U.S. Energy Secretary in Davos calls for Doubling Oil Production to fight Energy Poverty

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The world needs to more than double its oil production to bring more people out of energy poverty, US Energy Secretary Chris Wright said Thursday at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

In a joint session with Occidental chief executive Vicki Hollub, Wright said about 1 billion of the world’s population “live these great, wonderful lifestyles” because they have enough available energy resources. Those 1 billion consume about 13 barrels of oil annually apiece, according to Wright.

Meanwhile, the remaining 7 billion only consume about three barrels per year per person, Wright said.

“So we need way more than double global oil production to get the other 7 billion people just halfway to where our quality of life is,” Wright said.

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Wright, a longtime energy executive who led fracking services company Liberty Energy before he took over the Department of Energy (DoE) in 2025, has long been an advocate for prioritising energy poverty as a top global issue.

In 2024, Liberty Energy released a report that positioned energy poverty as a top priority, ahead of other issues such as curbing global emissions.

Wright on Thursday also called for more energy from all available sources, but he emphasised that fossil fuels are his priority: “I don't care where energy comes from, but the world runs on hydrocarbons.”

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Wright said growing production will put downward pressure on energy prices, which is good for consumers. However, he acknowledged that would burden oil companies, who were once used to having oil at US$100 per barrel in 2010, or $150 if adjusted for inflation.

“You've got to innovate massively to have profitability go from $150 inflation adjusted to $60. But to me, that's the beauty of capitalism. That's the beauty of innovation,” Wright said.

Hollub then joked: “We wouldn’t be upset with $70 [per barrel].”

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Hollub said one critical hurdle for the industry’s growth is investment banks, who had been shunning fossil fuel projects amid a stronger global push to transition away from oil and gas.

However, she said “some of those banks are now coming back”. She said she spoke on Wednesday to one bank “that had kind of abandoned us” but was now interested in the company again.

She also called on Wright to drum up more interest from the tech industry in regards to oil and gas.

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Responded Wright: “The tech industry and banking industries are critical. They're gigantic industries. They've done great things to improve the world, but they've been they they've been very off base on energy.”

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