API President Jack Gerard Statement on Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Bill

Cathy Landry | 202.682.8122 | landryc@api.org

WASHINGTON – American Petroleum Institute President Jack Gerard issued the following statement on oil and gas title of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee energy bill, released today.

“As Goldman Sachs noted today when it raised its forecast for U.S. benchmark crude oil price by 31 percent for the end of this year, ‘As the financial crisis eases, an energy shortages lies ahead.’

While the Bingaman oil and gas title recognizes the need for increased domestic production by incentivizing construction of a natural gas pipeline, Goldman and other experts have cautioned that more needs to be done to ensure reliability of energy supplies.

This bill does little to provide new access or bring on additional supplies of domestic oil and natural gas, despite the clear desire of the American people for additional development. Opening new areas off America’s coast lines to oil and gas leasing would create new jobs, add new energy resources and provide new revenues to federal, state and local governments. We hope this bill is amended to allow greater development of our domestic oil and gas resources."