MIDLAND, Texas — The federal policy changes tied to Donald Trump’s second presidential term remain to be seen, but the oil and gas industry can definitely expect a difference in attitude coming from D.C., said Brent Greenfield, principal and counsel for Cornerstone Government Affairs.

“It is significant,” Greenfield said at Hart Energy’s Executive Oil Conference & Expo on Nov. 21. “We think not only about the actual policy, but we think about the people behind those policies because people, ultimately, is policy.”

Greenfield noted the lineup of personnel Trump has tabbed for federal departments dealing with the energy sector. The new administration has tabbed GOP North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum for the Interior Department and to lead the new National Energy Council; former New York Rep. Lee Zeldin as leader of the Environmental Protection Agency; and Liberty Energy CEO Chris Wright for the Department of Energy.

The changes in Congressional leadership positions translate to a government more inclined to work with the energy sector.

“They make a difference in terms of both implementation of policy, they make a difference in terms of Congress and the sense of oversight,” Greenfield said. “What we've seen in the last few years with the energy industry being subpoenaed and ordered to testify, or turnover documents to Capitol Hill based on alleged price collusion, is something that we're not going to be seeing at least in the next couple of years.”

Even with a slim Senate majority, the panel believed that regulation reform is possible through the process of reconciliation. Reconciliation is a process by which Congress can pass a law without having to garner the 60 Senate votes necessary to overcome a filibuster.

The actual outcome for some of the current regulations put into place by a Democratic Congress and the Biden administration may not be as dramatic as some in the industry think, said Dan Romito, managing director for Pickering Energy Partners, who also sat on the Nov. 21 panel.

One of the most fiercely opposed new regulations, a fee for methane emissions above a certain level, will probably remain on the books in some form, according to the analyst.

“The way that the methane tax is put in place today, it gets a scalpel, not a sledgehammer,” Romito said. “It’s an overburdensome tax, I don’t have to sell people in the room on that.”

However, the focus of the Trump administration is focused on growing jobs and economic expansion, especially when it comes to artificial Intelligence. In providing the massive amounts of energy required for AI, the energy sector has a chance to emphasize the progress it’s made over the last 40 years in reducing emissions while providing cleaner energy, he said.

Romito said he therefore thought the laws would remain on the books, “but will be scaled back to where it makes more economic sense.”

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