Much has been made of President-elect Joe Biden’s energy policies and the negative impact they will have on the U.S. oil industry, which is laboring to survive a global oil supply glut and sharply weaker energy prices. This is in stark contrast to outgoing President Trump’s pro-industry policies, which it is claimed helped the U.S. shale industry survive the worst oil price slump since the early 1990s. Energy sector analysts and insiders expect Biden’s commitment to ban new oil and natural gas leases on public lands, aggressively reduce emissions, rejoin the Paris Climate Accord and reinstate the Iran nuclear deal to harm the U.S. petroleum industry. It is feared, if those policies are successfully implemented, they will cause oil prices to soften and place greater pressure on U.S. shale oil drillers. Arguably, Trump’s hard-nosed foreign policy, petro-diplomacy, and constant intervention in global energy markets added an unhealthy degree of […]