The end result of the US presidential election on November 5 won’t have an effect on oil manufacturing ranges within the quick to medium time period, Exxon CEO Darren Woods advised CNBC on Friday.
Former president Donald Trump referred to as for limitless oil and gasoline manufacturing to decrease power costs and battle inflation, lowering his power coverage to a few marketing campaign phrases: “Drill, baby, drill.”
“I am undecided how ‘attempt, child, apply’ interprets into politics,” Woods advised CNBC “Squawk Box‘ on Friday, after the biggest US oil and gasoline firm stated third quarter results.
Woods stated U.S. shale manufacturing doesn’t face constraints from “exterior constraints.” The US has produced file quantities of oil and gasoline in the course of the Biden administration.
Over the previous six years, the U.S. has produced extra crude oil than every other nation in historical past, together with Saudi Arabia and Russia, in response to Energy Information Administration.
U.S. manufacturing is pushed by the oil and gasoline trade deploying know-how and investments to generate shareholder returns based mostly on cost-effective manufacturing, the chief stated.
“We’re definitely not going to see change based mostly on political change, however extra on the financial setting,” Woods stated. “I do not suppose there’s anybody creating a enterprise technique to satisfy a political agenda,” he stated.
Whereas shale manufacturing faces no restrictions on creating new acreage, there are sources in areas such because the Gulf of Mexico that aren’t open on account of federal permits, the CEO stated.
“This might in the long run open up potential sources of provide,” Wooden stated. Within the quick to medium time period, nevertheless, there are unconventional shale sources accessible and it is only a matter of creating them based mostly on market dynamics, he stated.
Exxon Mobil Inventory in 2024
The vast majority of U.S. shale sources are on personal land and controlled on the state stage, in response to an August word from Morgan Stanley. About 25 p.c of oil and 10 p.c of pure gasoline is produced on federal land and waters topic to permits, in response to Morgan Stanley.
vp Kamala Harris opposed fracking throughout his bid for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination. She has since reversed that place in an effort to bolster her assist within the swing state of Pennsylvania, the place the pure gasoline trade is necessary to the state’s financial system.
