The Washington Post reported March 10 that the Trump administration was considering some type of financial help for the failing U.S.
shale oil and gas industry, “as industry officials close to the
administration clamor for help.” Those officials — billionaire shale CEO Harold Hamm was likely among them — seemed desperate for government assistance because, as DeSmog has documented,
their deeply indebted businesses have lost billions of dollars during
the fracking boom. Even before the recent oil price war and COVID-19 pandemic, these companies could hardly stay afloat, making cries for some type of corporate welfare likely unavoidable.
But that's not the same message across the entire oil and gas industry.
At the same time, the head of the American Petroleum Institute — the oil and gas industry's most powerful lobbying group — said the industry was not interested
in seeking a bailout, which didn't exactly sound like the desperation
reported by The Post. It seemed like an odd mix of messaging from
the industry.
The idea of bailing out the shale companies was not well received by many politicians, environmental groups, and conservatives. Efforts to directly bail out the shale industry in the federal stimulus package were apparently abandoned.
https://www.desmogblog.com/2020/03/27/shale-bailout-trump-oil-exxon-strategic-petroleum-reserve
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