Reports suggest that Continental Resources founder Harold Hamm of Oklahoma City is among those oil company executives invited to meet Friday with President Trump at the White House to discuss the oil price war that has seriously wounded the U.S. oil and gas industry.
POLITICO’s Morning Energy Report on Thursday indicated the meeting would involve Hamm who is a major Trump donor, as well as ExxonMobil CEO Darren Woods, Chevron CEO Mike Wirth and Occidental Petroleum CEO Vicki Hollub. The political newsletter cited three sources in reporting those who were invited.
But a spokeswoman for Continental Resources would not confirm such an invitation and told OK Energy Today to check back next week.
“I’m going to meet with the oil producers on Friday. I’m going to meet with independent oil producers also on Friday or Saturday. Maybe Sunday. We’re going to have a lot of meetings on it,” Trump told reporters at a media conference on Wednesday.
“Worldwide, the oil industry has been ravaged,” he said. “Its very bad for Russia, its very bad for Saudi Arabia. I mean, its very bad for both. I think they’re going to make a deal.”
Trump has long had a close ear to Harold Hamm’s energy advice. The Continental Resources leader was among those in the oil and gas industry who helped Trump in his presidential campaign. Trump has often repeated his description of Hamm as “a guy who can put a straw in the ground and find oil.”
The CEOs from the larger companies are expected to argue that no White House intervention in the market is needed and that companies with strong balance sheets will be able to weather the market downturn.
The CEOs of American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers and American Petroleum Institute, which sought the meeting, wrote to Trump Wednesday echoing that the administration should not intervene in the crude import market. Still, Hamm has been vocal in calling for President Donald Trump to mitigate the collapse in oil demand and has called for import penalties on Saudi Arabia for “dumping” its crude.
The president said Wednesday that he hopes Russia and Saudi Arabia would reach a deal soon to calm global oil markets.
The Energy Department is considering leasing space in its Strategic Petroleum Reserve for 77 million barrels of oil to help companies deal with a glut of crude, according to two people in the energy industry familiar with the plan. An initial offer for its storage leasing plan would accommodate 30 million barrels of oil produced in the U.S., with a second round for the remainder to come later. A final decision has not been made and the decision-making remains fluid, one of the sources said.
Global oil prices have fallen by roughly two-thirds this year as the coronavirus has slammed global economies at the same time major producers Saudi Arabia and Russia have started to flood the market with oil.
The collapse in prices has threatened the once-booming U.S. drilling industry with bankruptcies and massive layoffs, and Washington has scrambled for ways to protect the sector.
In the coming meetings with oil executives, Trump is expected to discuss a range of options to help the industry, including the possibility of tariffs on oil imports from Saudi Arabia, according to the Wall Street Journal, which was first to report the planned meetings.
Source: Reuters