Energy Tomorrow Blog
Expanding Educational Opportunity For a More Diverse Workforce
industry standards workforce jobs
Lem Smith
Posted March 4, 2021
The natural gas and oil industry is preparing for the future by investing in the next generation of engineers, scientists and problem solvers. We’re committed to attracting and retaining a diverse, inclusive and resilient workforce of men and women ready to tackle the world’s energy and climate challenges.
Expanding access to educational opportunities is essential in this endeavor.
To this end, the American Petroleum Institute (API) and the Louisiana Mid-Continent Oil & Gas Association (LMOGA) are excited to announce two new additions to the industry’s Minority Serving Institution (MSI) initiative.API, Historically Black Colleges and Universities Partner on Access to Industry Standards
industry standards workforce jobs
Debra Phillips
Posted February 23, 2021
American Petroleum Institute (API) recently announced the first three participants in its new higher education initiative which makes all 700+ API standards accessible, free of charge, to students at accredited Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and other Minority-Serving Institutions (MSIs).
Prairie View A&M University, Southern University and A&M College and Grambling University are the program’s first participants and as we mark Black History Month – celebrating diversity and the contributions of Black Americans – this news is especially timely.
API’s new program is a natural follow-on to last October’s Facebook conversation between Dr. Benjamin Chavis, National Newspaper Publishers Association president and CEO, and Mike Sommers, API President and CEO, in which they discussed career opportunities for African Americans in the natural gas and oil industry.
Millennial Employees Enthusiastic About the Future of Energy
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Sam Winstel
Posted February 3, 2021
Young professionals in the natural gas and oil industry know how far the sector has come over the past few decades, in terms of energy expansion and environmental protection, and they see the endless possibilities for continued progress. These industry employees are confident that America’s energy future will be built on affordable, reliable and ever-cleaner fuels, and they hope to make lasting contributions in their communities.
The views of industry Millennials were highlighted at last month’s State of American Energy event, which featured a roundtable conversation with them. The seven young professionals are employed at companies representing a cross-section of the natural gas and oil industry, and their insights reflect the sector’s ongoing progress and the optimistic vision for a cost-effective, sustainable energy future.
API Committed to Energy Accessibility and Workforce Inclusion
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Sam Winstel
Posted October 21, 2020
As API’s members focus on meeting some of America’s greatest challenges, it’s clear our workers – the men and women of natural gas and oil – are our industry’s most valuable assets. For the future, this industry must continue to attract the best and brightest minds – while building a diverse, inclusive and resilient workforce that will bring energy to America for decades to come.
Over the summer, API President and CEO Mike Sommers wrote to colleagues underscoring the strength in this industry’s diversity, and initiating a conversation among natural gas and oil operators about actions to address disparities in the energy workforce and in American communities more broadly.
This month, Sommers joined Dr. Benjamin Chavis, president and CEO of the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) and a pioneering civil rights leader, to continue this conversation with a one-on-one interview entitled, “Opportunities in the Energy Industry.”
Energy Industry Preparedness & Response to COVID-19
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Sam Winstel
Posted March 20, 2020
As the world copes with a mounting health and economic crisis, America’s natural gas and oil industry remains focused on preserving the health and safety of its workers and delivering critical energy supplies to communities across the country. As an industry, we are committed to operating safely and reliably despite the unpredictable circumstances, implementing contingency plans that ensure the continuity of fuels to market.
These were points of emphasis by emergency preparedness experts at leading energy trade associations during a joint press conference this week that detailed industry readiness and response during the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic (listen here).
Celebrating STEM Education, Empowering Solution Seekers
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Sam Winstel
Posted November 6, 2019
To mark National STEM Day this Friday, API and a group of partners are launching the STEM Careers Coalition that focuses on science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) in the K-12 grades, with an emphasis on equity and access.
API, Discovery Education, Chevron, Boeing, Best Buy, The Manufacturing Institute, and Microsoft are committed to advancing the future of education through 2025 and beyond. The goal is to improve the learning experience for 10 million students in 5,000 schools nationwide – through direct investments in classrooms, connecting industry employees and students and creating an easily accessible career portal. Ultimately, the coalition will work to bridge the STEM workforce skills gap – which may leave 2.4 million positions unfilled between 2018-2028, according to the Manufacturing Institute.
Recognizing the Workforce this National Energy Awareness Month
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Sam Winstel
Posted October 15, 2019
Since 1991, October has served as National Energy Awareness Month, recognizing the importance of sustainable resource management and the dedication of the people who enable our energy economy. More recently, this also has highlighted the remarkable role of American resource abundance in strengthening the domestic economy and reducing our dependence on imported energy.
Given that the U.S. is the world’s leading natural gas and oil producer, and is expected to become a net exporter of total energy this year, the story of National Energy Awareness Month is now one of energy security and economic progress – powered, in large part, by innovation and an industrious and tech-savvy workforce.
Delivering the Second Wave of U.S. LNG Mega-Projects
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Dean Foreman
Posted August 28, 2019
U.S. exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) – growing to a record 4.8 billion cubic feet per day (bcf/d) in the third quarter of 2019 – have been a catalyst for new natural gas resource development, U.S. pipeline and natural gas processing investments and the U.S. economy. ...
The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) expects U.S. LNG exports to more than double again by 2025, which holds the potential for even greater domestic economic benefits, plus a central, emerging role for U.S. energy leadership in global markets.
Realizing these benefits is critically dependent on the United States’ ability to build and deliver an unprecedented number of multi-billion-dollar U.S. mega-projects over the next several years. When ”demographics are destiny” and the average age of a welder in the U.S. already is over 57 years, we should remain optimistic about the potential to build these projects but also pragmatic about the policies and business environment needed to achieve the goals.Report Shows Industry's Commitment to Workplace Safety
Mark Green
Posted January 17, 2019
The natural gas and oil industry’s commitment to employee safety has paid off, reflected in API’s new, comprehensive Workplace Safety Report that shows industry’s incidences rate of occupational injuries and illnesses continues to decline and is significantly lower than the rate for the rest of the U.S. private sector.
Industry’s safety initiatives – recognized by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), which has incorporated a number of API’s recommended practices into its own standards – have been successful. The report is full of data and graphics showing this.Joint Worker Safety Program to Help Sustain U.S. Energy
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Mark Green
Posted April 18, 2018
The deep relationship between the U.S. natural gas and oil industry and America’s building trades unions – the men and women who build much of our country’s energy infrastructure – is getting deeper.
In remarks to the annual legislative conference of North America’s Building Trades Unions (NABTU), API President and CEO Jack Gerard announced a new program to join the best practices of the two organizations in a new safety initiative, applicable to all energy infrastructure construction.