Pompeo to Discuss Trade, Foreign Policy With Oil Executives

(Bloomberg) -- U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will meet with senior U.S. oil executives in Houston on Tuesday to discuss boosting boost crude exports and advancing America’s position as a global energy powerhouse, according to people with knowledge of the meeting.

“I think there’s going to be a meeting later today," BP Plc Chief Executive Officer Bob Dudley said in an interview on Bloomberg Television. "He’ll get together a round table of CEOs.”

Dudley said his message to Pompeo would be to be careful about disrupting oil markets too much, pointing to legislation, known as NOPEC, that would allow for antitrust lawsuits against the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. OPEC actions, he said, protect against very high oil price spikes and extremely low prices, which helps shale production in the U.S. remain economic.

Pompeo, who is due to give a speech at the Houston conference tonight, will talk to the oil executives behind closed doors about the role energy can play in advancing the Trump administration’s foreign policy goals, said the people, who asked not to be named because the meeting is private. U.S.-granted waivers allowing some companies to buy Iranian crude despite sanctions are set to expire in May.

The meeting was earlier reported by Reuters. Executives from Chevron Corp., Total SA, Royal Dutch Shell Plc, ConocoPhillips and Occidental Petroleum Corp. were among the invited, Reuters said.

A State Department spokesperson declined to comment.

The U.S. wants to make sure that there are markets available around the world and that Europe and Asia are “prepared to buy not only our crude oil but our natural gas,” Pompeo said in an interview with WOAI San Antonio’s First News earlier today. “Importantly, it has deep national security implications as well if we’re successful at this.”

--With assistance from Nick Wadhams and Alix Steel.

To contact the reporters on this story: Kevin Crowley in Houston at kcrowley1@bloomberg.net;Javier Blas in Houston at jblas3@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Simon Casey at scasey4@bloomberg.net, Tina Davis, Joe Carroll

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