The Great Shift in U.S. Energy Policy? The Trump administration's top brass shouted to the oil industry: Federal land is yours to drill

Energy policy has turned pro-business, and the industry has ushered in strong allies

President Donald Trump's energy policy team this week sent a clear message to oil, gas and mining executives: The White House is fully committed to supporting industry development and working to make it easier for companies to extract on federal lands and waters.

Interior Minister Doug Burgum and Energy Minister Chris Wright spoke at CERAWeek, the world's largest energy conference, expressing support for the traditional energy industry. They stressed that the Trump administration does not view climate change as an existential threat, but rather believes that developing domestic energy resources contributes to economic growth and national security.

Minister of the Interior: Enterprises are "customers", and the government should fully support them

Burgum currently leads the Trump administration's newly established National Energy Dominance Council, where Wright serves as deputy to drive energy production. At the conference, Burgum made no secret of his support for the oil and gas industry.

"I'm going to say two words that the Biden administration hasn't said to you in the last four years, 'Thank you.'" Burgum said. He stressed that the government should treat energy companies as "customers" because they generate revenue for the country by extracting resources from federal lands.

"If someone brings me income, they're not an enemy, they're a customer." "Whether it's cutting timber, extracting critical minerals, grazing livestock, or extracting oil and gas, we welcome it," Burgum says.

In addition, he believes that royalties from federal land leases will help the United States reduce the national debt and balance the budget. "You are the government's customers." He stressed to the energy industry.

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Burgum said the U.S. has abundant energy resources worth far more than the current $36 trillion in Treasuries. He further pointed out that if financial markets can recognize the true value of these resources, long-term interest rates will fall.

"The current interest rate is one of the biggest fiscal burdens on the United States," Burgum said, "and we need to free up the balance sheet of the United States, and President Trump is helping us do that."

Climate policy shift: Biden's carbon reduction plan criticized as 'short-sighted and religious'

At the meeting, Burgum lashed out at the Biden administration's climate policies, calling them "too ideological." He said the Trump administration believes the real existential threat to the United States comes from Iran's acquisition of nuclear weapons and China's victory in the artificial intelligence race, not global warming.

Wright criticized Biden's "narrow and almost religious" obsession with carbon reduction policies, resulting in higher energy costs for consumers. He stressed that the policy of switching from fossil fuels to renewable energy is unrealistic because wind and solar energy cannot meet the future growth in energy demand due to artificial intelligence and industrial return.

"Wind, solar and batteries simply can't replace the many uses of natural gas," Wright says, "and I'm not even talking about oil and coal."

Energy industry responds enthusiastically: executives call new team "best in decades"

For the Trump administration's new policy direction, the oil industry expressed high support. ConocoPhillips CEO Ryan Lance praised Burgum and Wright for "understanding industry" and described them as "the best energy team in the United States in decades."

Patrick Pouyanné, chief executive of France's Total Energies, said he was "impressed" by the Trump administration's delegation, while Chevron CEO Mike Wirth said energy policy was finally "back to reality."

"I've long argued that we need to strike a balance between affordability, reliability and environmental protection," Wright adds, "and if you focus only on climate, you ignore the first two."

In addition, industry executives began using the term "Gulf of America" instead of "Gulf of Mexico" at the conference, echoing an executive order signed by Trump on his first day in office, which rescinded Biden's ban on drilling 625 million acres of U.S. coastal waters.

BP CEO Murray Auchincloss even got a slip of the tongue when it comes to how AI can help with exploration, saying, "We started doing this first in the Gulf of Mexico, well, the Gulf of America, and then rolled out the technology to other countries."

Drill, baby, drill vs. Market reality: production will enter a plateau?

Despite the Trump administration's advocacy that the U.S. should step up energy extraction, market realities may limit production growth. Chevron and ConocoPhillips executives both said that after hitting new highs during the Biden administration, U.S. oil production may stabilize or even decline gradually in the future.

"Growing for the sake of growth hasn't brought much success to our industry," said Chevron CEO Wirth, "and when production reaches a certain level, companies should consider going to the plateau and shifting to generating more free cash flow rather than adding barrels indefinitely."

ConocoPhillips CEO Lance predicts that U.S. oil production will peak by the end of the century and then decline slowly.

TotalEnergies' chief executive said it may be time to re-explore the "Gulf of America". "The new government is opening up drilling in the Gulf of Mexico," he said, "and production plans in this area have stalled since the Macondo well accident."

Industry executives will meet with Trump, opening a new era of energy policy?

According to a statement from the American Petroleum Institute (API), major U.S. oil companies plan to meet with Trump next week to further discuss future energy policy directions. With the strong support of the Trump administration, the traditional energy industry may usher in a significant relaxation of policies, which in turn will affect the global energy market pattern.

This article The Great Shift in U.S. Energy Policy? The Trump administration's top brass shouted to the oil industry: Federal lands are yours to drill first appeared in Chain News ABMedia.