OPINION:
“Drill, baby, drill” and “frack, frack, frack” were campaign slogans from decades past. They are back in the White House and within the Trump administration, and that is great news for Americans.
“Drill, baby, drill” was a mantra on the campaign trail in 2008 when U.S. oil production was less than 5 million barrels per day. Back then, folks said it would take years to bring more oil onto the market. The skepticism of U.S. oil production growth was palpable. However, horizontal drilling, hydraulic fracturing and incredible production growth out of the Bakken shale play in North Dakota changed everything. It allowed the Obama administration to sanction corrupt oil countries such as Iran because, for the first time in three decades, U.S. oil production was growing rapidly.
What does “Drill, baby, drill” mean now? The Trump administration is pro-American oil and gas and supportive of domestic energy production growth, focusing on reducing regulation and red tape. However, the administration is not a proponent of higher oil prices. Why? The entrenched inflation of the past four years still weighs on consumers so much that they have pulled back their spending on items from groceries to luxuries.
Lower prices at the pump, while harder on U.S. oil and gas producers, are the easiest way to cut inflation quickly. These lower oil prices backstop the consumer who is living paycheck to paycheck, and they help maintain diesel and jet fuel demand in a weakened economy. Oil is one of the only things that quickly moves the needle for a consumer; higher prices for a barrel of oil can be felt within weeks at the pump, as can lower prices.
This administration is walking a fine line, wanting oil and gas production growth and lower oil prices. In a weakened U.S. and global economy, wrecked by years of inflation, slightly lower oil prices can help the consumer economy and support healthy, long-term demand for oil. The last thing the U.S. oil and gas industry needs right now is a spike in oil prices, throwing the world into recession and dramatically reducing oil demand, as seen in 2008.
An administration that is a proponent of oil and gas development and energy growth in America and less regulation allows the industry to lease and permit on federal land and invest in more expensive and long-term projects, such as offshore drilling. Decent oil prices, or at the very least stability in oil prices, are necessary for investment.
President Trump may want lower oil prices to help the consumer, but he also wants energy to be accessible to individuals and businesses, and making energy cheap and reliable allows for that. Oil is only one component of this story.
“Drill, baby, drill” means the United States is open for business, including accessing federal land permits and exporting liquefied natural gas. These policy choices support the long-term health and value chain of natural gas and the natural gas sector.
Electricity and utility prices also must be dealt with. Unlike oil, where the consumer feels the rise and fall in prices quickly, the consumer does not receive the rise and fall in natural gas prices or the sustained lows of coal prices. Americans felt rising electricity prices for four years under the Biden administration as cheap and reliable baseload power from coal was replaced with expensive, intermittent and unreliable power from wind and solar. The U.S. is the largest producer of natural gas in the world, but utility providers are not passing along those savings and cost realities to consumers. The consumer paid an average of $18 per 1,000 cubic feet for natural gas in 2024, when the actual price of natural gas averaged just $2 per 1,000 cubic feet for Henry Hub.
This administration’s stance is simple: It wants oil and gas producers to drill and produce in America and to make it easy to do business, obtain permits and export natural gas.
This is good for American business and the American consumer.
Although not stating it as a floor or put, this administration and the energy secretary have put a floor on oil prices by committing to refilling the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Oil and gas producers can rest assured that should oil prices drift into the $50s, refilling the reserve will likely be expedited to capture lower oil prices and help firm up a floor on prices. The Strategic Petroleum Reserve is being refilled today, and the secretary of energy and the president have stated their commitment to refilling it.
In the end, the administration does not control oil prices. Right now, the softness in oil prices — less than $65 a barrel — is largely trading off headlines and fears of recession rather than supply and demand fundamentals.
The Trump administration is creating an environment for oil, gas, coal and broader energy to develop in the United States within a pro-business and limited regulation framework, reducing costs and enabling greater production flexibility.
• Trisha Curtis is the founder, president and CEO of PetroNerds LLC.
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