U.S. oil industry warns of economic fallout from Democratic drilling ban

Reuters ^ | January 7, 2020 | by Valerie Volcovici

[Oldeconomybuyer]

The head of the largest U.S. energy industry group on Tuesday warned that Americans risk choosing the “wrong path” in the 2020 presidential election if they vote for a candidate seeking to fight climate change by banning drilling.

The chief executive of the American Petroleum Institute said such proposals from Democratic candidates seeking to unseat Republican President Donald Trump pose a threat to the economy, and urged a room filled with nearly 800 energy executives to push back against them.

The industry group also announced a multi-million dollar advertising campaign, focused on U.S. political swing states, that bills the oil and gas industry as a leader in cutting greenhouse gas emissions through improvements in technology.

“We know many candidates now are talking about this industry and we want to make sure the American people hear our story,” said API President and CEO Mike Sommers.

U.S. Democrats hoping to run against Trump in November’s election have vowed to rapidly shift the country away from planet-warming fossil fuels if elected to help avert the worst impacts of global climate change.

To do so, several candidates here have promised to end new drilling on public lands, and some have proposed a national ban on hydraulic fracking - a controversial drilling technology that pumps water and chemicals into rock formations to access petroleum deposits.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks to US oil production, surplus, exports, the Iranian missile attackon the Saudi oil facility, while an act of war, didn't (unfortunately) lead to the beheading of the Iranian mullahcracy at the time, possibly pushing the world to the brink. Repairs were done timely, but even the short period of crisis barely caused a blip to world oil prices.