Oil industry leaders are meeting at the White House on Friday with President Trump as companies big and small deal with a historic price crash.
An official with the American Petroleum Institute, the largest U.S. oil lobby group, confirmed that the meeting will take place and that the group’s CEO, Mike Sommers, will participate.
“Natural gas and oil will be critical to our nation’s economic recovery, and the industry’s message to the administration is sharing actions it is taking during this challenging time and highlighting that history has proven that markets work,” the official told the Washington Examiner. “We are not seeking any government subsidies or industry-specific intervention to address the recent market downturn at this time.”
That statement hints at tension within the industry, with big companies that can survive the oil price dive advocating that the Trump administration take a lighter approach, while some vulnerable smaller independent shale companies are seeking a more aggressive intervention.
The CEOs of America’s two largest oil companies, Darren Woods of Exxon Mobil and Michael Wirth of Chevron, are attending the meeting with Trump, said industry sources familiar with the meeting.
Executives from independent producers Continental Resources, led by Trump supporter and adviser Harold Hamm, and Devon Energy also will participate in the meeting, according to Bloomberg, among others.
The United States has become the world’s top producer of oil and gas thanks to the shale boom, but the sector is facing financial catastrophe as demand has been crushed by the coronavirus pandemic at the same time that Saudi Arabia and Russia have engaged in a price war, flooding the market.
Trump has flirted with using diplomacy to help convince Saudi Arabia and Russia to stop producing so much oil, but there is little he can do to address cratering demand from the coronavirus, which has caused people to stop driving and flying.
The president usually favors low oil prices, calling it “the greatest tax cut we have ever given” on Tuesday because of the spillover effect on U.S. drivers. But he has become more sensitive to the idea that current market conditions are “hurtful to one of our biggest industries.”
“It’s not even feasible what’s going on,” Trump said.
