Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Texas Railroad Commission chairman Wayne Christian asked President Joe Biden to “get out of the way” and “give the green light” respectively, so Texas oil can lead the way.
“Texas can drill enough oil and natural gas to keep prices low here in America and in Europe if Biden would get out of the way,” Abbott tweeted on Feb. 24 as the war in Ukraine ramped up, and Russian oil slowly became a target for sanctions by the United States and its Western allies.
Christian concurred three weeks later in a post on the commission’s website on March 18, 10 days after Biden banned the import of Russian oil, liquefied natural gas, and coal to the United States, and suspected war crimes in Ukraine were coming into focus.
“The Lone Star State is ready to meet U.S. energy needs,” he wrote, “and help our European allies meet theirs. Mr. President, please just give Texas the green light.”
Texas is the third-largest producer of oil in the world.
Of the top five largest oil fields on the globe, Texas is home to two of them; the Permian Basin and the Eagle Ford Shale.
The commission that Christian leads is the Texas agency that primarily regulates gas and oil production in the state.
Todd Staples, head of the Texas Oil and Gas Association (TXOGA), questioned America’s future in a timely keynote message at the Northeast Texas Energy Summit in Tyler, on March 23, saying that “Texas can lead the way.”
“A year ago, many people were questioning the future of oil and natural gas,” Staples said. “Today, people are questioning if they have a future without them.
“A decade ago, countries in Europe traded energy security for energy ideology. Now they are in a weakened condition with grave consequences. We cannot let that happen in the United States of America. Texas can lead the way.”
One of the perceived obstacles to that green light is the Biden administration’s focus on the transition from fossil fuels to so-called “clean” renewable energy sources, a pledge in his presidential campaign.
Biden’s canceling the Keystone XL Pipeline—that would have seen crude oil by the millions of barrels sent from Canada to Texas refineries to make fuel—on his first day in office put a crimp on Texas’ abilities to provide for the nation and world when the war hit fuel prices.
Investors in publicly held oil companies in Texas had interpreted Biden’s quick termination of the Trump-era project as a hostile act toward the production of oil as a favored resource.
Companies responding to investor concerns had already declined to spend the necessary money to expand drilling infrastructure when war broke out in Ukraine.
As a result, investors in Texas oil are even now hesitant to expand production regardless of the rising prices Texas crude has been selling for, according to a survey by the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, released on March 23rd.
“The message from the White House, Capitol Hill, and Wall Street has been that oil and gas is a dying industry and one that needs to be abandoned,” said a survey respondent.
Garret Golding of the Dallas branch of the Federal Reserve analyzes trends in energy markets, geopolitics, and the U.S. Shale Oil and Gas sector.
Golding was the keynote speaker at the Southeast Texas TXOGA conference in Corpus Christi, on March 24, where he hoped to prod a re-think of where future energy answers come from.
“While the mix of sources we derive our energy from is shifting, global growth demands more energy in every form,” Golding said.
Meanwhile, Staples addressed environmental concerns, and told conference attendees, “No one produces the oil and natural gas the world needs in a more environmentally friendly way than American producers.”
He noted that carbon emissions in the United States were reduced by 8 percent, while in China and Russia, emissions rose 25 and 21 percent respectively, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
It’s time to “unleash American energy leadership,” Staples said, “and start treating oil and natural gas in our country as an asset, not a liability.”
