Oil industry pans Obama's State of the Union address

The oil industry was quick to pan president Obama's State of the Union Speech Tuesday night.

Obama, in his speech, will call for eliminating tax breaks for the oil industry. "We need to get behind this innovation. And to help pay for it, I’m asking Congress to eliminate the billions in taxpayer dollars we currently give to oil companies. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but they’re doing just fine on their own. So instead of subsidizing yesterday’s energy, let’s invest in tomorrow’s,” Obama will say, according to prepared remarks of the speech provided by the White House.

The American Petroleum Institute, the country's most powerful oil industry trade association, is, perhaps predictably, not pleased with the speech.

"It's unfortunate that the administration seems poised to stifle what remains one of America's strongest job creating industries," API President Jack Gerard said in a statement.

Gerard said the speech was a "missed opportunity" for the president to call for increased oil and gas drilling.

"The president focused on job growth through federal spending, but was silent on one of the best ways to create jobs: allow more energy development," Gerard said, adding later, "The oil and natural gas industry is a key driver of new jobs and economic prosperity Producing more oil and gas at home, which most Americans want, could create hundreds of thousands of jobs, reduce our deficit by billions, and enhance our energy security."