Today on Offshore Technology International

Majority of US voters favor more oil and natural gas development

90 percent believe it could lead to more US jobs.

Seventy-one percent of American voters favor increased access to US oil and natural gas resources, 90 percent believe more oil and natural gas development could lead to more US jobs, and 87 percent believe it could lower energy costs for consumers, according to a new poll released by the American Petroleum Institute (API).

The telephone poll, conducted by Harris Interactive, among 1,016 registered voters also found that nearly two-thirds (65 percent) feel that an increase in taxes on oil and natural gas companies could hurt consumers, three out of four (75 percent) support building the Keystone XL pipeline, and more than seven in ten (73 percent) support a change in policy to allow more offshore drilling.

More than nine in ten (92 percent) say energy security and producing at home more oil and natural gas is an important issue this election. Strong majorities of Republicans, Democrats and Independents believe increased access to domestic oil and natural gas could lead to more American jobs.

The United States is the world's largest producer of natural gas and third largest producer of oil. It has very substantial reserves of both in part because of technological advances in offshore development and in the production of oil and natural gas from onshore shale formations.