Wright Urges Oil And Gas Industry To Up Production Amid Iran War

HOUSTON — Energy Secretary Chris Wright told oil and executives Monday that surging crude prices amid the war in Iran should encourage their companies to ramp up production, even as he continued to insist the disruption would be “short-term.”

“Markets do what markets do,” Wright said at the CERAWeek by S&P Global conference in Houston. “Prices went up to send signals to everyone that can produce more: ‘Please, produce more.’”

The world’s energy industry is gathered in the U.S. energy capital this week as uncertainty mounts around the war in Iran and crude costs rise. American oil companies haven’t yet announced major plans to increase their production.

Producers have been skeptical to do so as the market chaos has meant many are unwilling to spend money on potentially unprofitable wells.

Wright said prices have not risen high enough to “drive meaningful demand destruction.” And he pointed to “pragmatic” solutions the Trump administration has taken to address rising prices, such as releasing from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, while reiterating that those are “mitigants of a situation that’s temporary.”

President Donald Trump said earlier Monday the United States would pause “any and all military strikes against Iranian power plants and energy infrastructure” for five days as the U.S. and Iran engage in diplomatic negotiations. Trump had previously given Iran an 48-hour ultimatum.

Wright said he expects between 1 million and 1.5 million barrels a day to flow out of the SPR, well below its stated outflow capacity of 4 million barrels a day but in line with flow rates under the Biden administration. Global flow rates out of emergency reserves will total around 3 million barrels a day, he said.

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