The American Petroleum Institute on Wednesday named it’s next CEO: Mike Sommers, who was a top aide to former House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio.
“I’m honored to work with API’s broad membership and lead one of the most influential trade associations representing all facets of the oil and natural gas industry,” Sommers said in a statement. “At a time of transformational progress when natural gas and oil are pioneering groundbreaking innovation, delivering tremendous environmental benefits, and leading long-term economic solutions, I look forward to continuing the work of API’s talented team and representing an industry that is directly enhancing the lives and improving opportunities for Americans and people around the world.”
Sommers has been president and CEO of the American Investment Council, which represents private equity investors, since February 2016. Before that, he was chief of staff to Boehner. He was also special assistant to former President George W. Bush at the National Economic Council in 2005, where he advised the president on agriculture, trade, and food policy.
Sommers replaces Jack Gerard, who is retiring this summer as the oil industry’s top lobbyist in Washington. API is the the main trade group representing the oil and natural gas industry.
For decades, Gerard has been a prominent energy lobbyist in Washington, leading top fossil fuel industry trade associations from coal to chemicals to natural gas and oil.
Sommers has less direct energy experience, but plenty of relationships with lawmakers on Capitol Hill. He joins API at a time when the group has mixed views on Trump administration policies. It supports the White House’s “energy dominance” agenda, including the administration’s draft proposal to expand oil and natural gas drilling into nearly all federal waters. The U.S. now exports more natural gas than anywhere in the world.
But API has tangled with the administration over biofuels and trade policy, lobbying against President Trump’s steel tariffs that could make it harder for pipeline developers to purchase materials. API is also wary that the Trump administration could impose a rule change as part of its renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement that could hamper U.S. energy investments in Mexico and Canada.
