Karen Matusic | 202-682-8118 | matusick@api.org
WASHINGTON – The American Petroleum Institute today issued the following statement from API President and CEO Jack Gerard following the announcement by Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne that the nation received record payments of $23.4 billion in fiscal year 2008 from royalties, rents and bonuses from onshore and offshore energy production and states received a record $2.59 billion from production on federal lands within their borders and federal offshore areas adjacent to their shores:
"These record payments demonstrate the importance of domestic oil and natural gas to our nation’s economy. According to Secretary Kempthorne, more than $10 billion dollars came from bonus bids paid by oil and natural gas companies to lease tracts for offshore energy exploration on the Outer Continental Shelf in the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska. These revenues are only a fraction of the economic benefits states receive from oil and natural gas development. This development also provides well-paying jobs and a big boost to the local economies in the form of increased retail sales and other business opportunities. Imagine how much more revenue and jobs could be generated for the benefit of all Americans if Congress and the Obama administration listen to the American people and put America’s vast oil and natural gas resources, including those that had been subject to a federal moratoria, to good use to strengthen our nation’s economy and energy security. Given what we know about our nation’s potential resources, total royalties that could be collected over the life of all our nation’s resources could reach $880 billion.”