This Election Matters Less Than 'Big Energy' Thinks

The energy industry has a clear preference in the upcoming presidential election...

Here's a hint: It's not Joe Biden.

In the leadup to the 2020 presidential election, Biden promised to "transition away from the oil industry." Needless to say, his vow shook the entire industry.

The day he took office, he shut down the $8 billion Keystone XL Pipeline project, which would've shuttled oil from Canada to the Gulf Coast.

Energy executives don't have a lot of good things to say about Biden. Steve Pruett of Elevation Resources claims this is the worst presidency for energy he has seen in his 40-year career.

And energy companies overall have donated roughly seven times more to Republican campaigns than Democratic ones this election cycle.

None of this probably comes as a surprise to most folks. It's common knowledge that Republicans tend to be more lenient with Big Energy... while Democrats lean toward green initiatives.

More surprising, however, is this... During his presidency, Biden has quietly changed his tune.

In fact, energy executives – and energy investors – shouldn't really care who ends up being president for the next four years.

Look at what Biden has done... not what he's said...

While Biden has initiated some restrictions on oil and gas production, he has also helped bring the industry its most prosperous years ever.

The Russia-Ukraine war was a big part of this. International sanctions on Russia caused energy prices to rise. To keep prices lower stateside, Biden told U.S. drillers to pump more oil and gas.

He also helped stabilize energy prices in Europe by pushing the U.S. to export more energy.

In 2022, the industry saw its most profitable year in history... by a long shot. Profits at the top six Western oil companies surpassed $200 billion. They'd never even reached $150 billion before.

And last year, the U.S. exported the most oil and gas ever. Crude oil exports jumped from a previous record 3.6 million barrels per day to 4.1 million barrels per day. Natural gas exports grew 10% to a record 21 billion cubic feet per day.  

Biden has quietly extended or doubled down on a lot of Trump-era policies...

For starters, Trump set out to make the U.S. a net energy exporter. Biden led the country to record energy exports.

It goes beyond energy, though.

Trump took an extremely adversarial relationship with China... including launching a trade war by implementing expensive tariffs on a lot of goods.

Biden isn't any different. He, too, decided to increase tariffs against China. Biden announced new tariffs on steel, semiconductors, and electric vehicles just last month.

Trump wanted to build up American infrastructure and manufacturing with his "America First" policy. Biden continued in the same vein with the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

The similarities even extend to tech... the largest corner of the market. Both Trump and Biden have pushed for U.S. tech dominance.

A lot of these policies are already in place. It's simply a question of who's implementing them.

This year is the exception, not the rule...

Because there's an election coming up, Biden has put a pause on new natural gas exports to appease his more liberal base.

But it's a pause... not an outright ban.

Come next year, whoever wins the presidency will keep pushing our energy exports to new heights. Trump has already said as much. And aside from the past few months, Biden has shown that's his plan, too.

Save yourself the stress – Election Day won't derail this year's best-performing industries. With oil and gas on a roll, nobody wants to be the president who wrecks U.S. energy.

Regards,

Joel Litman
June 5, 2024

P.S. As an investor, you don't need to worry about who wins the presidency. You do need to keep an eye on Congress, though...

Our nation's lawmakers have a history of beating the market. They dumped their stocks just before the 2008 and 2020 crashes. In the past few years, they perfectly traded all the big upswings in AI, electric vehicles, cannabis, and cryptocurrencies.

And their latest move could have a seismic impact on your financial situation by the end of the year.

In short, a $2 trillion economic shift will impact Americans from all walks of life. I expect big winners and losers in the aftermath... and folks who take these simple steps could come out top. Click here for the full story.