Politics & Policy

President Trump’s pick for national security advisor signals a willingness by the administration to take a more hard-line stand against adversaries like Iran or Venezuela—and that could mean higher oil prices. Read Full Article Here: https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/23/bolton-likely-to-turn-up-heat-on-iran-and-boost-oil-prices.html

With hostilities rising, a broader war in the Middle East is seeming more inevitable, says John Kilduff. Read Full Article Here: https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/20/crown-prince-mohammed-bin-salmans-next-target-iran.html

Fossil fuel companies have filed to dismiss a climate change lawsuit as they prepare to deliver an unusual “tutorial” on climate science to the federal judge overseeing the case. Read Full Article Here: https://www.forbes.com/sites/legalnewsline/2018/03/21/chevron-says-climate-change-lawsuit-not-viable-as-it-prepares-to-tutor-judge-on-the-science

President Donald Trump disagreed with executives of major oil and gas companies Thursday about the importance of keeping binding dispute settlement procedures in a renegotiated North American Free Trade Agreement, according to a person familiar with the discussion. Trump told roughly a dozen of the oil and gas industry leaders at a White House meeting that he understood — but did not share — their view that those Nafta provisions are essential to give companies confidence to invest in Mexico and Canada, said the person, who asked not to be identified describing the closed-door session. […] Read Full Article Here: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-03-15/oil-gas-leaders-to-warn-trump-he-risks-harming-their-industry

The firing of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson clouds the outlook for the Iran nuclear deal and introduces uncertainty to the oil market. Read Full Article Here: https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/13/tillersons-firing-injects-uncertainty-into-oil-markets.html

  In the span of only a week, two of the most senior former business executives who have served in Trump’s orbit are gone, presumably free to return to corporate America and collect lucrative board seats or offer consulting services on the ways of Trumpworld. But while there appears to be little reason former Goldman Sachs president and top economic adviser Gary Cohn couldn’t return to work on Wall Street, former ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson — who was unceremoniously ousted as Secretary of State Tuesday — has more than a few that may keep him from going back to work for Big Oil. That’s because if he were to leave government service and go to work for an oil or gas business, according to the terms...

US Energy Secretary Rick Perry acknowledged there are concerns about tariffs in the energy industry but the sector is optimistic overall. U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry says there is ‘sheer optimism’ in the American energy industry, despite concerns about impending tariffs on steel and aluminum. The optimism is in part due to the Trump administration’s effort to scale back regulations. Energy companies have warned that the tariffs will negatively impact their business. Read Full Article Here: https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/08/rick-perry-says-sheer-optimism-in-energy-despite-tariff-fears.html

U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry on Wednesday said his country’s relationship with Canada and Mexico could become “uncomfortable” during negotiations over their free trade agreement. Perry made his comments during a panel with Canadian Minister of Natural Resources James Gordon Carr and Mexican Secretary of Energy Pedro Joaquin Coldwell at CERAWeek by IHS Markit in Houston. The United States’ relationship with both countries has come under strain as negotiations over NAFTA stretch out and President Donald Trump threatens to slap broad sanctions on steel and aluminum […] Read Full Article Here: https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/07/rick-perry-relationship-with-canada-mexico-may-become-uncomfortable.html

For The Oil Industry, Trump Giveth A Lot, And Trump Taketh A Little Away – Donald Trump speaking at the 2013 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in National Harbor, Maryland. Image owner Gage Skidmore (Flickr.com) No industry is more reliant on steel than oil and gas. If President Trump does follow through on implementing new tariffs on imported steel, the impacts of that decision will be felt throughout the depth and breadth of the oil and gas business. The list provided by David Blackmon on Forbes is long. Here’s a few highlights: Oil storage tanks? Made from steel. Dehydrator units and compressor stations and heater-treaters and amine units? Made from steel. Drilling rigs? Made from steel. All those pumpjacks moving up and down across the landscapes of the Permian Basi...

U.S. President Donald Trump has called a meeting early next week with key senators and Cabinet officials to discuss potential changes to the biofuels policy, which is coming under increasing pressure after a Pennsylvania refiner blamed regulations for its bankruptcy, according to four sources familiar with the matter that spoke to Reuters. This meeting follows the bankruptcy of oil refiner Philadelphia Energy Solutions (PES) last month, which blamed the regulation for its demise. PES employs more than a thousand people in Philidelphia. Part of the politics of the meeting and the bankruptcy is the fact that PES is asking a bankruptcy judge to shed roughly $350 million of its current RFS compliance costs, owed to the EPA which administers the program, as part of its restructuring package.32 ...