At the American Petroleum Institute’s annual State of American Energy event, API President and CEO Mike Sommers framed the coming decade in blunt terms: energy demand is rising fast, and pretending otherwise is no longer a political luxury that the United States can afford.
Looking back nearly two decades, Sommers reminded the audience that in 2007 the U.S. produced just 5 million barrels of oil per day and relied heavily on imports, including from Venezuela. “Energy strength doesn’t happen by chance,” he said. “It is a choice.” That contrast, he argued, explains how the U.S. became the world’s leading oil and natural gas producer while Venezuela collapsed under what he described as “state-sponsored theft and corruption.”
Sommers referred to the next ten years as “the Demand Decade,” warning that “multiple forces are converging to drive up energy needs dramatically.” The question, he said, is not whether demand will materialize, but whether the U.S. energy system can deliver “with the speed, scale and reliability that this moment demands.”
The United States now produces more than 13 million barrels of oil per day and has become the world’s top LNG exporter. Over the past decade, the U.S. has shipped more than 8,000 LNG cargoes, contributing nearly half a trillion dollars to the economy and supporting 275,000 jobs. At the same time, Sommers noted, American producers have driven down emissions per barrel through efficiency and innovation, arguing that “no other country has matched America’s ability to produce more energy with fewer emissions.”
But production alone will not be enough. Infrastructure, Sommers said, is “the hinge point of the Demand Decade.” He pointed to the Mountain Valley Pipeline as a cautionary tale, saying it “took longer to permit and build than the entire Apollo space program,” adding that “a system that requires an act of Congress to build a pipeline is a system that’s broken.”
Sommers said voters are rejecting scarcity politics. “We’re done with that,” he said. “The mainstream has moved decisively toward abundance, affordability, and growth.” The choice, he concluded, is clear: “We choose energy success, not surrender.”
By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com
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