Jack Gerard's remarks at press conference on crude oil exports

As prepared for delivery

Press Conference on Crude Oil Exports
Jack Gerard, API President and CEO
Wednesday, October 14, 2015

Opening statement, as prepared for delivery:

Thanks for joining us for today’s call. Last week the United States House of Representatives sent a clear message that it stands for a brighter energy and economic future for our nation when it approved with a strong bipartisan majority lifting the 1970s era ban on crude oil exports.

We now call on Senate to do the same. We urge them to unleash our nation’s energy potential by ending this vestige of our nation’s era of energy scarcity, dependence and insecurity.

According to an ICF study, putting this additional U.S. oil on the world market could reduce the price of a gallon of gas by as much as 12 cents a gallon savings for consumers. American consumers could save about $5.8 billion per year by 2020.

The study also found that lifting the ban on crude exports could create up to 300,000 American jobs, well beyond oil-producing states. Eighteen states could gain more than 5,000 jobs each in 2020 from the export of U.S. crude oil.

Every other major study agrees. The Energy Information Administration, Brookings, Aspen and MAPI, IHS, the GAO, the CBO, Columbia University, Resources for the Future and the list goes on.

At a time when this nation is leading the charge on a deal that would allow Iran to export more of their energy resources, it makes no sense to hamstring U.S. producers, preventing them from accessing the world market, and enhancing America’s position as a global energy leader.

And allowing our nation to more fully participate in the global energy market will help create a buffer between our energy-dependent friends and allies and other nations that use energy resources as a diplomatic cudgel. Updating the crude export policy provides an opportunity to show our allies and all nations how a democracy uses energy abundance and pro-energy public policies to the world’s benefit.

Thanks to a study by Wood Mackenzie we have a better understanding of the difference to our nation’s economy if we put into place policies that promote responsible energy development as opposed to those that constrain energy development.

The study found that; by 2035 pro-development policies could increase U.S. production by approximately 8 million barrels of oil equivalent per day; support 2.3 million more jobs in the U.S. economy and provide a cumulative $1.1 trillion in additional revenue to the government.

Conversely the study estimates that the combined negative impact of proposed and imposed federal regulations could reduce U.S. energy production by approximately 3.4 million barrels of oil equivalent per day, reduce jobs supported by the industry in the U.S. by 830,000 and reduce revenue to the government by a cumulative $500 billion.

The study vividly illustrates why policy matters when it comes to our nation’s energy future.

Today, America stands second to no nation when it comes to oil and natural gas production. And we’ve achieved this while also demonstrating strong environmental stewardship.

America has been leading the world in reducing greenhouse gasses, with carbon dioxide emissions near 27-year lows, and a major part of that progress comes from the development of America’s abundant natural gas resources.

What’s more, even as domestic oil and natural gas production has surged, methane emissions have declined significantly.

According EPA’s own data, methane emissions from Petroleum and Natural Gas Systems have decreased by 13 percent since 2011, with the largest methane reductions coming from gas well completions using hydraulic fracturing which have decreased by 83 percent.

The fact is our nation has become a global leader in energy production AND leading the way in climate change mitigation disproves the overheated rhetoric of anti-fossil fuel groups who continue to peddle the unrealistic notion that our modern society and way of life would be possible without a true all-of-the-above energy policy that is built upon a foundation of responsible fossil fuel use.

The false choices some have suggested contradict our energy reality. We are producing more affordable and reliable energy. We are creating jobs, helping the economy and generating billions in revenue for the government. And, we are leading the world on carbon reductions. We are second to no one.

The energy policy choices we make today will impact our nation’s consumers in the future. Consumers need more energy and more efficiencies, not less.

We are in the midst of an energy renaissance in which America has an abundance of energy. We can be self-sufficient, and a global leader helping our allies across the globe.

API has been mobilizing it’s network of 35 million grassroots advocates which has helped grow bi-partisan support in the House and Senate for opening up our market and allowing our nation to be a world leader in energy.

There is a vocal minority who believe that instead of growing our economy to lift people out of poverty we should reduce our current standard of living and cap our potential. We reject this notion and encourage policy makers to continue down the path we have shown to work, supplying abundant, affordable, and reliable energy to consumers while lowering our impact on the environment.

We call on the Senate to support this pro-growth, pro-jobs, and pro-consumer future.