Page 9 - NorthAmOil Week 45

NorthAmOil COMMENTARY NorthAmOil

Oil and gas industry starts

preparing for Biden presidency

Joe Biden’s apparent victory in the US presidential election has implications for

the oil and gas industry

US THE US oil and gas industry is starting to pre- holds on to the Senate, and with the Democrats’
pare for US President-elect Joe Biden to take majority in the House of Representatives dimin-
WHAT: office in January, after being declared the winner ished, he will struggle to push through dramatic
The US oil and gas of the country’s presidential election by several changes.
industry is starting to major networks on November 7. One thing that appears relatively certain
prepare for Joe Biden Some uncertainty still remains, as the incum- is that Biden would treat climate change as
taking office in January. bent, US President Donald Trump, has refused far more of a priority than Trump. And while
to accept the result, and his campaign team is analysts have suggested that without control of
WHY: now pursuing legal challenges in a number of Congress the Democrats could struggle to push
Biden appears to have states. However, no evidence has been presented through any major policy changes, Biden has an
won the US presidential thus far of the widespread voter fraud and other ambitious climate plan compared with anything
election, though this has irregularities that Trump and some of his sup- the US has implemented to date. He is propos-
yet to be confirmed and porters have alleged. The current consensus is ing for the US to have net-zero greenhouse gas
there are pending legal that while the legal challenges complicate Bid- (GHG) emissions by 2050, with power genera-
challenges. en’s path to taking office, they are unlikely to tion reaching carbon neutrality by 2035.
change the result. Reaching these goals requires significant
WHAT NEXT: investment, and Biden has proposed pouring
A Biden administration Preparing for change $2 trillion into emissions reduction efforts,
has implications for the US oil and gas companies can now prepare for including upgrading 4mn buildings to make
oil and gas industry in the 2021 with greater certainty over what to expect, them more energy-efficient. He also wants to
US and beyond. at least in the short term. Biden is anticipated to invest heavily into public transport and electric
prioritise a relief package in response to the coro- vehicles (EVs).
navirus (COVID-19) pandemic, which – despite Specifically on oil and gas, Biden sought to
being potentially challenging to agree upon – reassure the industry prior to the election that
could help boost oil demand. In the longer term, he would not seek to ban hydraulic fracturing
Biden is likely to tighten up environmental pro- nationally – though he is expected to restrict
tections and restrict oil and gas development on new development on federal land, which
federal land. But assuming the Republican Party could include fracking. However, federal land

Joe Biden appears
set to take office in
January, barring legal
complications as a
result of challenges
from the Trump
campaign.

Week 45 12•November•2020 www. NEWSBASE .com P9