Sawt Falasteen - Oil companies greet Trump return, muted on tariffs

While there is still talk about decarbonization and climate change mitigation, speakers at this year's CERAWeek conference in Texas have welcomed the more "realistic" approach gaining favor in industry and policy circles that includes a hefty emphasis on energy affordability and economic development.

The Trump administration's unpredictable tariff announcements have pressured markets, but the lack of open criticism of the moves this week highlights an underlying affinity for the Trump White House after the Biden years.

TotalEnergies chief executive Patrick Pouyanne said the French company would continue to heavily invest to boost its US liquefied natural gas business.

He told an event panel that "maybe it's the time to go back to exploring the Gulf of America," employing the Trump administration's term for the Gulf of Mexico.

ConocoPhillips CEO Ryan Lance praised the Trump administration's early moves to streamline permitting of new petroleum projects, pointing to a much-delayed Alaska oil project that was hindered by environmental challenges.

"We have to fix the system that we have here in the US," Lance said. "That's probably the biggest impediment to growing the energy system in the United States."

- Benefit of the doubt -

The comments highlighted the optimism in oil industry circles generated by President Donald Trump, who has reset the tone from Washington after predecessor Joe Biden lambasted the industry for spending billions of dollars on share repurchases.

Tariffs are "getting talked about in back rooms and private conversations," said Chris Treanor, executive director of the Partnership to Address Global Emissions, who described the industry as having "enough good will" to give Trump the benefit of the doubt.

"The US industry doesn't feel like it's being targeted by this administration, whereas it felt like it was targeted by the previous administration," he said.

But tariff talk has dominated some public panels at CERA Week, including one Tuesday in which Canadian officials from across the region expressed incredulity at Trump's latest tariff actions.

Potential US tariffs on Canadian crude would "very negatively" affect many consumers, said Brian Jean, energy and minerals minister of the oil-rich Alberta Province, who described widespread anger in Canada at Trump's talk of annexing the country.

"People are very shocked and surprised, and it's going to change people's attitude about the United States," Jean said.

- 'Continuous growth' for oil -

Begun in 1983 by Daniel Yergin, author of The Prize, a Pulitzer Prize-winning history of the oil industry, CERAWeek is an annual Houston gathering that has expanded beyond its petroleum roots to include the power and renewable sectors.

Trump's Secretary of Energy Chris Wright opened the conference on Monday, vowing to take steps to ease the path for fossil fuels to boost supplies of affordable energy and sharply criticizing the Biden administration's focus on climate change.

One of the most dramatic shifts in orientation has been from BP, which announced last month that it was trimming its renewable energy efforts and retreating from carbon emissions targets as it ramps up investment in fossil fuels.

"We're back to our roots," BP Chief Executive Murray Auchincloss told the conference Tuesday, describing ramped up investments in exploration and production in the United States and the Middle East.

Biden's administration enacted aggressive fuel economy standards designed to boost electric vehicles and generous tax credits to encourage EV battery projects and greater use of solar and wind power.

A couple of years ago, CERA Week was dominated by talk of "net zero" emission by the mid-century in line with the Paris Climate Agreement that challenges the future viability of crude oil and natural gas.

But at this year's CERA, Saudi Aramco CEO Amin Nasser expressed confidence in oil, saying "we see continuous growth" of demand.

TotalEnergies' Pouyanne shrugged off talk in Europe of phasing out natural gas, pointing to Germany's needs after phasing out nuclear power, saying "this is a message, and then you have the reality."

G.AbuHamad--SF-PST