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Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news.

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Speaker 2: Let's transition now to Washington, where the US Department of

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Speaker 2: Energy has outlined their energy roadmap focused on unleashing American

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Speaker 2: energy innovation and strengthening power grid reliability and security. I'm

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Speaker 2: pleased to say that US Energy Secretary Chris Wright, who

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Speaker 2: was confirmed just last week, joins us now for an

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Speaker 2: exclusive interview. It's such a pleasure to have you, mister Secretary.

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Speaker 3: Thank you for joining.

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Speaker 1: Us, Thanks for having me, Alex. Great to be here,

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Speaker 1: you bet so.

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Speaker 3: Last time we talked, you were CEO of and Oil.

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Speaker 2: Company, and now you run energy policy for the United States.

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Speaker 2: That's a big change. What do you say when I

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Speaker 2: ask you.

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Speaker 3: The question, what oil price do you guys want right now?

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Speaker 4: Well, I don't want any oil price right now lowers better.

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Speaker 4: The President got elected to bring down energy prices and

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Speaker 4: broader prices across the economy and grow opportunities for American

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Speaker 4: So my goal right now is more energy of all kinds,

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Speaker 4: more affordable, reliable, secure energy to expand American opportunities.

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Speaker 3: But the easy pickings are oil. So what's the price?

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Speaker 2: And I say this because with your dual hat, right,

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Speaker 2: if you're an oil producer, you don't want sixty dollars oil.

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Speaker 2: You want to make more money for the oil. As

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Speaker 2: energy secretary, you want sixty dollars oil.

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Speaker 1: Well, all we can.

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Speaker 4: Do supply and demand will be decided by well consumers

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Speaker 4: in the marketplace and producers. But what we can do

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Speaker 4: and what we're focused on, is reducing the cost to

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Speaker 4: produce a barrel of oil. So for producers, they could

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Speaker 4: have lower oil prices and the same profitability if their

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Speaker 4: costs were reduced. So the last administration spent four years

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Speaker 4: trying to put all sorts of barriers make it harder

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Speaker 4: and riskier to produce oil in the United States.

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Speaker 1: We're going to do the opposite.

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Speaker 4: We're going to try to enable producers to bring on

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Speaker 4: supply at lower costs and greater certainty.

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Speaker 5: So I'm going to follow up on that Chris and

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Speaker 5: ask how can you lower the cost curve for company

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Speaker 5: is to invest in new development and not just use

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Speaker 5: money to offset regular well declines.

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Speaker 4: Yes, So one of the biggest challenges investing in oil

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Speaker 4: and gas infrastructure over the last bunch of years has

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Speaker 4: been uncertainty. If you produce more products, can you get

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Speaker 4: it to market? You know, we still have six states

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Speaker 4: in New England without a reliable supply of natural gas.

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Speaker 4: That's bad for producers, that's bad for consumers. But there's

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Speaker 4: a number of barriers like that.

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Speaker 1: That we can move out of the way.

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Speaker 4: LNG export pause, for example, everybody in India is alarmed

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Speaker 4: they might not get an increasing supply of natural gas.

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Speaker 4: And how are American producers of natural gas can to

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Speaker 4: invest more in gas production infrastructure if.

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Speaker 1: They're not sure if they can get it to market.

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Speaker 4: So I think, you know, we can help the consumers

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Speaker 4: of India, the population of the United States, and producers

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Speaker 4: of natural gas by just removing those uncertainties and going

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Speaker 4: back to regular, common sense business.

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Speaker 5: Removing uncertainty is one thing, But I'm curious whether there's

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Speaker 5: a ceiling on US crew production right now that EIA

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Speaker 5: is projecting a two point three percent increase in US

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Speaker 5: crew production, how much higher do you think realistically that

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Speaker 5: could go.

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Speaker 4: Well, again, that's going to be the ability to build

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Speaker 4: infrastructure and access more consumers, but I think it could

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Speaker 4: grow meaningfully. It's probably not going to grow meaningfully in

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Speaker 4: the short run, although our natural gas production I think

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Speaker 4: is going to grow dramatically in the next two or

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Speaker 4: three years. But if you look at five or ten years,

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Speaker 4: could America grower oil production significantly?

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Speaker 1: Absolutely, mister Secretary, to that point.

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Speaker 2: In terms of building out infrastructure, that's been very difficult,

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Speaker 2: in terms of permitting, in terms of getting something in

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Speaker 2: the ground, that's been very hard to Tariffs and higher

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Speaker 2: prices for aluminum and steel and things like that make

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Speaker 2: that even harder for you.

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Speaker 4: Look at tariff's what's been the big issues for this

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Speaker 4: president that he ran on, you know, the economic well

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Speaker 4: being of Americans and the national security of our country

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Speaker 4: and our citizens. So we've had twenty plus years of

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Speaker 4: sort of de industrializing the United States and letting our

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Speaker 4: heavy industry flow overseas. This president is passionate about increasing

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Speaker 4: national security, and that means we have to have the

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Speaker 4: ability to build heavy steel intensive, illumina intensive, material intensive

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Speaker 4: systems in our country. Again, so this is an attempt,

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Speaker 4: I believe, by our president to incentivize the reindustrialization of America.

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Speaker 2: Talking about different forms of energy because as you pointed out,

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Speaker 2: like it's not just oil right, all forms of energy,

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Speaker 2: it's energy security.

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Speaker 3: What role do you think coal is going to play

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Speaker 3: in that?

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Speaker 4: The coal has been essential to the United States is

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Speaker 4: energy system for over one hundred years. It's been the

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Speaker 4: largest source of global electricity for nearly one hundred years,

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Speaker 4: and it will be for decades to come.

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Speaker 1: So we need to be realistic about that.

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Speaker 4: Now with coal, are we going to see a renaissance

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Speaker 4: in surging coal production in the United States? Not likely,

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Speaker 4: But we're all on a path to continually shrink the

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Speaker 4: electricity we generate from coal. That's made electricity more expensive

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Speaker 4: and our grid less stable. So I think the best

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Speaker 4: we can hope for in the short term is to

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Speaker 4: stop the closure of coal power plants.

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Speaker 1: No one has won by that action, you know.

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Speaker 5: I was looking at the energy roadmap that you've published

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Speaker 5: the Department has published, and the word security comes up

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Speaker 5: so many times. I'm wondering why or does energy security

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Speaker 5: also include solar and wind, and if not, why not?

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Speaker 4: Well, the goal is We're not specific to any particular

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Speaker 4: energy production technology. The goal is just affordable, reliable, secure

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Speaker 4: energy from wherever that comes from. Obviously there's going to

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Speaker 4: be roles in the long run for solar energy. There's

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Speaker 4: places where it makes tons of sense, where where the

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Speaker 4: natural resources are there in the infrastructure is benefited.

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Speaker 1: By adding more solar to the grid.

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Speaker 4: But I will say one thing for sure, We're not

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Speaker 4: going to go down the road of Germany. You know,

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Speaker 4: they spend half a trillion dollars, They more than doubled

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Speaker 4: their price of electricity.

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Speaker 1: They actually shrunk the total.

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Speaker 4: Amount of electricity the country produces by about twenty percent,

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Speaker 4: and their industry is fleeing the country. That's the path

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Speaker 4: the United States was starting to go down.

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Speaker 1: But that's the wrong path.

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Speaker 5: So, if I'm hearing you correctly, there is a role

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Speaker 5: for things like solar and wind. Yet some of the

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Speaker 5: President's executive orders can be seen as clear moves to

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Speaker 5: stifle those industries.

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Speaker 4: I guve stifle might be the wrong word, but we

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Speaker 4: shouldn't subsidize technologies that ultimately just make our energy more

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Speaker 4: expensive and less reliable. I don't think you'll see policies

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Speaker 4: that continue to.

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Speaker 1: Go down that road.

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Speaker 2: One other policy, as well, as nuclear, we've seen a

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Speaker 2: real resurgence in restarting some nuclear facilities. The previous administration

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Speaker 2: was looking towards domestic uranium production, and I'm wondering if

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Speaker 2: you would continue down that road, because we need that.

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Speaker 2: If nuclear is a big part of that solution.

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Speaker 1: Absolutely.

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Speaker 4: One of the industries we've lost in this country are

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Speaker 4: lost in large part is the ability to produce nuclear

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Speaker 4: materials generate nuclear power. Ultimately, we need that infrastructure here,

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Speaker 4: we need that mining here, we need that uranium enrichment here,

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Speaker 4: we need that to again be building and growing our

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Speaker 4: production of nuclear energy. So absolutely, our hope is to

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Speaker 4: really start the American nuclear renaissance as fast as we can.

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Speaker 2: So then let's talk about some of the legislative ways

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Speaker 2: that you feel like the administration can manage this. Because

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Speaker 2: the Democrats came out with the IRA what can the

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Speaker 2: Republicans come out with that can prevent something more dramatic

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Speaker 2: being done down the road under a different administration. What

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Speaker 2: specifically can you guys get done.

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Speaker 4: Oh, I think there's a lot of things now, some

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Speaker 4: of these we've heard talked about for years, but no action,

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Speaker 4: just common sense permitting reform. America became this phenomenal industrial

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Speaker 4: powerhouse by people building things in America, investing money, taking risks.

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Speaker 4: We built a highway system, a pipeline system, an electricity

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Speaker 4: grid in plants. We've come to a point in America

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Speaker 4: today where it's very easy to stop something from being

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Speaker 4: built and it's very hard to build something. We need

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Speaker 4: to reverse that, and a lot of that is going

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Speaker 4: to be through legislation.

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Speaker 3: That is a part of it too.

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Speaker 2: I wonder though, in terms of say federal lands, for example,

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Speaker 2: like selling federal acreage to the state of Alaska so

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Speaker 2: it can do what say Texas does more concrete, smaller

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Speaker 2: things like this.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, look, all ideas are on the table, and all

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Speaker 4: ideas are being discussed. At a minimum, we're going to

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Speaker 4: see common sense permitting on federal lands. Of course, this

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Speaker 4: president and this administration loves the wilderness and wildlife and

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Speaker 4: the ever cleaner air in waters that I've enjoyed throughout

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Speaker 4: my lifetime.

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Speaker 1: There's no change in any of that.

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Speaker 4: But we have so many obstructions that don't allow roads

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Speaker 4: to be built on federal land, Roads that could be

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Speaker 4: used for logging and wildfire control, roads that could access

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Speaker 4: mining and minerals production. So I think we're going to

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Speaker 4: see just a return of common sense to use the

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Speaker 4: federal lands what they were intended to be used for.

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Speaker 3: Now, let's switch to a different part of the administration.

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Speaker 2: That's in terms of money being doled out the Department

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Speaker 2: of Loans. It was very contentious under the Biden administration

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Speaker 2: in terms of the money that was going out the

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Speaker 2: door in relation to the IRA. What's your guys's plan.

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Speaker 2: Are you going to divert the money to projects that

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Speaker 2: you guys like? Are you going to kind of roll

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Speaker 2: back funding for projects you didn't like?

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Speaker 1: Well, you know, I'm inheriting a portfolio.

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Speaker 4: So the first thing I'm doing from the day one

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Speaker 4: I walked in the office is to understand what is

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Speaker 4: our existing loan portfolio. Who do we have loans out,

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Speaker 4: what are the terms under which they are, which projects

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Speaker 4: are midway, which projects haven't launched yet. So I've got

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Speaker 4: to follow the law and manage what I've inherited. And

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Speaker 4: then there's a lot of moneies uncommitted or early on,

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Speaker 4: and of course those will be deployed to advance the

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Speaker 4: president's agenda of affordable, reliable, secure energy. We just saw

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Speaker 4: recently the Ivanpad nuclear power plant, I mean solar power plant,

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Speaker 4: sorry about that. You know, a concentrated solar plant out

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Speaker 4: in the California Nevada desert right near the state line there.

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Speaker 4: That's a one certainly north of a billion dollar loss

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Speaker 4: in taxpayer funds for something that's not producing a single

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Speaker 4: watt of power today, and during its brief lifetime, it

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Speaker 4: produced very unreliable, expensive power.

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Speaker 1: We don't want to do things like that.

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Speaker 4: We want to focus on American consumers and not subsidizing

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Speaker 4: this industry.

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Speaker 1: Or that industry.

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Speaker 4: We want the marketplace in consumers to pull what energy

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Speaker 4: is in demand.

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Speaker 5: Of course, but you also have your own priorities. I'm wondering,

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Speaker 5: would you cancel loans that have already been.

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Speaker 1: Doled We will follow the laws.

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Speaker 4: So that's what I'm doing right now is rigorously looking

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Speaker 4: at what is the status of those loans, what is

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Speaker 4: the status of those projects, and no things that we

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Speaker 4: inherit that are half pregnant that are going on, we

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Speaker 4: will continue to honor the law.

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Speaker 5: Mister Secretary, I want to ask you about the SPR

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Speaker 5: the strategic Petroleum Reserve. President Trump has vowed to refill

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Speaker 5: that quote right to the top. What is the appropriate

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Speaker 5: volume for the seven hundred million barrel reserve?

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Speaker 4: So look, I'm not going to talk specifics right here,

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Speaker 4: but as you just hear right in that name the

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Speaker 4: strategic petroleum reserve, that's not the electoral advantage strategic, I

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Speaker 4: mean petroleum reserve that we use to drive down energy

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Speaker 4: prices around election times. That's not what it's for, right

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Speaker 4: The strategic petroleum reserve is things can go wrong, we

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Speaker 4: can have a strategic crisis, and we don't want America's consumers,

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Speaker 4: in America's military at risk of an energy shortage. So

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Speaker 4: we need a robust strategic reserve that makes America ready

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Speaker 4: for whatever may come.

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Speaker 2: Do you know how much you're going to ask Congress

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Speaker 2: for and how fast you can refill it, mister secretary.

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Speaker 4: That's being evaluated in discussed right now. So no, I've

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Speaker 4: got no scoop or no news to leak on that

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Speaker 4: right now.

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Speaker 1: But it is a good question you're asking.

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Speaker 3: Oh, come on, maake some news of me, and that'd

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Speaker 3: be a bunch more fun.

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Speaker 2: All right, next time you'll come back and you'll tell us.

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Speaker 2: I guess my question is, what's the conversation you're having

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Speaker 2: now with say, big oil companies on that. Have you

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Speaker 2: been able to start this conversation.

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Speaker 1: Now right now?

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Speaker 4: I'm looking internally at what's in our department right now,

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Speaker 4: what's in our technology.

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Speaker 1: Portfolio, and what are the barriers.

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Speaker 4: That the government has in place that we can do

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Speaker 4: something about. I have not had any dialogues with Big

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Speaker 4: Oil or any of the industry players since I've assumed

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Speaker 4: my role, not that I won't going forward, but right

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Speaker 4: now I'm trying to understand where are the biggest problems,

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Speaker 4: how can we get the shortest term biggest wins.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, well, it seems like everyone in is during that

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Speaker 5: right now, trying to assess the situation. And I'm curious

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Speaker 5: whether the members of DOOJE, the squad that's embedded at

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Speaker 5: the Department of Energy, have requested access to any classified information.

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Speaker 1: They have not.

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Speaker 4: And I've met the DOGE team that's at Department of

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Speaker 4: Energy and liked them a lot. These are passionate people

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Speaker 4: that are coming into like looking very specifically right now

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Speaker 4: at the flow of funds going out and the systems

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Speaker 4: we use to carry out our basic business functions. How

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Speaker 4: can we be smarter and more efficient doing what we do,

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Speaker 4: and how can we be very careful to know where

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Speaker 4: funds are flowing and where they're not flowing.

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Speaker 1: So it's much less intrusive than a.

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Speaker 4: Typical corporate audit, but it's giving quick, up to date

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Speaker 4: information to help me and the rest of the department

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Speaker 4: run more efficiently and be better stewards of the taxpayer,

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Speaker 4: taxpayer funds the deal.

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Speaker 2: He was quick to say that there's no nuclear secrets

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Speaker 2: being given away or anything along those lines, and I

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Speaker 2: put that in quotes. But is there a circumstance where

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Speaker 2: you would have to turn that over? Is that become

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Speaker 2: aware of any of this in any point?

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Speaker 4: I've heard nothing about that at all. We did security

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Speaker 4: vetting on the small team that we have. They have

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Speaker 4: read only access to very limited parts of our systems.

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Speaker 4: No one has asked or expressed any interest, and we

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Speaker 4: would definitely not share the secrets of our nuclear weapons

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Speaker 4: program and our non proliferation and all those efforts.

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Speaker 1: That's that's not part of DOGE. This is not a

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Speaker 1: reckless effort.

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Speaker 4: In fact, it's a very focused and thoughtful effort to

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Speaker 4: quickly look for ways to improve how we run the business.

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Speaker 5: Right, to streamline things, make things more efficient. We understand

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Speaker 5: the purpose there behind OAJ. So I guess the question

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Speaker 5: for you, mister secretary, is how lean can the DOE get?

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Speaker 1: Then we don't know yet. We don't know yet.

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Speaker 4: But if you take an organization that hasn't been carefully

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Speaker 4: looked at, are we finding low hanging fruit to reduce

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Speaker 4: our expenditures? And deliver the same output. I can say

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Speaker 4: that's an unqualified.

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Speaker 1: Yes, we are.

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Speaker 4: How big those savings are going to be, well, it's

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Speaker 4: a little early for that, but they.

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Speaker 1: Will be meaningful.

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Speaker 4: We will find meaningful savings, savings and efficiencies without any

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Speaker 4: degradation of our output. In fact, I think we're going

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Speaker 4: to see dramatically different output our our agendas energy addition,

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Speaker 4: and I'm taking over for you know, administration. This goal

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Speaker 4: was energy subtraction. So I think we're going to see

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Speaker 4: far more output and productivity at reduced costs.

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Speaker 1: That's the plan.

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Speaker 2: I mean, that's what oil companies do, so you are

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Speaker 2: very familiar with that way of operating. Mister secretary, before

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Speaker 2: we let you go, you mentioned stopping closure of coal plants,

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Speaker 2: et cetera. We were talking about nuclear, We're talking about

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Speaker 2: the growth of LNG exports, et cetera. What do you

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Speaker 2: think in the United States has the most potential to

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Speaker 2: be the next big thing, to be the next US shale?

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Speaker 4: I mean, well, I think for the you know, in

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Speaker 4: the short term, the next big exciting thing is continued

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Speaker 4: evolution of shale. I mean, today, over seventy percent of

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Speaker 4: the energy consumed in the United States comes from just

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Speaker 4: two things, oil and natural gas. Now, one of the

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Speaker 4: things I want to do is grow that pie of

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Speaker 4: significant contributors, and probably the technology we know of today

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Speaker 4: that could most meaningfully grow is nuclear, both these next

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Speaker 4: generation small modular reactors. But also keep an eye on fusion.

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Speaker 4: I went to college, I went down MIT forty years

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Speaker 4: ago to work on fusion energy. We will see positive

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Speaker 4: energy liberated from fusion machines in my tenure at the DOE,

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Speaker 4: and commercial fusion may not be that far behind these aren't,

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Speaker 4: you know, one year two years from now.

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Speaker 1: But technology is moving fast, and I think.

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Speaker 4: As you look out several years in the future, nuclear

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Speaker 4: is going to.

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Speaker 1: Be on the rise and add a.

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Speaker 4: Lot of affordable, reliable, secure energy to America. It's got

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Speaker 4: some ways to go from where we are today, but

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Speaker 4: there's a great roadmap there that I'm quite excited about.

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Speaker 2: Mister Secretary, Thank you so much. What a great way

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Speaker 2: to adend. We really appreciate all the time that you

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Speaker 2: gave us today. Let's check back in about fusion. I

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Speaker 2: love that we can talk about this. Thank you so much.

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Speaker 2: Chris Wright, US Secretary of Energy