Under the right oversight, private investments could serve to buoy the nation’s oil and natural gas sector, creating over 1 million jobs by 2035, according to an American Petroleum Institute (API)-commissioned report.
Kyle Isakower, API’s vice president of regulatory and economic policy, said in an announcement that private capital could total over $1.3 trillion for the industry’s infrastructure given appropriate management.
“Already, reliable access to energy has helped drive down utility, product and other energy-related costs providing a $1,337 boost to the average American household in 2015,” Isakower said. “U.S. industrial electricity costs are 30-50 percent lower than those of our foreign competitors, giving manufacturers — including producers of steel, chemicals, refined fuels, plastics, fertilizers and numerous other products — a major competitive advantage.”
To gain a perspective on the likely path for the nation’s natural resources sector over the next couple of decades, API collaborated with industry research organization ICF, a global entity headquartered in Fairfax, Virginia, which partners with private and public clients in the energy industry to provide efficiency and investment strategies, analysis and planning.
ICF’s study revealed that with additional private investment, the U.S. GDP could increase by as much as $1.89 trillion, according to the announcement.
API’s midstream and industry operations group director Robin Rorick said that the U.S. leads globally in carbon reductions, crediting increased use of natural gas.
“Carbon emissions from power generation have plunged to nearly 30-year lows, and more than 60 percent of those reductions from 2005 to 2016 have been the result of switching to generation from clean-burning natural gas,” Rorick said in the announcement. “By moving forward with private investments … we can ensure that the United States has the critical framework to sustain America’s energy leadership.”
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