Oil Study Urges Offshore Deregulation

The oil industry says that nearly 190,000 new jobs would be created by 2013 by ending the stiff regulations imposed on offshore drilling in the United States after the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, reports DailyCaller.com.

A joint study commissioned by the National Ocean Industries Association (NOIA) and the American Petroleum Institute (API) suggests that deregulation would help the offshore industry to support 400,000 employees and that oil production would boost gross domestic product to $45 billion by 2013.

“The president says he wants ideas for putting Americans back to work right now,” API president Jack Gerard said during a conference call with reporters. “So we urge him, again, to take a look at policies that will encourage oil and domestic gas development.”

Gerard and his NOIA counterpart, Randall Luthi, said that it is crucial that the industry be allowed to explore new oil deposits to dramatically decrease reliance on foreign oil supplies.