(Bloomberg) -- In public, the US oil and gas industry has been supportive of President Donald Trump. But in private, some industry executives are expressing a negative view, highlighting a growing tension between Trump’s energy agenda and the impact of his trade policies.
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The criticism was revealed Wednesday in the latest energy survey from the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. The quarterly publication is widely read within the energy sector and features anonymous, unfiltered comments from respondents working at drilling and fracking companies.
“The administration’s chaos is a disaster for the commodity markets,” one of those respondents was quoted as saying. “‘Drill, baby, drill’ is nothing short of a myth and populist rallying cry. Tariff policy is impossible for us to predict and doesn’t have a clear goal.”
Former President Joe Biden was a frequent target of respondents’ ire in previous years, largely due to his policies on regulating the industry and his support for renewable energy. Trump ran for a second term on a vigorous pro-fossil fuel platform, which to many seasoned observers makes the latest Dallas Fed report all the more remarkable.
“Yikes,” Timm Schneider, a veteran energy analyst and founder of The Schneider Capital Group, wrote in a note to clients. “Never seen the comments box this plentiful and we look at all of these when they come out.”
The bank’s survey included 130 oil and gas firms from across Texas, northern Louisiana and southern New Mexico. According to respondents, the average price for West Texas Intermediate that companies need to profitably drill rose to $65 a barrel, up from $64 last year. WTI was trading at about $70 on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, most executives from oil service companies in the survey expect Trump’s 25% tariff on steel to slightly decrease demand from customers this year.
Steel is used extensively in the industry, especially for pipes used to transport oil and gas. The metal, and the challenge if dealing with the Trump administration’s chaotic roll-out of trade tariffs, were two themes touched on frequently in the report.
“I have never felt more uncertainty about our business in my entire 40-plus-year career,” one person was quoted as saying.
“Geopolitical risk and economic uncertainty continue to cloud our picture looking forward,” another said.