Texas Governor touts American ‘freedom fuel’ as prices spike

Texas Governor Greg Abbott scolded the Biden administration for entreating Iran and other foreign oil producers to increase supplies in the face of surging energy prices. 

“The fact of the matter is Texas has the capability of producing more oil than all of them,” Abbott said during a speech at FIA’s International Futures Industry Conference in Florida on Wednesday. “We could be providing what we call freedom fuel.”

Abbott’s remarks are the latest escalation in the blame game between the White House and oil- industry executives over who’s at fault as gasoline prices climb to unprecedented levels and mid-term U.S. elections loom. 

Pump prices have been soaring for months and the rally accelerated after the Russian invasion of Ukraine three weeks ago triggered harsh sanctions. Meanwhile, domestic drillers have been loathe to significantly expand crude output amid investor pressure to focus on diverting more cash to dividends and share buybacks. 

Abbott, a Republican, cited access to capital as one of the chief constraints to ramping up drilling, along with boardroom concerns about environmental, social and governance metrics. 

“Their hands are tied,” he said of oil companies. Abbott alluded to “another financial structure” the state is working on to help drillers access funding but provided no details. 

Abbott spoke alongside billionaire wildcatter Harold Hamm, the founder and chief executive officer of shale giant Continental Resources Inc. Hamm called for more drilling on federally owned land. 

The 9,000 already-approved federal drilling permits aren’t nearly enough, he said, plus many are outdated. “It’s obvious we have a failed policy,” Hamm said. “There is a lot of things that need to be changed and be changed quickly.”