(DCNF)—Now that the oil and gas industry is no longer constrained by former President Joe Biden’s regulatory regime, the market is poised to meet surging energy demand and help America win the artificial intelligence (AI) race, American Petroleum Institute (API) President and CEO Mike Sommers told the Daily Caller News Foundation.
While Biden cracked down on the oil and gas industry, President Donald Trump has championed it, as the energy resources are dependable and well-suited to meet America’s growing energy needs. Sommers has seen the impact of both Trump and Biden’s regulatory approaches on the industry, and he told the DNCF that outpacing China in AI and addressing the domestic energy emergency will ultimately only be possible through additional permitting reform and legislation.
“If we’re going to end the war with China for artificial intelligence, we’re going to need every bit of energy that we can produce here in the United States,” Sommers said. “President Biden focused on stopping the development of both oil and gas, doing everything he could to prevent the proliferation of oil and gas development in the United States. So, we welcome President Trump’s focus on finding these resources and using them to the advantage of the American economy.”
Sommers will join Trump, some other cabinet officials and a few Congressional members, as well as other energy and AI leaders, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on Tuesday to discuss energy technology innovation. Notably, Trump and Republican Pennsylvania Sen. Dave McCormick reportedly plan to announce about $70 billion in energy and AI investments at the summit, according to Axios.
The explosion in AI investment will likely require a dramatic uptick in power generation, so unleashing natural gas will be key to meeting America’s coming power needs, Sommers argued. Though national energy demand was static for decades, power demand is projected to surge by as much as 25% by 2030, according to Sommers and a recent ICF International report.
“Natural gas is going to be the real fuel of the future,” Sommers told the DCNF, arguing that the fuel source is ready and available to support power-hungry AI data centers.
Permitting reform and legislative assurance are still needed to allow the oil and gas industry to thrive, as Biden hampered the technology with stringent regulations, Sommers argued. While the One Big Beautiful Bill Act carved out some “game-changing” energy provisions, additional legislation is needed to “build on the promises made” within the bill, Sommers said.
“What [the bill] didn’t address was how we get the infrastructure permitted to move the energy from where it is to where it needs to be,” Sommers said. “What’s going to be required is permitting reform that allows us to build the pipelines and transmission lines to power that energy future.”
rThe major policy shifts under the new administration have given energy companies “whiplash,” Sommers said, as companies have had to pivot from dealing with Biden’s restrictive approach to oil to the environment created by the Trump administration, which has championed the industry.
“It was as if at every single turn, President Biden was trying to stand in the way of American energy development,” Sommers said.
Oil and gas prices have dropped as Trump’s pro-energy policies signal future industry growth, though prices dropping too low could disincentivize investment by oil and gas companies. Trump would like to drive energy prices down, preferring oil costs to be between $40-50. Sommers mentioned that “we need to make sure that American producers have a price that makes sense for them to continue to develop these resources,” though a sustainable oil or gas price would depend on the energy company.
Oil prices are just under $70 a barrel as of Monday evening, and they were above $70 a barrel when the Israel-Iran war broke out in the Middle East in June. The answer to cheaper oil and gas lies in policies that allow energy companies to freely develop these abundant resources, Sommers said.
“The more that we can develop on federal lands and on federal waters, [the more we are] … going to continue to keep prices low for American consumers,” Sommers said.
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