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Oil and natural gas touch our lives in countless ways every day. Together, they supply more than 60 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.
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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: November 20, 2009 | License: Free
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The oil and natural gas industry is the backbone of the American economy and what happens in the industry reverberates throughout the entire economy. That’s because the industry supports more than 9 million American jobs and makes significant economic contributions as an employer and purchaser of American goods and services. In 2007, the most recent year for which data is available, the industry supported a total value added to the national economy of more than $1 trillion or 7.5 percent of the U.S. gross domestic product.
Size: 1.3 MB | Date: September 23, 2009 | License: Free
Size: 446 KB | Date: September 8, 2009 | License: Free
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Oil and Natural Gas Industry Vital to Economy Podcast
Jane Van Ryan talks with Art Wiese, API’s policy analysis manager, about a recent PricewaterhouseCoopers study on the importance of the oil and natural gas industry to the U.S. economy.
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Oil and Natural Gas Industry Vital to Economy Podcast | Show Notes | Date: September 22, 2009
EnergyTomorrow Radio is a podcast series that features energy industry experts speaking on hot button energy issues.
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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.
Size: 3 MB | Date: September 15, 2009 | License: Free
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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.
Size: 2 MB | Date: August 17, 2009 | License: Free
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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.
Size: 2 MB | Date: June 24, 2009 | License: Free
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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.
Size: 1 M | Date: September 18, 2009 | License: Free
Taxing Energy: What would it mean for 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.
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Size: 70 KB | Date: September 2009 | License: Free
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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.
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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? The API Access Counter enables you to explore resources and regions to understand the benefits of increased energy exploration.
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The Offshore Leasing Process
Federal lands and waters hold enough oil to fuel 65 million cars for 60 years, and enough natural gas to heat 60 million homes for 160 years. The 2008 decision by Congress to lift the federal ban on offshore leasing and development in most areas was the necessary first step in a long process to ensure resources are available for future generations. Explore the interactive leasing timeline to learn more about the industry's path to resources.
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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.
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).
Size: 202 KB | Date: July 15, 2008 | 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.
Size: 1.2 MB | Date: April 2007 | License: Free
Size: 1.5 MB | Date: Updated July 2007 | License: Free
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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.”
Size: 1.7 MB | Date: May 2006 | License: Free
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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.
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.
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The Economics of Gasoline Retailing: Petroleum Distribution and Retailing Issues in the U. S., written by 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.
Size: 2.85 MB | Date: December 2003 | License: Free