The focus of U.S. President Donald Trump’s policy on the oil and gas sector and Middle East conflicts in 2017 will continue destabilizing the hydrocarbons market. This means new price spikes and a serious blow to hydrocarbons exporters.

Donald Trump’s unexpected victory in the U.S. presidential election is being followed by an even bigger surprise at his first moves as president. Since his inauguration on January 21, the new POTUS has signed a number of important decisions and made some outrageous statements.

In particular, the Donald Trump Administration stressed the need for the United States’ energy independence from the OPEC cartel. It is interesting that the emphasis was that the United States should not depend in that area on any county or organization with unfriendly interests.

That is, by default, the newly elected president from the very start sees the oil cartel as a structure with different and sometimes hostile interests towards the United States. This view has soon had an imprint on his real policy.

The ban on entry into the United States for immigrants from a number of Muslim countries, as well as new Washington sanctions against Iran are quite in tune with the course taken by the new U.S. president in the energy sector. He is persistent, tough and quick. The next to follow will be bargaining, a game of interests, but all these will happen only after action has been taken.

By the middle of this year, one should also expect a possible revision of relations with Russia and China.

In addition, the Trump Administration has published «An America First Energy Plan» on its website that declares measures to reduce energy costs and ways to free Americans from dependence on foreign oil and gas.

The document contains several more statements that are radical. In particular, it prioritizes the traditional oil and gas business over renewable energy, the recovery of the coal industry and the U.S. withdrawal from the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.

Pursuing the energy policy that does not make the rest of the world much happier, Trump puts America’s economic interests above all, experts say.

Read full article — The Cream of Energy Industry.