WASHINGTON, May 30 (UPI) -- Even states that don't produce much oil could benefit from the lifting of a 1970s-era export ban, a report prepared for the American Petroleum Institute says.
The U.S. government restricted crude oil exports in 1973 in response to an embargo from Arab members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. An increase in U.S. oil production has prompted groups like API to call for a repeal of the 1973 measure.
Kyle Isakower, vice president of regulatory policy for API, which represents the interests of the energy industry, said exports would bring benefits to most of the 50 states.
"New jobs, higher investment, and greater energy security from exports could benefit workers and consumers from Illinois to New York, especially in areas where consumer spending and manufacturing drive growth," he said in a statement Thursday.
The report, prepared by ICF International and EnSys Energy, says some states without much oil production, like Florida, could see as much as $1 billion in economic gains by 2020. For Texas alone, the nation's No. 1 oil producer, lifting the export ban could create more than $5 billion in extra economic activity, the report said.
API's report followed a similar assessment from global consultant company IHS.
A report published in April by the Brookings Institution, a U.S. think tank, says global energy dynamics are changing in favor of the United States, though international market conditions are still a source of risk even if the United States is on pace to become the world's leading oil producer by 2020.
