-time to meet the energy needs of the nation’s consumers and to comply with environmental and fuel requirements in government regulations and laws.

04/25/2006
Economics, Reliability Should Drive Ethanol Demand: API
WASHINGTON – The nation’s oil and natural gas industry is committed to using more ethanol in its fuel mix in an efficient and cost-effective fashion which focuses on economics and reliability, not government mandates, API President and CEO Red Cavaney said Tuesday.

04/25/2006
API To Congress: Industry Hard At Work To Meet Consumer Needs
WASHINGTON - The industry is doing all it can to meet consumer energy needs, but it cannot meet U.S. energy challenges alone, API President and CEO Red Cavaney wrote in a letter to members of Congress. In the April 24 letter, Cavaney said the nation’s energy policy needs to focus on increasing supplies, energy efficiency, and encouraging responsible development of alternative and nonconventional sources of energy. Click Here to Open

04/25/2006
API Joins Forces with Rebuilding Together to Renovate DC Home
API and Rebuilding Together, the nation’s largest volunteer home rehabilitation organization, will kickoff their national Energy Efficient Homes Initiative’s campaign on Thursday when volunteers from both groups install energy efficiency materials and carry out other repairs to a Washington D.C. residence of a disabled home owner. An extended family, including young grandchildren, live at the Gault Place home in northeast Washington D.C. 

04/21/2006
API Monthly Statistical Report for March 2006
With the end of the federal oxygen mandate approaching, API data show a noticeable movement towards greater use of ethanol in gasoline. For example, by the first week of April, the ethanol-blended product's share of reformulated gasoline (RFG) had risen to 67 percent, up from 57 percent one year earlier. Because ethanol is also blended in regions that do not require RFG, particularly in the Midwest, ethanol-blended gasoline's share goes beyond just the RFG pool. By the first week of April, according to data from API's Weekly Statistical Bulletin, ethanol blended gasoline--both RFG and conventional--amounted to fully 40 percent of all gasoline produced in the U.S. That was measurably higher than the 33 percent observed a year earlier.

04/19/2006
API Statement On Comments Made By Sen. Charles Schumer
WASHINGTON - API today issued the following statement in response to requests by Sen. Charles Schumer, D-NY, and others, for investigations into the increase in the price of gasoline.

04/12/2006
U.S. Oil, Gas Drilling Activity Rises In First Quarter
WASHINGTON, — Estimated completions of U.S. oil wells, natural gas wells and dry holes increased by 9 percent in the first quarter of 2006 compared with the same period of 2005, the American Petroleum Institute reported today. Oil well completions rose 10 percent, and natural gas completions increased 8 percent for the quarter compared to the same period of 2005. 

04/07/2006
API Urges Congress to Join Industry In Addressing Supply Concerns
In a April 7 letter from API President Red Cavaney, API explains to Congress the factors contributing to higher gasoline prices. These factors include continued geopolitical concerns in key oil-producing regions; the lingering impact of last summer’s hurricanes on refinery and oil and natural gas production and the challenges presented by the end of the oxygenate mandate. “The only short-term answer to our energy situation is for government to join with the industry to encourage the wise and responsible use of energy by all consumers,” Cavaney wrote in his letter. 

03/29/2006
Industry Committed To Meeting New Fuel Specs, API Tells Senate
The nation’s oil and natural gas companies count on the expertise, experience and resources necessary to make the challenging fuel transitions this year as long as fuel markets are permitted to function freely, API said in a statement presented to the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee on March 29. 

03/16/2006
API Urges Congress to Reject New Taxes on Oil and Natural Gas Industry
In a letter from API President, Red Cavaney, API urges Congress to reject the current Senate version of the tax reconciliation bill (H.R. 4297) that includes two provisions that would be counter-productive and make it more difficult for the oil and natural gas industry to meet America's vast energy needs. Click Here to Open PDF

03/14/2006
API to Senate: Do Not Override Market Forces
Congress should resist repeating the mistakes of the past by punishing the oil and natural gas industry for a consolidation wave that was the result of economic pressures and regulatory requirements, the American Petroleum Institute (API) told Congress Tuesday.
Click here for API's full Statement for the Record

03/10/2006
API Salutes Interior Secretary Gale Norton's Leadership
The American Petroleum Institute commends Interior Secretary Gale A. Norton for more than five years of strong leadership at the department that manages lands currently producing one-third of the oil and natural gas in the United States.

03/01/2006
API President Delivers State of the Industry Speech
API President and CEO Red Cavaney delivered a speech outlining the state of the U.S. oil and natural gas industry on March 1, 2006 at the 10th Annual Ohio Energy Management & Restructuring Conference in Columbus, Ohio. 

02/26/2006
Bob Greco Named API Group Director of Industry Operations, Upstream
The American Petroleum Institute (API) today named Bob Greco to the post of Group Director, Industry Operations and Upstream. In this position, Greco will be responsible for managing oil and natural gas issues pertaining to exploration, production, marine and related industry operations. Greco will assume his new role at API effective March 1, 2006.

02/10/2006
Pipeline Groups Offer RP 1162 Joint Survey Program
The American Petroleum Institute, the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America and the Association of Oil Pipe Lines are offering a cost-effective, joint public awareness survey program for transmission and gathering pipeline companies. The survey program is designed to help pipeline companies meet the public awareness evaluation requirements of a new federal regulation that incorporates API RP 1162, Public Awareness Programs for Pipeline Operators.

01/30/2006
API Updates Congress on Oil & Natural Gas Industry Efforts
API encourages Congress focused on increasing supplies and encouraging energy efficiency in this timely letter from API President, Red Cavaney. The Energy Policy Act of 2005 is a first step in a much-needed effort to enhance energy security and ensure the reliable delivery of affordable energy to consumers, he writes. Nevertheless, much remains to be done to remove barriers to supply.

01/19/2006
Year-End 2005 API Monthly Statistical Report
Higher oil prices due to tight global crude oil markets and Gulf Coast hurricane damage led to lower U.S. demand and record product imports in 2005, the American Petroleum Institute reported today in API’s year-end Monthly Statistical Report. “Growth in gasoline demand slowed to a fraction of the rate that it had averaged during the previous three years,” observed Ronald J. Planting, manager, information and analysis, for API. The major hurricanes that slammed the Gulf Coast in late August and September continued to have lingering effects even at year-end, Planting said. Click Here To Read Statements

01/13/2006
API Chief: Technology Critical to Petroleum Industry’s Future
The key role technology has played – and will continue to play -- in keeping the U.S. oil and natural gas industry strong and competitive is the theme of a keynote speech API President and CEO Red Cavaney will deliver at Petrotech 2006 in Bahrain on January 15.