President Trump met with U.S. oil refinery and gas distribution executives at the White House on Tuesday to explore avenues his administration can use to broaden domestic refining capacity and lower gas prices in this midterm election season.
The meeting included Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, Energy Secretary Chris Wright and National Energy Dominance Council Executive Director Jarrod Agen.
According to a White House official, the president met with nearly a dozen small, mid-sized, and large refiners and distributors to discuss expanding U.S. refining capacity.
The White House official said the president has cemented the U.S. as the leading producer and exporter of oil.
The White House said U.S. refiners are operating at nearly maximum capacity and want to increase their capacity, and Mr. Trump made it clear that he wants lower gas prices at the pump for Americans.
The refiners and distributors shared that goal and commitment, according to the White House official, and discussed concrete ways to expand capacity, including regulation changes, faster permitting and additional investments.
“They expressed their appreciation to the president for reversing the Biden administration’s disastrous energy policies and unleashing American energy,” the official said, adding they lauded the president’s efforts to mitigate temporary disruptions through actions such as Jones Act waivers, which allow foreign-flagged ships to move between U.S. ports.
The effort to expand oil refining and gas allocation is happening as affordability, specifically gas prices, is hanging over the midterm elections, and gas prices have risen significantly since the conflict in Iran started Feb. 28.
According to AAA, the national average price for a gallon of gas was $4.09 as of Tuesday.
The administration is also hammering out a new deal to extract oil from Venezuela as part of its strategy to lower costs.
The White House secured U.S. majority control over 65 billion barrels of proven oil reserves in Venezuela, expanding the current U.S. territorial proven reserves to roughly 46 billion barrels. The U.S. military toppled the regime of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro in January and brought him to the U.S. to face narco-terrorism charges.
This week, the White House said Venezuelan interim authorities have granted North American Blue Energy Partners (NABEP), a privately held oil company that is the second-largest private Venezuelan oil producer and a proven operator, 100-year concessions for 17 oil fields.
The White House said the deal secures U.S. energy dominance for the next century at zero cost to the U.S. taxpayer.
The majority of the incremental oil fields to be operated by NABEP were previously controlled or operated by Russian and Chinese firms.
The U.S. would work with Alejandro Betancourt López, whose family controls NABEP.
The deal structure gives the U.S. government through the Pentagon’s Office of Strategic Capital a 35% equity stake in the expansion of the oil venture, with a 20% off-take right at the cost of production and 80% right of first refusal on remaining output, a White House official said, adding that no U.S. taxpayer dollars are being invested.
Additionally, royalties to Venezuela are capped at up to 30%, with a hydrocarbon tax of up to 15%.
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