Page 4 - NorthAmOil Week 04 2021

NorthAmOil COMMENTARY NorthAmOil

Biden doubles down on

climate change mitigation

New US President Joe Biden has announced a moratorium on new

oil and gas leasing on federal land and in federal waters as part of

a series of measures aimed at slowing climate change

US NEW US President Joe Biden has had a busy new oil and gas permitting on federal land
start to his term in office, pushing through a and in federal waters, and industry groups
WHAT: series of orders related to issues he considers to see the moratorium as a first step towards this
US President Joe Biden be a priority. Among these are energy and cli- goal.
has frozen new oil and mate change, with Biden seeking to pivot imme- The move was – unsurprisingly – criticised
gas leasing on federal diately away from former US President Donald by those industry groups, with the American
land and in federal Trump’s approach, which included promoting Petroleum Institute’s (API) CEO, Mike Som-
waters. unrestricted oil and gas development. mers, warning that Biden’s approach would lead
Following the immediate cancellation of the to greater reliance on “foreign energy produced
WHY: presidential permit for the Keystone XL pipeline with lower environmental standards”. The API
The move is one of (see NorthAmOil Week 03), the Biden adminis- estimates that around 12% of US natural gas
several measures in new tration has turned its attention to drilling for oil production and nearly a quarter of oil output is
executive orders aimed at and gas on federal land and in federal waters. In under federal jurisdiction.
slowing climate change. an executive order signed on January 27, Biden Fossil fuel extraction on federal land – let
directed the US Secretary of Interior to impose alone in federal waters – was responsible for
WHAT NEXT: a moratorium on issuing new oil and gas leases. 23.7% of US emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2)
Producers amassed The moratorium will allow the Biden adminis- from 2005 to 2014, according to the US Geolog-
federal leases prior to the tration to carry out a detailed review of the fed- ical Survey (USGS). This makes it an easy target
presidential election, and eral oil and gas permitting process. for the Biden administration as it tries to reduce
can carry on drilling on “We are going to review and reset the oil greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
existing leases. and gas leasing programme,” stated Biden in
remarks that accompanied the signing of the Policy pivot
executive order. Perhaps in an attempt to alleviate some of the
The moratorium and review stop well short industry’s concerns, Biden reiterated once
on an outright ban, suggesting that there may again that he would not seek to ban hydraulic
still be scope for federal oil and gas leasing to fracturing.
continue, with changes, further down the line. “Let me be clear, and I know this always
However, Biden has ultimately pledged to ban comes up: we’re not going to ban fracking,” he

P4 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 04 28•January•2021