Biden still no friend of fossil fuels despite Alaska project OK, Conoco CEO says

President Biden is still no ally of the oil industry, ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) CEO Ryan Lance told The Financial Times Thursday, even after recently approving the company’s big Willow oil project in Alaska.

Approving development of the $8B project was not a signal that the Biden administration had come around on oil and gas, the CEO told FT at Conoco’s (COP) investor conference in New York; instead, the White House had little choice, as a rejection would have triggered massive lawsuits.

But Biden’s approach remains the same, according to Lance: “They’re trying to transition faster away from fossil fuels, and everything they’re trying to do is trying to drive that – certainly policy-wise, procedurally.”

Lance said the public and political blowback and “brutally” drawn-out permitting process means other developers will “think twice” before embarking on a multibillion dollar U.S. oil project.

“If you’re in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico, or on federal lands, and you have a big discovery, people are going to think twice about how quickly we can get it done. And can we get it done? Can we get it permitted?”

ConocoPhillips (COP) is expected to provide shareholders with almost 5% in annualized dividends and share buybacks, generating strong shareholder returns, The Value Portfolio writes in an analysis published recently on Seeking Alpha.