According to Reuters article published on March 7, 2023, the Biden administration's goal of using tax and investment incentives to combat climate change will require permitting reforms to succeed, the chief executive of oil producer ConocoPhillips said on Tuesday.
The goals of the administration's Inflation Reduction Act will be "procedurally impossible" without streamlined permitting for lower carbon energy infrastructure, Conoco CEO Ryan Lance said in remarks at the CERAWeek energy conference.
His comments echoed those of mining and energy executives who spoke earlier about prospects for getting the $430 billion IRA bill to spur development of lower cost fuels and industrial processes.
A major Conoco oil project in northern Alaska, called Willow, has been stalled by court and environmental reviews. Willow holds about 600 million barrels of oil and gas and has the support of Alaskan politicians and native groups.
A Biden administration decision on the project "Hopefully (comes) sometime this week," Lance said. Approval has become politicized, he said, adding: the permitting process "has made very little sense."
"If we don't get (the oil) from Alaska, it's going to come from someplace. It's going to come from probably someplace else around the world that has less environmental standards than what the state of Alaska has," he said.
The disruption in energy markets stemming from the war in Ukraine has swung investor sentiment toward oil and gas, and the energy industry's willingness to consider larger, longer duration projects, he said.
As examples of long-term investments, he cited Conoco's liquefied natural gas projects in the US, Qatar and Australia.
