President Trump wants to boost oil drilling, but his allies in the U.S. shale industry and Saudi Arabia are pushing back, The Wall Street Journal reports.
Trump for months has encouraged the U.S. shale industry to “drill, baby drill,” but another American oil boom isn’t in the cards soon, according to oil executives, no matter how many regulations are rolled back.
After many producers overdrilled themselves into bankruptcy during the shale boom’s heyday, the industry is now focused on keeping costs down and returning cash to investors.
The president’s advisers concede that U.S. frackers won’t pump much more, according to people familiar with the matter. The advisers say Trump’s best lever to bring down prices might be to persuade the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and Saudi Arabia, the group’s de facto leader, to add more barrels to the market.
The president believes a fresh tidal wave of oil would solve many of his problems: It could quell inflation and pave the way for interest rate cuts. It could also strengthen his hand in coming confrontations with petrostates Russia and Iran.
Trump’s fixation on oil prices is vexing to some in the industry. Currently around $73 a barrel, prices are relatively low compared with 2022, when they averaged over $94 a barrel and the national average gasoline price hit a record of more than $5 a gallon. Gasoline prices are averaging $3.10. The president has declared a national “energy emergency” and vowed to cut Americans’ overall energy costs in half.
