Nov 19, 2015 2 min read

Washington, D.C.’s major oil industry lobbying group is taking over the association representing natural gas drillers, the two organizations announced Wednesday.

The American Petroleum Institute said it is taking over the younger America’s Natural Gas Alliance. The merger, which becomes effective Jan. 1, will make API, one of the top lobbying associations in Washington, an even greater powerhouse.

In a press release announcing the combination, API CEO Jack Gerard pointed to the natural synergy between the two groups.

“As a single organization, the combined skills and capabilities bring an enhanced advocacy strength to natural gas market develoopment — ANGA’s primary mission — and the combined association’s expanded membership will provide additional lift to API’s ongoing efforts on important public policy issues.”

In reporting on the merger announcement, the online Capitol Hill publication thehill.com noted that the groups have become aligned on most major policy debates in recent years, owing largely to the extensive natural gas production by oil companies and the need to defend fossil fuels.

“Despite the competition between the two fuels in markets like transportation, the lobby groups have rarely disagreed publicly,” thehill.com wrote.

Marty Durbin, ANGA’s chief and a former API official, will head a new division at the oil group dedicated to market development.

API is the only national trade association representing all facets of the oil and natural gas industry, which supports 9.8 million U.S. jobs and 8 percent of the U.S. economy. ANGA, which was founded in 2009 at the beginning of the shale energy revolution, works with industry, government and customer stakeholders to ensure the continued availability of natural gas and to promote the increased use of the fuel, which has become an abundant domestic resource, promoting its use as a clean and secure energy future.