President Trump is expected to visit the Permian Basin in West Texas on Wednesday and make a stop at Double Eagle Energy in Midland, the White House announced.
During his visit, the President will tour an oil rig and discuss how the United States has become a dominant energy power, by reducing regulation, speeding up project approval, and providing a boost for private investment in energy infrastructure.
The Permian Basin is one of the main oil producing fields in the world. The basin encompasses parts of western Texas and southeastern New Mexico and is 250 miles wide and 300 miles long.
It represents almost 40 percent of all oil production in the United States and almost 15 percent of its natural gas production, the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas reported.
In a report by Houston investment advisory firm Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co, it has become a top destination for fractures in the United States, seeing an uptick in activity since COVID-19 closed some operations. In the last decade, new technologies have been transformative for the region, allowing new life in old wells and providing capabilities to take advantage of new ones.
Many large oil companies have interests in the Permian. Chevron, for example, is one of the largest oil and gas producers in the region with approximately 2.2 million net acres.
Trump’s visit this week is not the first time that the White House has made a trip to Midland. In April 2019, the vice president visited the platform’s site, and as energy production constraints face regulatory and permitting processes, Trump will return in hopes of continuing to incentivize production and job growth.
The White House told the Midland Reporter-Telegram in a statement that “the President saw the pain caused in the energy industry by the collapse of prices and the shock of demand that the energy industry is now contributing to the economic recovery of the nation, and the president will continue to support the industry as it rebuilds. “
The president is also slated to appear at a fundraising event in Odessa called the “Permian Basin Special Event.”
