The American Petroleum Institute is rolling out a media campaign to boost the refining industry's position in policy debates.

Among the campaign's top priorities are repeal of the federal renewable fuel standard, approval of the Keystone XL pipeline and expansion of liquefied natural gas exports, API representatives said yesterday. Called "Investing in America's Future," the campaign will include TV, print, radio and online ads inside the Beltway and across the country.

An initial television ad, which launched this week nationwide, promotes domestic refining's capacity and the "billions of investments" the industry has made to provide Americans the fuels needed to power businesses and heat homes.

API did not give a cost figure for the new advertising, but Cindy Schild, refining senior manager, said the group has an "all hands on deck" approach to the campaign.

"We are devoting a significant amount of resources," Schild said. The campaign "is focused on the benefits that we can provide to our communities, for American lives. ... Maintaining a strong domestic refining industry is really critical to our national and economic security."

A major goal of the campaign, the oil industry group said, will be to repeal the renewable fuel standard, which mandates that certain levels of traditional ethanol and advanced biofuels be blended into the nation's motor fuel supply each year.

"We are encouraging Congress to take it up this year," said Patrick Kelly, API's downstream senior policy adviser. "Essentially, what we would like to see is a complete repeal of the RFS. It's not specific provisions of the RFS we're looking to repeal. It is the entire program."

Also on the agenda, Schild said, is opening up access to Canada's oil sands and the Upper Plains states through TransCanada Corp.'s Keystone XL pipeline, which would run from Canada to refineries along the Gulf of Mexico.

The campaign will "push the benefits of Keystone, as well as Canadian oil, and what it can do for U.S. consumers, North American energy security, as well as benefits to our U.S. refineries," Schild said. "We certainly have been touting those benefits, the jobs potential and being able to bring Canadian oil, as well as the domestic production we're increasing, down to the Gulf."

Increasing the production of oil in the United States and Canada will help U.S. refineries maintain global competitiveness in the face of new production popping up in China, Schild added.

"These tremendous world-class refineries are being built in countries like Asia and China. They're able to produce fuel that meets our U.S. specifications," she said. "This wasn't the case 10, 15 years ago."

The campaign will also partly focus on expanding U.S. exports of liquefied natural gas, through actions like building new terminals along the coast. The increased production of natural gas in recent years in the United States has put exports into the spotlight.

Several groups last week announced they were forming a coalition to broadly oppose natural gas exports, saying that gas would better serve the United States by being used at home (EnergyWire, Jan. 11). In the call yesterday, Schild touted the benefits of exports, which she said included job creation and reducing the trade deficit.

President Obama "has a goal to increase our exports in the next several years," Schild said, "and LNG is a great way to put a dent in that equation."