African Americans of the Oil and Natural Gas Industry

African Americans working for America’s oil and natural gas companies in 10 states went to Capitol Hill in mid-July to meet with policymakers and discuss their concerns on major issues affecting their industry. Vice presidents, geologists, human resource managers, accountants, and attorneys from Alaska to Texas and California to Michigan and beyond, all active contributing members of their communities and their states, used the opportunity to talk about how legislation under consideration would affect them, their communities, and U.S. consumers.

Seyi Harris, a reservoir engineer, said he went to Capitol Hill to present a “broader face of the real oil and natural gas industry and explain how proposed energy legislation impacts our lives.” Added Albert Dozier, a contract manager, “we would like to show lawmakers who we are and what we do. We are a group of active professionals that contribute to our communities and states and this is a learning process we hope to bring to our legislators.”

API President and CEO Jack Gerard said the fly-in was part of what he hopes will become a long-standing tradition for the oil and natural gas industry. A similar fly-in of women working in the industry took place in June. “This is an educational and an outreach effort as we put a real face on the industry,” Gerard said. “ We want our policymakers to meet the hard-working employees of our industry and come away with a better understanding of who we are and what we do to bring Americans the energy they need now and in the future.”