Sabrina Fang | 202.682.8114| fangs@api.org

WASHINGTON, June 24, 2011 ─ Jack Gerard, API President & CEO, today calls for the White House to commit to a long term energy policy that will put thousands of Americans to work.

"The raiding of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve is an admission supply does matter, but 30 million barrels won’t even replace what we lost from the President’s moratorium and permitorium in the Gulf of Mexico.  Since last May we have lost 60 million barrels of Gulf oil production – and almost $1.5 billion in revenue that should have gone to our government.

"With the right policies, the U.S. could bring the equivalent of an additional 5 million barrels of oil a day to the market by 2030 – and ensure that 92 percent of America’s liquid fuels come from secure U.S. and Canadian supplies. We could produce in just six short days what the President is releasing from the SPR.  Instead of tapping our insurance policy, the President should be encouraging more U.S. oil and gas development, which would also put thousands of Americans to work and deliver billions more in revenue to our debt-burdened government."

API represents more than 470 oil and natural gas companies, leaders of a technology-driven industry that supplies most of America’s energy, supports 9.2 million U.S. jobs and 7.7 percent of the U.S. economy, delivers $86 million a day in revenue to our government, and, since 2000, has invested over $2 trillion in U.S. capital projects to advance all forms of energy, including alternatives.