The Trump administration told oil industry executives Thursday it has ruled out banning oil exports as a way to bring down energy prices amid the escalating war in Iran, according to a senior administration official who participated in the meeting.
Vice President JD Vance, Energy Secretary Chris Wright and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum tamped down the rumor at a meeting with the board of the American Petroleum Institute, the top trade association for the oil industry. The White House has been searching for ways to reverse the steep climb in oil and gasoline prices that has resulted from Iranian attacks on oil and gas fields in the region, as well as from blocking the Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway for oil tankers in the Middle East.
Industry leaders asked officials at the meeting directly about whether the administration was weighing limits on crude exports amid rising prices, a move the industry vehemently opposes. Burgum responded definitively that such a policy is not under consideration, according to the senior administration official, whom POLITICO granted anonymity to discuss the private meeting.
U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude climbed during the session, crossing $101 per barrel — up from $67 per barrel before the start of the war Feb. 28. The war has caused the largest disruption to the oil market in history.
