Before the pandemic hit, the nation’s manufacturing sector — including the refining and petrochemical industries — was wrestling with how to find and train enough young people to replace the wave of Baby Boomers retiring from the workforce at a rate of nearly 6,000 per day.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – AFPM President and CEO Chet Thompson released the following statement on the rioting that took place at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.
Last week, California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones launched the latest salvo in his relentless crusade to coerce the nation’s leading insurance companies to divest from oil and natural gas company holdings.
The official beginning of the Atlantic hurricane season usually begins on June 1, but the National Hurricane Center moved it up to May 15 with the formation of an early tropical storm in the Atlantic in the first half of the month.
It was 2010 and Jerry Wascom, ExxonMobil’s Americas refining director, was worried. Despite fuel and petrochemical manufacturers making significant improvements in the safety of their individual operations, across the industries there was an uptick in serious incidents. Workers were getting injured, surrounding communities were losing confidence, the reputation of the industries was being tarnished and regulators were becoming increasingly engaged. Wascom turned to his counterparts within the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers Association (AFPM), the industry trade group, and asked, “Are we doing enough to protect people?”
A nationwide 95 RON octane standard for vehicles can deliver major carbon reductions in the nation’s light-duty auto fleet faster and at a lower cost than any other proposal being considered by policymakers right now, especially policies seeking to force nationwide vehicle electrification.
Building on decades of broader efforts alongside automakers to advance fuel-efficient technologies and vehicles, refiners are leading the effort to transition the U.S. to high-octane gasoline.
As more states limit the size of gatherings and even consider shelter-in-place policies in response to COVID-19, AFPM is working to see that refineries and petrochemical facilities.
Often overlooked in the compendium of efforts toward a cleaner vehicle fleet are bold, industry-led innovations inefficient liquid fuels, vehicle designs and internal combustion engines that continue to dramatically reduce tailpipe emissions.