President Trump promised to trigger a large-scale oil boom in the USA and lower gasoline prices, but this promise faces the market reality challenge: the world is already saturated with fossil fuels.

$Exxon Mobil (XOM.US)$CEO Darren Woods said in an interview on Tuesday that although he hopes to maintain US oil production at its current high level, the market is already well supplied.

He said, "I don't think current US oil production is limited. I'm not sure if there's an opportunity to release a lot of capacity in the short term."

During the presidential campaign, Trump stated that he planned to lower energy prices, including gasoline prices, by increasing US oil production.

Last month, Trump said, "We will frack, frack, and frack again, drill, drill, and drill again. I will cut your energy prices in half within 12 months." In September this year, Trump stated he would lower gasoline prices to below $2 per gallon.

Energy analysts state that major oil companies are more focused on returning funds to shareholders rather than investing in projects to increase production, especially as the slowdown in the Asian economy has led to reduced oil imports.

Their comments emphasize that the control of the US president over the oil and gas market, including gas station prices, is very limited.

Ben Cahill, Director of the Energy Market and Policy at the University of Texas at Austin, said: "This is a global market, and any president will find it difficult to change the direction of oil prices or rbob gasoline prices."

Cahill added that he expects US crude oil production to increase, but this process will be gradual. The United States has been producing oil at record levels. According to the latest available annual data for 2023, the US produces 12.9 million barrels of crude oil per day, compared to around 11 million barrels in 2020 under the Trump administration. Last year, the US became the world's largest exporter of natural gas. In October, the US Energy Information Administration predicted that by 2025, the US will produce 13.5 million barrels of crude oil per day, setting a new historical high.

Furthermore, there is room for expansion in the industry. Woods earlier this month said in an interview that the Gulf of Mexico region could be a long-term additional source of oil production.

GasBuddy's Chief Oil Analyst, Patrick De Haan, stated that Trump could take measures to increase US oil production, including easing regulations to open up more drilling sites and cooperating with OPEC. However, balancing maintaining prices while increasing oil production is a "delicate balance" for the industry.

He said: "If oil prices fall, you may see a natural long-term decline in US oil production." He added: "Oil companies must be accountable to their shareholders."

In recent years, even with stricter greenhouse gas emission limits on power plants, oil and gas infrastructure, and rbob gasoline vehicles implemented by Biden to help mitigate the climate crisis, US oil production continues to increase.

In another interview, Woods stated that the US should not withdraw from the Paris Agreement. Nearly 200 countries reached an agreement at the United Nations Climate Summit last year to move away from fossil fuels within this decade and triple renewable energy by 2030.

Woods told Semafor that he supports Biden's methane emission restrictions for the oil and gas sector. Exxon Mobil and other major US oil companies have emission reduction targets, but climate scientists say these targets are not enough to avoid catastrophic global warming.

Editor/ping