Definitely Not Your Daddy’s Oil

Mark Green
Posted January 17, 2018

Hope you’ve had a chance to see “Powering Past Impossible,” the new video API premiered at last week’s State of American Energy event:

However you feel about natural gas and oil, that’s one neat video. Especially effective is the way it captures our industry: forward-leaning, helping Americans meet today’s challenges while also laying the foundation for a better future.

Let’s take a closer look at some of the video’s top messages:

Natural Gas and Oil Make Possible The Impossible

Communication, transportation, art, food, education, entertainment and more – energy is in everything in our modern lives, even life itself. From the everyday necessities to our loftier aspirations, natural gas and oil let Americans achieve, excel and dream.

Check out API’s 2018 annual report. Natural gas and oil are integral in the medical field, to chemistry, in manufacturing, fashion, space exploration and more. Our industry is leading progress on lowering emissions – even while the U.S. economy expands. API President and CEO Jack Gerard at last week’s event:

“[W]e continue to push the limits as high–tech innovators and power past the world’s greatest challenges. This innovation-centered mindset pushes boundaries that lead to breakthroughs. It is essential to the cleaner, safer, and more secure energy future we all seek.”

Natural Gas and Oil is an Industry of Innovation

As Gerard said, we’re innovators – using new technologies to increasingly make our work safer and more efficient so that American society keeps moving forward. Gerard:

“We are a high-tech industry – analyzing a tremendous amount of data in real time to head off impacts and incidents. We are identifying trends and constantly improving our accuracy and efficiency. We develop and deploy the most advanced systems, infrared devices, fiber optics and drones to ensure safety around the clock. And we’ve deployed technological advances throughout the supply chain. From 3D mapping and petrophysics to machine learning and sensor technology. We are powering positive change in reliability, safety and environmental performance every day through technology and innovation.”

We’re not satisfied with the way things are – in our own operations or in society’s progress. That’s why, as the annual report says, our industry is focused on more opportunities for women and minorities in its workforce.

Building a Better Future Takes Natural Gas and Oil

As the video states, progress doesn’t power itself. The future belongs to those who plan and work for it. Natural gas and oil supply the power and the molecular building blocks to lead our country to a more prosperous future, one in which Americans have the means to continue powering past seemingly impossible challenges.

I’ll add a corollary: Energy makes America strong. The more natural gas and oil we produce domestically, the greater our country’s freedom and security. Natural gas and oil supply about 65 percent of the energy we use today, and they’re projected to supply about 70 percent of the energy we use in 2050. Supplying more and more of that energy here at home is a very good thing for America’s present and future prosperity and its security. No question, our nation’s outlook has been radically changed for the better by ongoing renaissance in domestic natural gas and oil production. Gerard:

“We’ve taken the nation from energy scarcity to energy abundance. From making products abroad to a rebirth of U.S. manufacturing. From energy as a major pocketbook issue to lower gasoline, diesel, electricity and home heating costs. And today we are increasing energy development as we’re contributing to lower greenhouse gas emissions – a reality many believed was implausible, if not impossible. Industry innovation and technological breakthroughs are why the U.S. is the world’s largest producer of natural gas, oil and refined products.”

This is the ethos of our modern industry. Natural gas and oil companies are committed to building a better America now and in the years ahead by helping ensure safe, secure energy – the essential ingredient for progress. Gerard:

“[T]he natural gas, oil and refined products industry is focused on powering the future. The fact is we always have been, even if most didn’t know it. Meeting global energy demands requires constant innovation, unconventional creativity and a commitment not to be satisfied with the status quo or to accept what others consider impossible today.”