API welcomes IEA’s natural gas report

WASHINGTON, June 1, 2012 - API welcomed the U.S. release of the International Energy Agency (IEA) report “Golden Rules for a Golden Age of Gas,” noting that the report’s proposals are based on API’s standards and leadership on hydraulic fracturing best practices.

“API is happy to see that the IEA’s formal recommendations in the final report were based on API’s five main standards for hydraulic fracturing,” said API Upstream Policy Advisor Amy Emmert. “This clearly reinforces API’s effectiveness as a global leader in U.S. oil and natural gas industry standards.

“The industry is committed to protecting our employees, the environment, and the communities where we operate, all while increasing energy security by safely and responsibly developing energy from shale.”

Emmert added that API’s industry standards and best practices are developed through a transparent standards process to ensure that they reflect and address current operational practices, regulatory realities, and public concerns. Accreditation of API’s standards program by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) signifies that the procedures API uses to create standards meet all of ANSI’s essential requirements for openness, balance, consensus and due process. ANSI last reaccredited API’s program in 2011. ANSI also accredits programs at several national laboratories.

“API’s ANSI accredited process is vetted by diverse stakeholders in the U.S. and validated by third parties,” said Emmert. “IEA’s report is helping to advance what we started on a global scale and we look forward to continuing this open process and expanding the conversation to other countries.”

The schedule and work program for API’s hydraulic fracturing related documents were published in the Federal Register and are available on the API website.

API represents more than 500 oil and natural gas companies, leaders of a technology-driven industry that supplies most of America’s energy, supports 9.2 million U.S. jobs and 7.7 percent of the U.S. economy, delivers more than $86 million a day in revenue to our government, and, since 2000, has invested more than $2 trillion in U.S. capital projects to advance all forms of energy, including alternatives.