Hundreds of thousands of energy supply chain workers and their families saw their futures brighten when Congress passed and the President signed year-end legislation repealing the 40-year old ban on exports of American crude oil.
The Energy Equipment and Infrastructure Alliance (EEIA) worked vigorously over the past two years to convince Congress to lift the ban. Its studies confirmed that allowing exports would create up to 400,000 new supply chain jobs and $43 billion of new economic output by 2018. EEIA represents 120,000 companies and hundreds of thousands of workers supplying equipment, construction, logistics, materials and services to crude oil and natural gas operations. Companies and jobs exist throughout the country, not just in oil-producing areas.
EEIA President Toby Mack stated, We applaud Congress decisive action to repeal the export ban. This will help tens of thousands of companies and hundreds of thousands of workers in all fifty states that support energy operations, while it strengthens our economy and national security. Throughout the lengthy debate in Congress, legislators learned from EEIAs data and analysis about the vital importance of exports to supply chain jobs in their areas. EEIAs research identified three supply chain jobs created for each one at the producer level.
The internal U.S. crude oil market has been saturated by dramatically increased domestic production from shale deposits but with no access to the much larger global marketplace. That is set to change with the newly-enacted export policy. U.S. crude oil from shale is lighter and cleaner than conventionally-produced oil from other areas, giving U.S. oil a competitive advantage in the global marketplace. Exports are expected to unlock significant new U.S. production over the next several years.
U.S. national security and that of our allies will also benefit. Availability of high-quality, low-cost supplies from the U.S. will now give our allies and friends a secure and reliable source of energy, providing a welcome alternative to crude oil from Russia, Iran and other countries unfriendly to Western interests.
EEIA advocates for a wide range of energy policies at the federal, state and local levels that encourage taking full advantage of Americas new-found energy abundance. A strong energy supply chain is a vital to the efficient production, transportation, storage and processing of oil and natural gas.
