Oiling The Wheels For the New Congress

The American Petroleum Institute (API) is planning to launch a major "educational advocacy" program in January 2007 to influence the incoming Congress. The API represents 400 major oil and gas producers. According to PR Week, the program will include increased television advertising, speeches by economists and industry executives and tours of oil and gas operations for think tank staff and politicians. API president and chief executive officer Red Cavaney said that, with assistance from the PR firm Edelman, they had recently worked to "put earnings in perspective, to explain how we reinvest them." The campaign has also featured television and magazine advertisements.