Unlock the US Election Countdown newsletter for free
The stories that matter on money and politics in the race for the White House
Chevron boss Mike Wirth has attacked the Biden administration’s oil and gas policy, saying it was pushing up prices and “undermining energy security” for US allies.
Wirth, chief executive of the US’s second-biggest oil producer, said President Joe Biden’s “attacks on natural gas” and freeze on new export permits for liquefied natural gas terminals had put “politics over progress” and would hurt climate efforts.
“It raises energy costs by taking potential supply off the market,” Wirth told the Gastech conference in Houston on Tuesday. “It threatens reliable supplies of LNG, undermining energy security for our allies. And it slows the transition from coal to natural gas, meaning more emissions not less.”
“When it comes to advancing economic prosperity, energy security and environmental protection, an LNG permitting pause fails on all three,” he added.
Wirth’s comments come as Republicans and Democrats clash over energy policy ahead of November’s presidential election, with Donald Trump pledging to roll back the Biden administration’s climate agenda that he blames for pushing up fuel costs.
The administration’s freeze on new LNG exports has become a major campaign issue in the swing state of Pennsylvania, which produces about 20 per cent of the US’s gas and could prove pivotal in deciding the next president.
Wirth has clashed with the Biden administration before, accusing it of vilifying the industry in a 2022 letter. The president responded by branding the Chevron boss “sensitive”.
Trump on Tuesday vowed to cut energy prices by 50 per cent by unleashing greater production. But analysts say most big companies are unwilling to embark on expensive new drilling campaigns.
US natural gas prices rose as Europe’s energy crisis unfolded in 2022 but have since fallen back and have sat near historic lows for months. US petrol prices, meanwhile, surged to record levels of more than $5/gallon that year. They remain about $1/gallon higher than when Biden took office but have also been drifting lower in recent months.
Trump has courted deep-pocketed oil barons to fund his campaign as he argues that Democratic rival Kamala Harris would cripple their industry.
“Fossil fuel will be dead. We’ll go back to windmills, and we’ll go back to solar,” Trump said in last week’s presidential debate with the vice-president.
Harris previously said she would ban fracking, the drilling technique that has helped the US become the world’s biggest producer of oil and gas. But she has since reversed that position and touted the surge in American output.
Biden has sought to walk a fine line on natural gas, which emits less carbon than coal when burnt but still contributes to climate change. He encouraged US exports to Europe to stave off an energy crisis after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine but has also cracked down on emissions and sought to drive a transition to renewable forms of energy.
But the oil and gas industry has launched a fierce lobbying push to persuade the federal government to end the pause on issuing licences for new LNG plants. The pause is set to remain in place until the Department of Energy has completed an analysis of the impact of surging exports in recent years.
A federal court overturned the moratorium in July, but there have been no new permits issued for US export projects since. The pause has caused uproar in the industry.
Wirth said on Tuesday: “Instead of imposing a moratorium on LNG exports, the administration should stop the attacks on natural gas.”
The DoE did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wirth’s remarks.
Despite their gripes over policy, US oil and gas producers have flourished under the Biden administration, achieving record output and profits. The US also last year overtook Australia to become the world’s biggest LNG exporter.
The oil and gas industry argues LNG helps to cut emissions by displacing coal in power generation. But some climate scientists have questioned this thesis.
Robert Howarth, a professor at Cornell University and an expert in methane, argues in a forthcoming report that the emissions footprint of LNG equals or exceeds that of coal.
“Production of shale gas as well as liquefaction to make LNG and LNG transport by tanker are energy-intensive, which contributes significantly to the LNG greenhouse gas footprint,” he wrote.
“The production and transport of shale gas emit a substantial amount of methane as well, and liquefaction and tanker transport of LNG can further increase methane emissions.”
