CERAWEEK Top oil executives reckon with downturn even as Trump cheers them on
Business
CERAWEEK Top oil executives reckon with downturn even as Trump cheers them on
HOUSTON (Reuters) - The world's energy industry leaders meet in Houston next week as plummeting oil prices push Big Oil to slash thousands of jobs even as a pro-fossil fuel US administration encourages them to pump more.
US President Donald Trump's first 47 days in office have been marked by a rapid overhaul of government and policy, including mass layoffs and the reversal of many of the policies of the previous administration.
He has repeatedly exhorted the industry to "Drill, baby, drill," and has ordered government agencies to slash red tape to maximise US oil and gas output - already at record levels before he took power. He has ended a pause in new gas export project approvals and overturned a ban on drilling in federal waters.
Trump's policies on trade and foreign policy have, however, threatened to drive up the cost of millions of barrels of oil that US refiners need from Canada and Mexico. His rapid pivot on foreign policy with Russia could upend global oil flows and reduce the European market for US oil and gas, if the US eases sanctions on Russian energy in the case of a deal to end the war in Ukraine.
His termination of a license that allowed for Venezuelan oil exports to the US and threats to drive Iranian oil exports to zero all portend disruptions to global oil flows.
"It's a revolution in energy policy that is unfolding... The industry is trying to catch its breath," said Dan Yergin, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author and vice chairman of conference organizer S&P Global, in an interview.
"I don't think there's ever been this amount of upheaval and recalibration happening."
Crude prices hit a three-year low below $70 a barrel this week after the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies (OPEC+) agreed to go ahead with a planned April output increase.
Even before that, lower oil prices in 2024 and rising costs for equipment and services had squeezed energy companies. Big Oil is under duress, as evidenced by sweeping job cuts and cuts in investment.
