WEBVTT - US Energy Secretary Chris Wright Talks Oil Refinery, Copper

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<v Speaker 1>Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news. Pittsburgh is host to

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<v Speaker 1>the inaugural Pennsylvania Energy and Innovation Summit. The event kicks

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<v Speaker 1>off today with President Trump set to attend in just

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<v Speaker 1>a few hours. For a look at the future of

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<v Speaker 1>US energy and tech, Bloomberg's Tyler Kendo is standing by Tyler,

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<v Speaker 1>Thanks so much, Ed.

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<v Speaker 2>And I'm pleased to say that I'm joined by the

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<v Speaker 2>US Energy Secretary, Christopher Right. Secretary Right, thank you so

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<v Speaker 2>much for joining Bloomberg. And I want to start with

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<v Speaker 2>one of the main reasons why we're here in Pittsburgh.

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<v Speaker 2>There is this surging demand for energy to help power

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<v Speaker 2>artificial intelligence, and the administration focuses a lot on its

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<v Speaker 2>deregulation agenda. Do you think that you can accomplish your

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<v Speaker 2>goals fast enough to keep up with what has been

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<v Speaker 2>a surge and energy consumption.

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<v Speaker 3>I think we will. You're right, it's a challenge. I mean,

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<v Speaker 3>the agenda of President Trump is to unleash American energy.

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<v Speaker 3>The last four years the Biden administration was more to

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<v Speaker 3>shackle American energy. But you're right, there's rapidly rising demand

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<v Speaker 3>and what we as the government need to do is

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<v Speaker 3>enable private businesses to build the things they want to

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<v Speaker 3>build and invest in the things they want to build.

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<v Speaker 3>We're not going to do this building ourselves, but we're

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<v Speaker 3>going to enable private businesses to do it.

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<v Speaker 2>Well, I'm glad that you brought up private businesses and

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<v Speaker 2>to kind of put a finer point on this idea

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<v Speaker 2>of urgency. We actually heard from Mark Zuckerberg yesterday pledging

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<v Speaker 2>billions that Meta is going to invest in data centers,

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<v Speaker 2>but it is raising concerns about an energy crisis to

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<v Speaker 2>fuel it. I'm wondering, have you spoken to Zuckerberg or

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<v Speaker 2>Meta about their plans.

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<v Speaker 3>Oh, we speak Meta extensively about their plans, and yeah,

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<v Speaker 3>there's a number of the hyperscalers that have huge investment opportunities.

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<v Speaker 3>We're excited about that. This is the newest energy intensive

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<v Speaker 3>industry to arise. That's what artificial intelligence is, energy intensive industry,

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<v Speaker 3>taking them sophisticated, most expensive form of energy electricity and

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<v Speaker 3>turning it into intelligence to transform more world and protect

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<v Speaker 3>our nation. So yeah, Meta has huge investment plans, as

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<v Speaker 3>does Amazon and Microsoft and Google and the other players

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<v Speaker 3>in that space, and we need all of them will invest.

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<v Speaker 3>It's a few hundred billion dollars this year. In fact,

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<v Speaker 3>you'll hear at the conference today announcements it was seventy

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<v Speaker 3>and I think now ninety billion dollars just in the

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<v Speaker 3>state of Pennsylvania.

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<v Speaker 2>When you hear big investments though, and how much energy

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<v Speaker 2>that is going to take, what's your level of concern

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<v Speaker 2>though that there is going to perhaps be such a

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<v Speaker 2>great demand. Can the US really keep.

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<v Speaker 1>Up with it?

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<v Speaker 3>Absolutely? You know, United States energy production because of the

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<v Speaker 3>shale revolution just exploded in the last ten or twelve years.

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<v Speaker 3>Pennsylvania is a massive energy producer today. Pennsylvania exports more

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<v Speaker 3>energy out of its state than any other state except

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<v Speaker 3>for Texas. And Pennsylvania could massively grow its energy production,

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<v Speaker 3>just doesn't have enough pipeline capacity to move that natural

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<v Speaker 3>gas out of the state. So what's going to happen

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<v Speaker 3>is more that gas or additional gas will be consumed

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<v Speaker 3>in Pennsylvania, turned into electricity generated intelligence and keep the

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<v Speaker 3>United States ahead of China in the AI race.

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<v Speaker 2>So I want to talk about oil, and I also

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<v Speaker 2>want to welcome in our audience that has just joined us.

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<v Speaker 2>We were talking to the US Energy Secretary Christopher Wright.

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<v Speaker 2>I'm Tyler Kendall. I want to show you some of

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<v Speaker 2>these statistics that our analysts have, Bloomberg pulled that the

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<v Speaker 2>US oil rig account has dropped thirteen percent since late February.

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<v Speaker 2>It's in the midst of its longest contraction since twenty twenty.

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<v Speaker 2>I know that there were some incentives in the reconciliation package,

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<v Speaker 2>but what further incentives is the administration considering to help

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<v Speaker 2>get forward these oil breaks to continue drilling.

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<v Speaker 3>Mostly it's get out of the way. You know, we

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<v Speaker 3>had the Biden administration had four years all of government

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<v Speaker 3>approach to try to, as they said, end fossil fuels. Now,

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<v Speaker 3>that didn't work very well. We went from eighty two

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<v Speaker 3>percent of American energy coming from fossil fuels before Biden

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<v Speaker 3>took office to eighty two percent exactly the same when

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<v Speaker 3>he left office. That those are just simply the energy

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<v Speaker 3>sources that power our country and our world today. But

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<v Speaker 3>it's get out of the way of the marketplace. Right now,

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<v Speaker 3>US production has grown so fast as has other places

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<v Speaker 3>in the world, that prices are maybe at the low

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<v Speaker 3>end of profitability for producers here, so you see a

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<v Speaker 3>pullback and activity You're going to see with these new

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<v Speaker 3>investments and economic growth in the United States, We're going

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<v Speaker 3>to see growth in demand for oil, and of course

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<v Speaker 3>that'll probably bump prices backed up a little bit, keep

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<v Speaker 3>drillers active.

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<v Speaker 2>Well, you mentioned there perhaps a lower price environment. And

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<v Speaker 2>part of this also, when we're talking about costs that

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<v Speaker 2>these companies are facing, has to do with tariffs, and

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<v Speaker 2>I wanted to ask you about copper in particular, which

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<v Speaker 2>is essential to data centers and getting energy to help

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<v Speaker 2>power AI. What sort of impact is a fifty percent

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<v Speaker 2>copper terraft set to go into effect on August first,

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<v Speaker 2>going to have when we're talking about the costs for

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<v Speaker 2>energy infrastructure.

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<v Speaker 3>Well, I think the biggest impact of that fifty percent

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<v Speaker 3>Terrafund coffer is going to speed up copper mining in

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<v Speaker 3>the United States. We have enormous copper resources here. We

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<v Speaker 3>have some huge minds that have been trying to get

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<v Speaker 3>going for years. We want to get copper production growing

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<v Speaker 3>rapidly in this country. Copper, like steel, is just essential

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<v Speaker 3>to everything that happens in the world.

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<v Speaker 2>Should we expect the energy industry to get some sort

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<v Speaker 2>of tariff carveout moving forward?

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<v Speaker 3>I believe the President plans no special carve outs. He

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<v Speaker 3>wants to reindustrialize the United States of America. There's a

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<v Speaker 3>lot of tools to do that make it easy to

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<v Speaker 3>invest in the United States, make it attractive to invest

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<v Speaker 3>in the United States, and tariffs are an additional element

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<v Speaker 3>of that toolbox.

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<v Speaker 2>I'm sure you're talking to industry, though. Is a carve

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<v Speaker 2>out on the table? Are there any negotiations underway for say,

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<v Speaker 2>the oil industry to get a carve out when it

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<v Speaker 2>comes to the equipment that they use in the field,

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<v Speaker 2>like copper or steel, for example.

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<v Speaker 3>No discussions right now. We are hearing from the industry,

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<v Speaker 3>and of course this is true. If you incrementally raise

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<v Speaker 3>the cost of projects, that hurts the economics of them.

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<v Speaker 3>We want to do everything we possibly can to maximize

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<v Speaker 3>investments in the United States so jobs and opportunity come

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<v Speaker 3>here to our country.

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<v Speaker 2>Lastly, I just want to ask you a geopolitical question,

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<v Speaker 2>because we did hear from President Trump yesterday for a name,

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<v Speaker 2>one hundred percent so called secondary tariff on countries that

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<v Speaker 2>import Russian energy supplies. If that were to go into effect,

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<v Speaker 2>what would that do to prices in the global energy market.

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<v Speaker 3>Something like that would likely drive oil prices up. I

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<v Speaker 3>think President Trump's strong agenda there is to end the

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<v Speaker 3>war in Ukraine. Our hope is that that large pressure

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<v Speaker 3>will have an impact on Russia and we can bring

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<v Speaker 3>just a brutal war in Eastern Europe to an end.

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<v Speaker 3>That's President Trump's goal is prosperity at home and peace abroad,

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<v Speaker 3>and the old formulas weren't working very well in that respect.

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<v Speaker 3>So yeah, President Trump has very different tools, very different

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<v Speaker 3>negotiating skills, and very different level of boldness. I think

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<v Speaker 3>we're going to see tremendous growth in peace abroad and

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<v Speaker 3>prosperity at home.

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<v Speaker 2>All Right, we have to leave it there. US Energy

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<v Speaker 2>Secretary Christopher Wright, thank you so much for your time.

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<v Speaker 2>This has been a conversation here in Pittsburgh on the

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<v Speaker 2>sidelines of the Pennsylvania Energy and Innovation Summit.