Donald Trump. The mere mention of his name these days is enough to conjure up an opinion; good, bad or worse. But what could he do for the oil industry? Could one man affect the price you are paying for your domestic heating oil. There are suggestions that the oil industry is one of the things he could be very good for.
He supports further deregulation of the oil market which, among other things, will lead to more technological advances in the oil industry. He stated that $33bn in projects had been derailed due to “unnecessary regulations”. He advocates no action on climate change and downplays significance as a national security threat. Trump opposes the democratic standpoint that we should “keep it in the ground” and wants to allow drilling on federal land which apparently holds untapped resources worth $50 trillion. Donald Trump rejects the Paris Climate Change Agreement which has the aim of holding the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2⁰C and making finance flows consistent with a pathway towards low greenhouse gas emissions. He also opposes carbon pricing which is basically a tax that must be paid for the right to emit one tonne of CO₂. Donald also wants to defund renewable energy programs and supports the opening of public lands & the outer continental shelf to exploration and responsible production. Lastly, he also seeks to liberalise the energy trade which could lead to greater exports.
However, what he doesn’t mention is that the market is already over saturated and further production would only worsen the supply glut. While this may lead to lower prices for the consumer it would also lead to oil companies having to downsize which is detrimental in the long term. Trump seems to be trying to solve a crisis in the oil & natural gas industry that doesn’t exist. Despite all of these overbearing regulations, oil production has been on the upswing since 2009. If these regulations from Obama didn’t bring these changes on the American energy industry, then something else might have. Perhaps the success of fracking which led to cheaper access to shale oil and gas deposits, something that led to the US producing 91% of the energy it consumes.
Donald Trump could have a massive effect on the price of your home heating oil. Some would argue for the better, some would argue for the worse, others would rather not have to find out.
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