On Thursday, June 16, API hosted bloggers for a conference call to discuss the economic benefits of oil sands development and the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline. Janet Annesley, vice president of communications for the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP), took questions from bloggers along with API experts Cindy Schild, John Kerekes, Marty Durbin and Peter Lidiak.

Topics discussed included the approval process for Keystone XL, pipeline safety standards and U.S. investments in refineries that would support the pipeline. Notably, API's Cindy Schild discussed how the creation of the pipeline could create more U.S. jobs, increase energy security and strengthen the U.S. economy:

"The U.S. should approve this pipeline to utilize this resource to enhance our energy secur... more »

API co-hosted a blogger conference call with ExxonMobil yesterday to discuss the company's first quarter earnings and energy tax policies. Ken Cohen, ExxonMobil's vice president of public and government affairs, and Jaime Spellings, ExxonMobil's general tax counsel, broke down the company's profits and spoke to misperceptions about the current tax code.

"If we go back and look at the period 2005 to 2010 and look at the United States, our income before taxes was 67 billion (dollars)," Mr. Cohen explained. "And our income taxes for that same period - that includes federal and state income taxes - were $22 billion, for an effective tax rate of over 32 percent."

To provide further insight, Mr. Spellings detailed aspects of the tax code that affect the oil and natural gas industry, including th... more »

If you're a regular reader of the EnergyTomorrow blog posts, you've noticed that we've been focusing on a new study this week that quantifies the contributions of oil and natural gas industry stock to state pension plans. On Wednesday, we also hosted a blogger conference call to answer questions and explain the study's findings in more detail. Robert Shapiro, chairman of Sonecon, LLC, and one of the authors of the pension plan study, and Kyle Isakower, API's vice president of regulatory and economic affairs, said the study found that oil and natural gas industry stock substantially out-performed other pension-plan stock holdings during a recent five-year period marked by both a strong economy and the recession.

"If I were the financial manager of the teachers' pension fund in Missouri, I'd... more »

A new report conducted on behalf of API by Robert Shapiro of Sonecon, LLC, examines the financial impact of investments in oil and natural gas companies on the overall performance of the two largest public employee pension funds in each of four states - Michigan, Missouri, Ohio and Pennsylvania. The data shows these investments sharply out-performed the funds' other assets.

In this podcast, Shapiro, the former undersecretary of commerce to President Bill Clinton, discusses the new study that builds on a 2007 Sonecon report that showed millions of Americans own oil and natural gas holdings through mutual funds, pensions, and 401(k)s. Only 1.5 percent of holdings are with corporate management.

Use the audio player below to listen to information about the article and follow along with the sho... more »

There's no doubt that American consumers will continue to need oil and natural gas in the years ahead. All credible energy forecasts, including those by the federal government, make that point quite clearly. There also is a need to ensure the security of oil supplies to keep the economy functioning.

It's really quite simple - secure and affordable supplies of oil keep the economy running, create jobs, and support this nation's standard of living. And that simple statement makes a strong case for the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline extension which, if approved by the State Department, would carry Canadian oil to U.S. Gulf Coast refineries.

If that's not enough justification for approving the pipeline, the State Department also has released a new study affirming an earlier report wh... more »