US Energy Secretary and oil industry leaders call for a realistic approach to the energy transition

A leading Trump Administration official and the chiefs of several energy companies demanded a realistic approach to the energy transition and investing in oil and gas, at a major energy conference in Houston, US.

Speaking on the opening day of CERAWeek on Monday, US Energy Secretary Chris Wright said President Donald Trump supports anything that adds to "affordable, reliable, secure energy" and that includes oil and natural gas, with the latter being a major part of his plans to “reindustrialise America.”

With natural gas accounting for 43% of US power production, Wright said: “There is simply no physical way that wind, solar and batteries could replace the myriad uses of natural gas.”

The Energy Secretary also criticised Trump’s predecessor Joe Biden’s energy policies - some of which he plans on reversing - as "economically destructive to US businesses and politically polarising".

Wright added that oil, gas and coal were crucial to the US and global economies.

Amin Nasser, CEO of Saudi Aramco, followed Wright by calling on the energy sector to examine transition plans that have proved both expensive and unsuccessful.

"The current strategy of prematurely switching to immature alternatives has been so self-destructive. New sources cannot even meet the growth in energy demand,” he added.

“It is time to stop reinforcing failure. In fact, there is more chance of Elvis speaking at CERAWeek next than the current transition plans working.”

New energy sources can “complement” fossil fuels but not replace them, Nasser said. He called for “unbiased financing” to ensure sufficient investments in energy, adding that Aramco never shied away from its own market commitments given it had invested more than $50 billion last year in conventional and renewable energy projects.

Mike Wirth, CEO of Chevron, also saw growth opportunities on the horizon for hydrocarbon exploration. “We now expect the industry to continue investing across Asia, where there is a better economic outlook than in Europe.”

The Chevron boss confirmed his company will grow output in the “Gulf of America” as well over the coming years to 300,000 barrels per day (bpd) from 200,000 bpd it produced there in 2024. 

He added that Chevron will soon reach 1 million bpd in the US Permian basin alongside offshore production stateside but called for “durability” in the country’s energy policy.

"We have allocated capital that's out there for decades, and so we really need consistent and durable US policies," Wirth concluded.

Elsewhere, Shell CEO Wael Sawan reiterated his longstanding opinion of growth in the global LNG market. “This will be led by the proliferation of AI and datacenters - an important trigger for global energy demand growth of 25% by 2050.

“Whichever way you look at it, such a level of growth in demand simply has to be serviced by LNG. Growth in Asia will be the main draw, but we do see Europe being an important market too in the future for LNG.”

Jack Fusco, CEO of Cheniere Energy, agreed with Sawan in noting that “Asia would be the big draw.”

And in another nudge to the efficacy of natural gas in servicing the world’s power needs, Fusco added: “Natural gas is the most flexible and cleanest of fuels. It is not a mere transition fuel; it is ‘the’ fuel that countries are coming to, and will come to, rely on.”