The American Petroleum Institute today unveiled a new study that details recent US oil and gas industry greenhouse gas emissions reduction success. The trade group also announced a new national print ad campaign that illustrates the industry’s petroleum development commitment and ways tax policy can impact oil and gas development.

API President and CEO Jack Gerard eagerly pointed out the “often unheralded leadership role the oil and gas industry” plays in carbon reduction. From 2000 to 2012, oil and gas companies invested more than the US government in greenhouse gas mitigation measures and almost as much as all other US businesses combined, Gerard said on a call with journalists.

The industry spent $81 billion on GHG emissions reduction technology, with much of that sum devoted to capturing fugitive emissions, said Kyle Isakower, API Vice President of Regulatory and Economic Policy. US carbon dioxide emissions are currently at 20-year lows, they said.

The research is based on company-level data, so the lower emissions levels do not distinguish volumes attributable to the broader economic slowdown that occurred during the period under review, said the API representatives. The sharp drop in US GHG emissions over the past five years or so has largely been a result of burning less coal in favor of cleaner natural gas to generate power, but also the result of recession-related economic sluggishness, with fewer goods produced, transported, consumed, etc.

However, Gerard addressed this point during the question and answer session by saying the US is refining record volumes of petroleum and producing oil and gas near historic high levels, while at the same time making significant GHG emissions reduction improvements. He estimated natural gas substitution accounts for approximately 40% of the reported emissions reductions.

“A lot of GHG reductions are from burning more natural gas, but a majority of success has been from expansion to renewable fuels and refining improvements,” said Gerard.

“We need to enact common-sense regulations that encourage development or at least don’t hinder it.”