The American Petroleum Institute (API) has reported that during a recent house energy hearing, lawmakers were considering more ways to move toward lifting US trade restrictions on crude oil this year.
“The US energy revolution has transformed the global landscape, creating countless economic opportunities for American workers and consumers,” said API Executive Vice President for Government Affairs Louis Finkel. “To continue growing as an energy superpower, America must have policies that reflect modern energy markets, rather than policies based on a market that existed in the 1970s. Study after study shows that free trade in crude oil will mean more jobs, downward pressure on fuel costs, and could reduce the power that foreign suppliers have over our allies overseas…Our competitors overseas are working hard to lock-in their economic advantages as exporters, and we must act now to ensure US producers can compete effectively for a share of the global market.”
API is the only national trade association representing all facets of the oil and natural gas industry, which supports 9.8 million US jobs and eight percent of the US economy. API’s more than 625 members include large integrated companies, as well as exploration and production, refining, marketing, pipeline, and marine businesses, and service and supply firms.