Chevron CEO slams Biden's natural gas policies, says fossil fuel essential to AI By Reuters

Written by Sabrina Valle

HOUSTON (Reuters) – Chevron CEO Michael Wirth on Tuesday criticized US President Joe Biden's administration for what he described as an “attack on the natural gas industry” and emphasized the Permian's key role in fueling the rapid growth of artificial intelligence (AI).

The CEO's comments followed new government plans on policies to prevent power-hungry AI data centers from meeting America's climate goals. Last week, the White House launched a task force on AI Datacenter Infrastructure to coordinate policies that align with the government's economic and environmental goals.

Wirth advocated using low-carbon gas over coal to meet the growing energy needs of the AI ​​sector.

“The advancement of AI will depend not only on design labs in Silicon Valley, but also on gas fields in the Permian Valley,” Wirth said at the Gastech conference in Houston.

Chevron (NYSE:), the No.2 US oil producer, is one of the leading players in the Permian basin that runs through Texas and New Mexico. The Permian is the largest oil field in the US and accounts for 15% of the country's gas output.

Wirth said the Biden administration's approach to halting liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports “elevates politics over progress.”

In January, Biden announced a freeze on approval of pending and future LNG export applications from new projects, a move cheered by climate activists, which could delay decisions on new plants until after the Nov. 5 election.

He argued that halting LNG exports would increase energy costs, threaten reliable supplies, and slow the transition from coal to natural gas, leading to more production rather than less.

“Instead of stopping LNG exports, the administration should stop attacking natural gas,” he added.

Wirth emphasized the role of gas in reducing global carbon emissions, citing data from the International Energy Agency (IEA) that said more than a third of the world's total greenhouse gas emissions by 2022 will be due to the burning of coal.

Switching from coal to gas, he suggested, would be “the single largest carbon reduction step in history.”

“The case for natural gas is so strong that only politics can interfere,” he said.

Amid the global desire to decarbonize, Wirth emphasized the need for a stable and predictable policy environment to ensure that gas remains a reliable energy source.

He outlined three pillars of a sustainable energy future: political support for gas as the key to a low carbon future; recognition of progress made in the use of new technologies and gas solutions; and understanding that the energy transition requires unprecedented innovation and collaboration.