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API: Domestic oil and gas development helping U.S. consumers and the economy


Reid Porter | porterr@api.org | 202.682.8114



WASHINGTON, August 24, 2016 – U.S. consumers have continued to take advantage of America’s energy revolution and affordable gas prices as we head into the fall season, said API Chief Economist Erica Bowman on a conference call with journalists.

“Throughout the summer, motorists have continued to benefit from America’s energy renaissance with relief at the pump and in their homes,” said Bowman. “World-leading U.S. production has translated into lower energy costs for individual Americans and families. This is a winning scenario for American consumers.”

U.S. production is a clear factor in lower global crude prices, which has translated into lower energy costs for individual Americans and families. Year-over-year U.S. gasoline prices have declined by almost 50 cents per gallon, due in large part to the decline in the price of crude oil. AAA says lower prices at the pump allowed drivers to save an average of more than $550 in 2015. The first half of 2016 has shown crude oil prices to be 25 percent less than the first half of 2015. 

“Additionally, increased use of natural gas has helped drive U.S. carbon dioxide emissions to near 20-year lows while energy use and production have increased,” said Bowman. “Looking ahead to November and before the debates this fall, no time is better to remind candidates about the importance of the American energy renaissance for U.S. consumers, families, the nation’s economy and U.S. energy security.”

The United States’ energy-related emissions in 2015 were 12 percent lower than they were in 2005, even though the U.S. economy was 15 percent larger last year than it was a decade earlier. EIA also projects that 2016 will have seen the lowest levels of energy-related carbon emissions in nearly a quarter century, thanks to low natural gas prices, which have contributed to increased use of natural gas as the preferred fuel for electricity generation.

electric sector natural gas emissions reduction

API is the only national trade association representing all facets of the oil and natural gas industry, which supports 9.8 million U.S. jobs and 8 percent of the U.S. economy. API’s more than 650 members include large integrated companies, as well as exploration and production, refining, marketing, pipeline, and marine businesses, and service and supply firms. They provide most of the nation’s energy and are backed by a growing grassroots movement of more than 30 million Americans.

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