The new Democratic US President is determined to overhaul both foreign and domestic policies pursued by Republican Donald Trump. Energy policy is no exception. No doubt, Joe Biden’s administration will differ markedly from that of his predecessor. One of the first crucial moves of the 46th President was to rejoin the Paris Climate Pact as he had promised during his campaign. So, he is going to forge ahead with the “green” agenda. In other words, the White House under Biden’s presidency will not be friendly to the fossil fuel industry.

Until now, the US has been acknowledged to be the world’s pre-eminent energy producer. However, the future of American oil and gas industry is at stake under Biden’s energy policy. The President has already signed a climate-related executive order suspending new oil and gas leases on public lands. In essence, it means a moratorium upon leasing such lands for developing oil and gas fields. When it comes to drilling technologies, Joe Biden pledged to ban fracking on public lands. Such rhetoric is sure to slash oil output in the US.   

In this context, the US is likely to lose the status of a top energy exporter. Interestingly, such a scenario will benefit Russia and other large oil exporters which do not care about future generations, the environmental protection, and green kinds of fuel. Hence, they will not have to cut oil production rates. Commodity experts reckon that global oil prices could climb by roughly $5-10 per barrel if Joe Biden keeps his pledges.

Washington will get more dependent on oil imports. At the same time, more countries will get more reliant on Russia which is now the second largest oil exporter to the US after Canada. Thus, contraction of US oil production by 2 million barrels per day will brighten up prospects of other oil producers, Igor Yushkov, an expert at Russia’s National Energy Security Fund, comments on the outcome of Joe Biden’s stance on energy.