This week, the world’s most influential fossil fuel conference, dubbed the “Oil Coachella,” featured an industry displaying outward-looking glee, but it could hardly hide its fears.
As last year, Sustainability was the main focus of fossil fuel companies promoting climate plans at the annual Houston Convention known as Cerawek. But with Donald Trump’s reelection, the industry has caused a change in atmosphere, talking about the energy transition and instead focusing on the president’s energy “domination.”
The mood at Cerawek this year has been not only a celebration, but also an astonishing one. US energy secretary Chris Wright opened the meeting on Monday, saying the Trump administration is “absurdly pursuing more American energy production policies.” A few days later, the Interior Secretary Doug Burgham evoked Trump’s “drill, baby, drill” mantra, claiming White House officials would cut 20-30% of U.S. regulations.
Just a few months ago, executives who were promoting the authenticity of their sustainability praised the administration. Saudi Aramco, CEO of the Saudi National Petroleum Company, said the shift from fossil fuels was “destined to fail,” and that Larry Fink, the top head of BlackRock, top asset manager, was wearing a silicone bracelet that reads “energy is amazing again.” Conoco Phillips chief Ryan Lance said Trump was “probably the best energy team in the United States we’ve had in decades,” while Chevron chief Mike Worth cried out “people eligible for the Trump administration.”
BP, once called the industry’s climate leader, has already reached record levels under Biden, calling for distance from the recent sustainability pledge and instead to increase US gas output.
“We have a great position here in the US Gulf,” said CEO Murray Auchincloss.
The call for “energy abundance” was extremely distinctive, especially in conversations about the boom in demand from the fast-growing artificial intelligence industry.
And the theme of richness was carried over to the amenities offered.
The admission prices exceeding $10,000 included daily charcoal-grilled spreads and access to unlimited bubble tea. Burgham’s speech was a luncheon that featured a three-course plated meal. The wine flowed from a bar that opened at night reception, followed by a gas-like party from Shalefields near Texas. (The remarkable sing-up by oil and gas companies Williams and EQT was 1990s-themed and featured live bands.
But not everyone in Houston is happy with the state of the US energy industry. On Cerawek’s first day, hundreds of activists across the country protested, causing the biggest confusion in the conference’s history.
Protesters marched towards the meeting, chanting “We need clean air, not another billionaire,” and police on horseback surrounded them and arrested eight people.
“This year Cerawek has called for this kind of protest,” said Shiv Srivastava of Fenceline Watch, a Houston-based environmental justice organization. “Look at how the industry is acting under Trump.”
But under the bravery within the meeting, some have shown signs of concern about the fate of the energy sector under Trump. The president’s tariff threat has created uncertainty in the business environment and clouded the fuel price outlook. The president of Malaysian oil company Petronas lamented the “pendulum shaking” among the administration, saying Trump’s executive order would cause confusion if challenged in court.
“Regulatory uncertainty could be even worse than too much regulation,” said Adam J. White, a right-leaning policy researcher at Wednesday’s roundtable.
Even Trump’s biggest supporters sought stability. Occidental’s CEO Vicki Hollub has donated hundreds of thousands to Trump, lamenting the uncertain future of controversial tax credits for carbon capture. The incentive was part of Biden’s inflation reduction laws that Trump promised to surrender.
The head of Chevron, who donated to Trump’s inauguration fund, was also worried. He hit the administration, but when asked what he wanted to see from the policy, CEO Worth simply said it was “durable.”
“Swinging from one extreme to another is not the right policy approach,” he said, calling for the executive order to be converted into legislation. This was reportedly expressed by the company’s director at a private meeting before the meeting to the administrator.
Others expressed concern that Trump’s call to increase oil and gas production would push prices down, thereby limiting profits. At Theraweek, Secretary of Energy Wright expressed confidence that the industry could break out of that dilemma, but Trump’s leading donor, Texas oil billionaire Harold Hamm, pushed that idea back.
“When you get to the $50 oil you mentioned, you’re below the point you’re going to ‘drill, babe, drills,'” he told Bloomberg.
Despite these uncertainties, Cerawek revealed one thing. The United States is not close to suppressing fossil fuel production. Climate experts have been warning for a long time that it is urgent to avoid a climate collapse. Instead, Wright said global warming was merely a “side effect” of modernization, but Bulgham called for “to take natural resources and turn them into natural assets.”
Melissa Aronshus, a media research and climate expert at Rutgers University, said this attitude would have a major impact on the climate.
She said the administration “is “impossible” to “dominate” the environment without suffering consequences on the American people.”
