How A Biden/Harris Presidency Will Impact the Oil and Gas Industry

November 10, 2020

Over the past few months, we have highlighted and feared what a Biden/Harris presidency would like. Unfortunately, it looks like our worst fears have come true.

Forbes reports:

Biden and Harris repeatedly promised to take these actions throughout their campaign, so we should expect a quick follow through on what amounts to low-hanging fruit.

Those likely executive order reversals include:

• Re-entry of the United States into the Paris Climate Accords;
• Re-entry of the United States into the Obama-era Iran deal, which would free up Iran to dramatically increase its exports and potentially impact crude prices;
• Trump’s order to end the Council on Environmental Quality’s guidance that all federal permitting decisions and NEPA reviews must consider climate change impacts;
• Trump’s order to disband the Interagency Working Group on Social Cost of Greenhouse Gases;
• Trump’s various orders designed to eliminate delays in federal permitting processes.

We can also expect a Biden presidency to follow through on his promises to ban hydraulic fracturing on federal lands and waters, which represent a very sizable percentage of overall U.S. oil and gas production. 

Reversing all the groundwork President Trump has laid to contribute to the prosperity of the oil and gas industry over the past four years would be catastrophic for the sector. Middle-American communities depend on the oil and gas industry for jobs, cheap and reliable energy, and government revenue the industry contributes both locally and nationally. We hope ‘moderate’ Joe keeps those communities in mind, a lot of which are in his home state of Pennsylvania, as well as the 10 million American jobs the oil and gas industry supports.