API president warns against foreign energy dependence

WASHINGTON — The president of the oil and gas industry’s largest lobbying organization warned the Biden administration Wednesday that reducing U.S. production in a bid to lower greention at risk of depending on “suppliers that have agendas of their own.”

Mike Sommers, president of the American Petroleum Institute, pointed to Europe, where natural gas prices have skyrocketed amid rising demand and sluggish supplies from Russia and other regional producers.

“Take the Nord Stream 2 pipeline — it sounds like a good idea for European economies to depend on regional energy suppliers,” he said in a prepared speech released ahead of API’s annual State of American Energy event. “The problem is that when certain foreign governments control your energy, they have the power to use it for their own purposes — not yours. We don’t want to learn that lesson the hard way.”

Nord Stream 2 would carry natural gas from Russia to Germany under the Baltic Sea. U.S. officials worry that Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has massed Russian troops on the Ukraine border, could use the energy supplies as leverage to further his geopolitical ambitions.

Sommers’ comments come as Biden is making climate change a focal point of his agenda, with the target of getting the United States on track to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by mid-century. So far, he has blocked the controversial Keystone XL pipeline project from Canada, called for a study into reducing oil and gas leasing on federal lands and waters, and tightened emissions regulations to push the nation towards electric vehicles and other clean energy technology.

“We’ve already waited too long to deal with the climate crisis. We cannot wait any longer,” Biden told reporters last year. “Our climate plans are ambitious. But we are America. We are unwavering in our commitment to innovation.”

U.S. military leaders have warned repeatedly that climate change poses a grave risk to national security, as increased flooding and droughts associated with global warming threaten water supplies, food production and infrastructure.

“Obviously the issue of climate change is interconnected with a series of other challenges, such as energy security, water security, and food security,” H.R. McMaster, former national security advisor in the Trump administration, told Politico this week.

Biden’s climate policies also stand to reduce U.S. oil and gas production in the years ahead, after a decade in which the U.S. went from a minor producer to the world’s largest, as drillers in Texas and other states tapped reserves long thought inaccessible through hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling.

That could make the U.S. more dependent on crude from the Middle East and Africa. Even with U.S. crude production double what it was a decade ago, Biden last year requested a production increase from OPEC+, which represents large oil producers in the Middle East and Africa, along with Russia, after U.S. gasoline prices rose 50 percent in 12 months.

“We begin 2022 with Americans viewing energy and its costs as major concerns. This is in part because lately, we’ve seen policies aimed at restricting production and delivery of U.S. natural gas and oil,” Sommers said. “When policy signals prevent energy leadership here at home, there are going to be consequences. U.S. policies that restrict domestic production force our country to seek relief from OPEC, undermining our energy independence.” james.osborne@chron.com