Corporate America has fomented a culture that's so drunk on environmental, social and governance standards that a CEO stating the obvious on CNBC about the ongoing necessity of oil and gas actually seems profound.
Hess Corporation CEO John Hess wasted no time in pointing out that “oil and gas are going to be needed for decades to come” during the Mar. 7 edition of CNBC’s Squawk Box.
Hess even stated that “oil and gas are key” in order to achieve an “affordable, just and secure” energy “transition." Talk about irony. Hess noted that “most people don’t realize that oil and gas are a strategic industry for the United States.”
Hess’s comments come just as President Joe Biden is set to allow a program that was engineered to enable oil and gas development on the U.S. outer continental shelf to expire. According to Forbes magazine, “the expiration of the program is troubling as it signals to oil and gas producers – and ultimately consumers – that the government has an antagonistic attitude towards more domestic energy production.”
Hess put Biden on the spot for comments he made during his State of the Union address. “President Biden, in the State of the Union address, said, ‘I want low energy prices for working-class families. I want jobs here at home. And I want investment in America.’ Oil and gas check all three boxes,” Hess analyzed.
Hess pointed to a bevy of clear economic benefits that are generated by the oil and gas industry. “In terms of jobs. We're talking about 12 million jobs, more than the aviation or automotive industry.” He continued: “In terms of low energy costs, electricity costs — two to three times less than Europe or most of Asia because of shale gas, because of shale oil.”
But Hess even outlined how there were national security benefits attached to continued investment in oil and gas. “We are energy independent. In fact, we’re energy dominant,” Hess said. He contrasted this with how China “imports 75 percent of their oil.” In turn, said Hess, “This is a strength that we have. It’s key to our American economic competitiveness. We ought to play to it instead of leaning away from it.”
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