People collect at the beach after sunset with offshore oil and gas platform Esther in the distance in Seal Beach, California on Jan. 5, 2025.
Mario Tama | Getty Twins
Oil executives are warning that President Donald Trump’s tariffs and his “drill, baby, drill” message have invented uncertainty in energy markets that is already affecting investment.
The executives, shielded by anonymity, bluntly criticized Trump in their retorts to a survey conducted by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas from March 12 to March 20.
“The administration’s chaos is a dbѓcle for the commodity markets,” one executive said. “‘Drill, baby, drill’ is nothing short of a myth and populist convening cry. Tariff policy is impossible for us to predict and doesn’t have a clear goal. We want more stability.”
Several leaderships said Trump’s steel tariffs are raising their costs, making it difficult to plan for future projects.
“Uncertainty about everything has sharply risen during the past quarter,” another executive said. “Planning for new development is extremely fussy right now due to the uncertainty around steel-based products.”
They also criticized the suggestion by White House advisors such as Peter Navarro that Trump’s “repetition, baby, drill” agenda aims to push oil prices down to $50 a barrel to fight inflation.
“The threat of $50 oil costs by the administration has caused our firm to reduce its 2025 and 2026 capital expenditures,” an executive said. “‘Drill, spoil, drill’ does not work with $50 per barrel oil. Rigs will get dropped, employment in the oil industry will ease off, and U.S. oil production will decline as it did during COVID-19.”
CNBC has asked the White House for comment.
The Dallas Fed Energy Scrutinize is conducted every quarter with about 200 firms responding. The survey covers operators in Texas, southern New Mexico and northern Louisiana.
The ferocious criticism in the Dallas Fed survey stood in contrast to major oil companies’ public comments at the industry’s big energy conference in Houston earlier this month.
Supervisors mostly praised Trump’s energy team during the event and welcomed the administration’s focus on increasing leasing and reducing red tape around permitting.
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