The American Petroleum Institute (API) said on a conference call with reporters Thursday that President Joe Biden rejected an invitation from oil and gas leaders to tour successful fossil fuel operations across the United States. Instead, Biden is heading to Saudi Arabia to seek more oil from OPEC.
“Saudi Arabia plays a key role in the global oil market and maintaining a constructive dialogue between our two nations is important,” Mike Sommers, API president and CEO, said on the call. “But if the administration is serious about increasing supply, they should be meeting with producers here at home instead of looking to governments overseas.”
“Just last month, API joined with 27 energy associations to urge President Biden and his cabinet to visit America’s major oil and gas facilities, from production to distribution to refining to innovation hubs as geopolitical volatility and energy costs continue to rise,” Sommers said.
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“We invited the President to visit the prolific Permian Basin, or to go to one of the pioneers of American energy production in Kern County, California, or see American energy innovation and action in the Bakken in North Dakota,” Sommers said. “Unfortunately, [the president] ignored our invitation and continues to send mixed signals about how much the administration is willing to work with our industry.”
Sommers called out Biden’s “misguided policy agenda” to shut down the fossil fuel industry completely.
.@POTUS and the broader Biden administration need to recognize that the U.S. natural gas and oil industry is necessary and vital to the future of global energy. We invite the President to visit domestic energy sites to see how we can best expand American energy leadership. https://t.co/BdcPHTMtpo
— Mike Sommers (@mj_sommers) July 14, 2022
“The truth of the matter is oil and natural gas will be needed for decades to come,” Sommer said. “And the real question is where consumers will turn to meet rising energy demand.”
“American producers are poised to meet the moment, but we need a comprehensive energy policy that lays the foundation for long term growth,” Sommers said. “The invitation to witness firsthand the immense potential of our nation’s own oil and natural gas resources still stands.”
Sommers told Breitbart News that API submitted a 10-point plan to Congress on how oil and gas production can be increased and the cost of fuel for consumers could be decreased.
The list includes “lifting development restrictions on federal lands waters, designating critical energy infrastructure projects, fixing the NEPA permitting process, accelerating LNG (liquid natural gas) exports and approving pending LNG applications, unlocking investment in access to capital, dismantling some supply chain bottlenecks that we’ve dealt with, advancing lower carbon energy tax provisions, protecting competition for the use of refining technologies, and ending permanent obstruction on natural gas projects.”
“We have a plan that we think will focus lawmakers attention on lowering costs and providing for energy security here at home,” Sommers said. “And we’re working with the administration and Congress to get that enacted as quickly as possible.”
“I do think one of the key concerns that we have are the continued mixed messages that we’re getting from this administration,” Sommers said. “So on one hand, they’re asking for more supply, but at the other hand, continuing to talk about how this industry needs to go away within a very short period of time, and that does not unlock the kind of investment that we need to have if we’re going to continue growing production and advancing this industry forward.”
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