VIDEO: Gerard Addresses Regulatory Changes on Platts Energy Week

Jane Van Ryan
Posted October 11, 2010

On Sunday, API President and CEO Jack Gerard was a guest on WUSA's Platts Energy Week in Washington, D.C. During his interview, Gerard spoke about a variety of topics facing the oil and natural gas industry, including regulatory changes that are being considered by the Department of Interior following the Deepwater Horizon incident--and the potential economic impacts of those changes.

I've highlighted a few key excerpts from the interview below:

On new regulations facing the industry:

"We expect that they will indeed raise the bar which is appropriate. The key will be to make sure they don't raise the bar so high that it discourages the very energy development we need to create good paying American jobs and to create the energy Americans need."

On the moratorium's impact:

"There were 33 rigs operating at time the moratorium was imposed. About five of those have already moved. They've gone. These investments are very significant. We're talking about potential loss of thousands of jobs. Even the administration admitted that there would be somewhere between 12 and 20 thousand jobs lost as the result of that decision."

On public opinion concerning energy development:

"The public clearly supports the development of American energy sources. In fact, even today after the spill in the Gulf if you look at public opinion surveys and polls, you will see that the majority of the public says that we need to develop our American resources for the benefit of all of us."