Oil and natural gas touch our lives in countless ways every day. Together, they supply 65 percent of our nation’s energy. They fuel our cars, heat our homes and cook our food.
But did you know that oil and natural gas also help generate the electricity that powers our daily lives? Or that crude oil supplies the building blocks for everything from dent-resistant car fenders to soft drink bottles to camping equipment?
Explore this section to learn more about oil and natural gas, how they are produced and how they become the products you count on. You’ll also find useful tips on how to conserve energy and use oil and natural gas products in ways that protect you, your family and our environment.
Revolution: Energy Solutions Primer New energy solutions are on the horizon, brought to you by the pioneers of energy - America’s oil and natural gas industry.
The U.S. oil and natural gas industry, with well over a century of experience providing reliable energy supplies to American consumers, has a vital role to play in leading our nation on the path to a sustainable and secure energy future. An effective comprehensive energy plan should recognize that oil and natural gas will remain an important and significant source of energy for the nation for decades to come.
View Primer Size: 2 MB | Date: June 24, 2009 | License: Free
Energizing America: Facts for Addressing Energy Policy The United States is at an historic turning point for the country and its energy policies. But many Americans lack a full understanding of the oil and natural gas industry. API has assembled this oil and gasoline primer to encourage a constructive public policy debate that leads to a new fact-based comprehensive energy policy.
Sections include discussions of U.S. energy needs, investments, carbon mitigation, refineries and fuels, untapped potential of domestic resources, factors affecting price, global energy framework, and energy policy.
View Primer Size: 2.5 MB | Date: June 26, 2009 | License: Free
Policies for America’s Future: Restoring Our Economic Strength and Shaping Our Energy Future The political campaigns are over and the real work must now begin. In order to encourage a constructive public policy debate that leads to a new fact-based comprehensive energy policy, API has assembled this primer. Now more than ever – in this time of financial crisis - our nation needs to move away from the energy politics that have failed so badly over the past decades and get to work putting our nation’s own resources to work for American consumers.
View Primer Size: 2 M | Date: June 5, 2009 | License: Free
Putting Earnings into Perspective It may surprise you to find out our industry’s earnings are typically in line with the average of other major U.S. manufacturing industries. From just who owns “big oil” to how we invest what we earn, we’ve prepared this short paper, based on well-documented data, to help you better understand the oil and natural gas industry’s earnings by putting them into perspective.
View Primer Size: 1 M | Date: June 5, 2009 | License: Free
Onshore Access to Oil and Natural Gas Resources America needs a balanced energy policy that promotes energy efficiency, conservation and greater supplies of all forms of energy, including domestic oil and natural gas. The industry has proven it can develop these resources safely and in an environmentally responsible manner in all regions, including on non-park federal lands.
View Primer Size: 2 MB | Date: June 5, 2009 | License: Free
Offshore Access to America’s Oil and Natural Gas Resources On October 1, 2008, Congress lifted the federal ban on offshore drilling that had kept 75 percent of U.S. coastal waters in the lower 48 states off limits to development for nearly three decades. Another 10 percent of the U.S. coastal waters remains off limits in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico. Policymakers and consumers alike have many questions about offshore drilling, so API has assembled this primer to foster an informed, constructive public policy debate and to demonstrate how the safe, efficient and environmentally conscious development of America’s vast oil and natural gas resources will help meet our growing energy needs, create new jobs, provide more revenue to federal and state governments and enhance our energy security.
View Primer Size: 3 MB | Date: June 5, 2009 | License: Free
Energy Taxes: What does it mean to your state? What happens in the oil and natural gas industry reverberates throughout the economy. That’s because the industry is connected to a wide variety of industries that use oil and natural gas products either directly or indirectly. New taxes could hurt workers and industries throughout the economy. The oil and natural gas industry is working to minimize the downsizing, cancellation of projects and reduction in its workforce that may be required by the plunge in crude oil and natural gas prices. More taxes would hamper those efforts and could result in the loss of thousands of industry related jobs annually. The primary industries and number of firms and employees most at risk in the United States are within this map.
Click to enlarge Size: 70 KB | Date: May 7, 2009 | License: Free
There's a lot of life in oil and natural gas. When you stop and think about it, it’s amazing how many things get their start from oil and natural gas. Comfy synthetic fabrics we wear year-round. Medicines that make us feel better. Transportation fuels that help us get around. Fertilizers that help our gardens grow. And just about every toy we play with. Oil and natural gas - they’re the stuff of life. Learn more about oil and natural gas and how they touch your life in amazing ways.
API Access Counter The development of America’s vast domestic oil and natural gas resources that had been kept off-limits by Congress for decades could generate more government revenue, create new jobs and significantly boost domestic production. Want to learn more about increased production, decreased imports, and the cars and homes that could be powered by untapped U.S. resources? TheAPI Access Counterenables you to explore resources and regions to understand the benefits of increased energy exploration.
Facing the Hard Truths About Energy The latest report by the National Petroleum Council
The American people are very concerned about energy - its availability, reliability, cost, and environmental impact. Energy also has become a subject of urgent policy discussions. Developing a framework for considering America’s oil and natural gas position now and for the future requires a broad view and a long-term perspective; both are provided in this study by the National Petroleum Council.
Download/View Size: 677 KB | Date: September 26, 2008
Investment and Other Uses of Cash Flow by the Oil Industry Today's oil and natural gas industry earnings are invested in new technology, new production and environment and product quality improvements to meet tomorrow's energy needs. This new Ernst & Young study shows the five major oil companies had $712 billion of new investment between 1992 and 2007, compared to net income of $705 billion during the same period. The industry overall, which includes 41 of the largest U.S. oil and natural gas companies, had new investments of $1.17 trillion over the same period, compared to net income of $974 billion and cash flows of $1.74 trillion. High oil and gas prices in recent years increased oil and natural gas companies’ cash flows from operations and net income, which facilitated record levels of investment spending. Download the complete report below (Published July 2008).
The Economic Contributions to the U.S. National and State Economies by the Oil and Natural Gas Industry This report quantifies the effects of the oil and natural gas industry’s employment and purchases of goods and services on the U.S. national and state economies in terms of jobs, value-added, and labor income.
Full Report Size: 310 KB | Date: January 15, 2007 | License: Free
What Goes Down Must Come Up: A Review of the Factors Behind Increasing Gasoline Prices, 1999-2006 U.S. gasoline prices nearly tripled between January 1999 and July 2006. Consumers, policymakers, and the media have questioned why prices rose so quickly and why they remain so high. In this paper, Professor Carol Dahl, an independent expert in international energy markets reviews the available data and evaluates the various forces that have been suggested as possible causes for these price trends.
Full Report Size: 1.5 MB | Date: Updated July 2007 | License: Free
Understanding Today's Crude Oil and Product Markets (Oil Primer) American consumers, and policy makers, are anxious for answers to explain why fuel bills are getting more expensive. They wonder what has caused the price of crude to push past $70 per barrel and how that crude price affects the price of gasoline and other refined products. In a project commissioned by API, Lexecon. a unit of business consultancy FTI, has put together a primer called “Understanding Today’s Crude Oil and Products Markets.”
Understanding Natural Gas Markets Natural gas is an attractive fuel because it is clean-burning and efficient. The importance of natural gas as an energy source for the United States has grown since the mid-1990. For the last five to seven years, the price of natural gas has been trending upward in response to the interaction of supply and increased demand. In a project commissioned by API, Lexecon. a unit of business consultancy FTI, has put together a primer called "Understanding Natural Gas Markets" that explains this interaction of market forces.
View Primer Size: 1.8 MB | Date: January 2007 | License: Free
Emerging Energy Technologies Research To help meet future U.S. energy demand growth and to diversify the U.S. energy portfolio, U.S. oil and gas companies invested an estimated $121.3 billion from 2000 through 2007 on emerging energy technologies in the North American market. This investment represents 65% of the estimated total of $188 billion spent by U.S. companies and the Federal government.
The Economics of Gasoline Retailing In his new study. The Economics of Gasoline Retailing: Petroleum Distribution and Retailing Issues in the U. S., Andrew N. Kleit, Ph.D., professor of Energy and Environmental Economics at Penn State University, finds non-price vertical restraints and zone pricing marketing strategies are the result of competition among various forms of distribution in gasoline marketing. This competition promotes efficiency, which benefits consumers by bringing product to market for less.
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