Energy Tomorrow Blog
Innovation Drives U.S. Leadership on Climate, Energy Priorities
Mike Sommers
Posted April 19, 2019
New polling from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce finds that 79 percent of voters agree that the best way to address climate change is through investments in innovation and technology:.
U.S. success in reducing greenhouse gas emissions shows they’re right.
Thanks to technological breakthroughs, America leads the world not only in production of natural gas and oil but in reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. And no other country comes close. Greater use of clean natural gas has driven U.S. carbon emissions to their lowest levels in a generation.
Strong Economic Indications: API’s New D-E-I
Dean Foreman
Posted April 18, 2019
Although we often say energy and economic growth go hand-in-hand, it’s refreshing to highlight tangible examples. API’s new economic indicator, which was first released December 2018, is one to watch.
For the past four months, API’s Distillate Economic Indicator (DEI) has correctly anticipated changes in total U.S. industrial production, which is important to the U.S. economy and ultimately things like jobs, interest rates and the exchange value of the U.S. dollar.
Offshore Energy: 10 Key Ways Operations Have Been Strengthened
safe operations safety standards offshore drilling safety bsee regulations
Erik Milito
Posted April 17, 2019
With the Trump administration nearing release of a new five-year offshore leasing plan for oil and natural gas, offshore energy has never been safer or stronger – thanks to initiatives and technologies designed to enhance worker safety and protect the environment. (See this post dispelling offshore energy myths.) Below, 10 important developments that have strengthened the vitally important work of harnessing America’s offshore energy.
1. Center for Offshore Safety
The Center for Offshore Safety (COS) is an industry-led initiative to promote continuous safety improvement for offshore drilling, completions and operations through effective leadership, communication, teamwork, disciplined management systems and independent third-party auditing and certification.
Patagonia and Petroleum
petroleum products consumers power-past-impossible
Mark Green
Posted April 16, 2019
Patagonia’s limiting sales of its popular vests, excluding corporate clients judged not to be onboard with the outdoor clothier’s environmental and climate positions, apparently including natural gas and oil (see the last few sentences in this tweeted email from a certified Patagonia seller) – seems odd and inconsistent, given how much petroleum is used to make those products.
More on that below. First, let’s point out that, contrary to Patagonia’s impression of the natural gas and oil, our industry cares a great deal about environmental and climate progress – even as it supplies the energy that empowers modern life and growth in the United States. We need both, and they’re not mutually exclusive.
In this 21st century economy, Americans want access to affordable energy. You need energy for prosperity, mobility and good health, and Industry is committed to developing that energy safely and responsibly.
At the same time, industry is leading in important environmental and climate progress, by producing record amounts of clean natural gas – the chief reason U.S. energy-related carbon dioxide emissions have fallen to their lowest levels in a generation.
Safe Digging Month: Call 8-1-1 First
811 safety regulations infrastructure
Kate Lowery
Posted April 15, 2019
Every 6 minutes, an underground utility line is damaged because someone dug without first calling 811 – the number you can call for free, from anywhere in the country, to verify that it’s safe to dig.
The goal is to keep everyone safe by ensuring that there are no below-ground utility lines that could be unintentionally damaged.
April is Safe Digging Month, an annual campaign to remind homeowners and contractors to call 811 before starting a home project that involves digging.
Targeting Energy Infrastructure Red Tape
infrastructure pipelines oil and natural gas consumers us energy security
Mark Green
Posted April 11, 2019
Cutting bureaucratic red tape and making federal decisions on energy infrastructure more efficient and timely are important steps toward ensuring that Americans in all parts of the country may be connected to the benefits of the U.S. energy revolution.
That’s what we see in the president’s two new executive orders affecting energy infrastructure – greater efficiency and timeliness in federal reviews, without compromising thorough environmental scrutiny.
The United States leads the world in natural gas and oil production, yet not every American, not every manufacturer and not every region of the country is adequately connected to America’s energy abundance – and won’t be without new and/or expanded pipelines and other infrastructure to deliver energy to markets and consumers.
Talking Turkey, Barbeques and Abundant U.S. Propane
consumers natural gas petroleum products liquid fuels
Dean Foreman
Posted April 10, 2019
Connecting the renaissance in U.S. energy exports and chemical production with barbeques and turkey might not seem automatic, but hear me out. Thanks to the U.S. energy revolution, propane that’s widely used as a fuel for vital heating and cooking has never been more abundant and affordable.
Certainly, the need for affordable energy – available on-demand when and where you need it – is universal and something people I met recently during travels from Washington, D.C. to Minnesota and the Gulf Coast are talking about.
The Pro-Consumer U.S. Energy Revolution
consumers energy costs oil and natural gas production
Mark Green
Posted April 9, 2019
America’s energy revolution is decidedly pro-consumer. Indeed, surging U.S. natural gas and oil production has significantly helped individual Americans and their families with their budgets, plan travel and more.
We’ll go mostly visual to absorb this – in a handful of charts from API’s Quarterly Industry Outlook, prepared by Chief Economist Dean Foreman. …
America’s natural gas and oil resurgence has played a major role in that when you think about the average family’s needs for driving, home heating and keeping the lights on (remembering that natural gas is the leading U.S. fuel for power generation). It follows, then, that families spending less on energy had more of their disposable income available for other needs.
Exported U.S. LNG, Key Global Growth Markets and Environmental Benefits
lng exports natural gas benefits climate china
Dustin Meyer
Posted April 5, 2019
In this third post on the benefits of the United States’ emergence as a major global natural gas exporter (see parts one and two), we continue looking abroad to evaluate the key liquefied natural gas (LNG) importing markets that are driving global demand growth.
We’ll see that in all of these markets, U.S. LNG can deliver a plethora of economic and environmental benefits, including better local air quality and enhanced access to reliable and affordable energy. The challenge is immense – globally, nearly 1 billion people still don’t have access to electricity, while an additional 1.2 billion have only intermittent access – but LNG, including from the U.S., has emerged as a critical part of the solution.
In other words, LNG is now delivering globally many of the same benefits the U.S. has enjoyed for decades.
The $670 Million Question for New York, New England Consumers
consumers natural gas infrastructure liquefied natural gas imports
Mark Green
Posted April 4, 2019
A pair of graphics prepared by API Chief Economist Dean Foreman help underscore the impacts of bad, consumer-impacting policies blocking needed natural gas infrastructure in New York and New England.
First, because New York and New England don’t have enough natural gas pipeline capacity to meet the needs of consumers, especially during peak-demand months in the winter, the two have had to import liquefied natural gas (LNG) to help fill in the gaps.
As Dean’s graphic shows, 90 percent of the $1.2 billion in LNG the U.S. has imported since 2016 went to NY/NE. The bad news for consumers is that they paid about $670 million more for the imported LNG than they would have paid for domestic natural gas – that should have been available from the nearby Marcellus shale play with sufficient infrastructure to deliver it.