Expert: Oil and Gas Has Georgia on its Mind

In early January, Georgia voters will determine which party controls the U.S. Senate in a runoff election of enormous consequence for the country and, in no small part, the oil and gas industry.

“If we get a Republican Senate, then divided branches nullify change and the market will roar,” Ethan Bellamy, East Daley’s managing director of midstream strategy, told Hart Energy. “If, however, the Democrats control all three branches, it’s Katie, bar the door for oil and gas and, more broadly, tax policy.”

Georgia’s election resulted in a more than 14,000-vote advantage for President-elect Joe Biden, which is now in the process of a recount by hand, and two Senate races that failed to produce candidates with the necessary majority of votes. On Jan. 5, those races will be resolved in two runoffs. Democrats would need to win both seats to control the Senate. Only one of the Republican candidates would need to win for the party to retain control.