A study conducted by the U.S. energy industry’s American Petroleum Institute finds the sector is supporting around 8 percent of the nation’s economy. “Oil and natural gas companies are only one part of a much larger economic success story that is creating job growth up and down the supply chain,” API Upstream Group Director Erik Milito said in a statement. API published a vendor survey listing more than 30,000 segments across the country tied to U.S. energy sector. As of 2011, API said the oil and gas industry has supported 9.8 million full- and part-time jobs and 8 percent of the U.S. economy. Its study found benefits across the board , with the No. 1 state, Texas, boasting 1.9 million energy jobs to the bottom, the District of Columbia, with 13,700 jobs. API credited the growth to horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing in shale […]