Dallas Fed Survey: U.S. shale industry blames policy mistakes for loss of momentum

The American oil and gas industry is escalating its private discontent with President Trump's energy agenda, warning that policy mistakes are harming the world's largest oil-producing country. This criticism was revealed in the latest energy survey by the Dallas Federal Reserve Bank released on Wednesday. This quarterly report, widely read within the energy industry, includes anonymous, unfiltered comments from respondents from production and service companies. The report quoted one respondent as saying, "The U.S. shale business has shattered. Once the world's most dynamic energy engine, it has now been hollowed out by political animosity and economic ignorance." Some experts predict that as OPEC+ member countries continue to increase production and Trump encourages the U.S. to significantly increase output to achieve its "energy dominance" goal, the global oil market is heading towards oversupply. The result is a steady decline in oil prices. The U.S. crude benchmark - West Texas Intermediate crude oil has already fallen by nearly 10% in 2025, according to the average forecast from 136 executives of oil and gas companies in the southwestern United States. WTI is expected to settle at $63 per barrel by the end of 2025, a 7.4% reduction from the forecast two months ago.