Election of Joe Biden to alter goal posts for oil and gas

摘要

President Biden has already moved against oil and gas interests in his first few days in office,although he says will not declare war on fracking,as some on the left of his party wish.A massive green energy plan should provide plenty of carrots for those developing lower carbon energy,while his foreign policy is likely to reshape relationships with Middle East producers.On his first day in office,President Biden signed several energy-related executive orders,including re-joining the Paris Climate Agreement and the removal of a permit for the US Keystone XL pipeline,as well as the reversal of rollbacks to vehicle emissions standards,and a temporary moratorium on leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.The next moves are expected to be restrictions on new drilling on US federal lands,and an end to subsidies for fossil fuels,which were commitments made during his campaign-made more likely by Democrat control of the Senate,as well as the House of Representatives.The threat of action on federal lands led to an increase in new permit applications for wells of them in late 2020,as operators sought to get future activity approved before the election.Most upstream operators now say they either have few remaining federal leases or can easily shift activity to privately held lands.The subsidy cuts are not expected to have a significant impact on the industry,but tighter flaring rules,which could come down the line,may be more of a challenge.