WASHINGTON, January 17, 2013 – API Chief Economist John Felmy
told reporters this morning that exporting some of the nation’s massive natural gas resources would spur additional energy production, job creation and economic growth and that the U.S. Department of Energy should promptly approve pending applications for authorization to export natural gas:
“Allowing our oil and natural gas companies to supply other markets through exports is indisputably in our national interest, and the U.S. Department of Energy should approve pending applications for authorization to export natural gas without delay. Natural gas exports would increase investment in U.S. natural gas development by many billions of dollars annually. This would lead to new hiring in the natural gas industry and across the economy, bolstering the nation’s employment levels and increasing economic growth. This upsurge in development also would boost revenues to the government, and exports would reduce our nation’s trade deficit.
“A 2012 NERA study issued by the Energy Department says that more natural gas exports would be good for the economy, and multiple analyses from the Brookings Institution, Deloitte, the Baker Institute, and the Hamilton Project as well as from NERA conclude that any price increases from allowing exports would be small, and offset by other economic gains from greater production spurred by U.S. producers serving wider markets.
“Allowing the export of LNG is a win for the U.S. economy in the same way exporting our agricultural products, industrial machinery, pharmaceuticals, electronic equipment, chemicals, and thousands of other commodities and products is a win. It would mean more jobs and growth and less debt – key priorities of the American people.”
API is a national trade association that represents all segments of America’s technology-driven oil and natural gas industry. Its more than 500 members – including large integrated companies, exploration and production, refining, marketing, pipeline, and marine businesses, and service and supply firms – provide most of the nation’s energy. The industry also supports 9.2 million U.S. jobs and 7.7 percent of the U.S. economy, delivers $86 million a day in revenue to our government, and, since 2000, has invested over $2 trillion in U.S. capital projects to advance all forms of energy, including alternatives.