Chris Wright's crisis balancing act in Houston
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Photo illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios. Photo: Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images and Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images
HOUSTON — The glare has never been brighter on Energy Secretary Chris Wright.
Why it matters: Onstage and behind closed doors, he's been seeking to reassure markets and companies spooked by a historic and unpredictable disruption — all while promoting the White House agenda at the CERAWeek conference here.
- It's a tricky task. President Trump's statements on Iran can move markets in an instant.
The big picture: Wright is part of a wider, high-level team here that includes Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, who chairs the National Energy Dominance Council, and Jarrod Agen, the council's executive director.
- "He's able to calm down any concerns people have, and then also talk through some of the longer-term issues that we're trying to solve," Agen told Axios.
Zoom out: Wright, for all the immediate crises, is also using CERAWeek as a larger platform to promote nuclear, gas and other favored sources.
- "Fortunately, today, I think the interest in energy has grown dramatically for geopolitical reasons, for rising out of poverty reasons, for artificial intelligence, for re-shoring manufacturing," he told an audience heavy on grad students on Tuesday.
- "So I think energy is coming in the sweet spot of attention."
Friction point: The Iran crisis has elevated Wright's profile at a sensitive time as gasoline prices rise under a president who covets low costs — and who pays close attention to his lieutenants' public performances.
- "If I were in the White House now, I would look at the situation and go, you know, the secretary is on message. He's doing a great job representing where the administration is, where the United States is," George David Banks, a White House energy aide in Trump 1.0, tells me.
Inside the room: Wright has been here since Sunday, huddling with foreign officials and energy execs.
- Tuesday's agenda with Burgum and Agen included a closed-door session with CEOs of Chevron, gas producer EQT, and LNG exporters Cheniere Energy and Venture Global, per a person in the room who spoke on condition of anonymity.
- Topics included an "open dialogue" with execs about ways to boost domestic production; the White House position on Iran; and fresh assurances to industry that the administration isn't looking to thwart exports.
Yes, but: Onstage, Wright's been a happy warrior. But he's dealing with crosscurrents — such as calling for U.S. producers to pump more even as he repeatedly says the price spikes are temporary.
- And industry concerns about Iran and energy flows remain palpable.
The bottom line: "He's everywhere," Mike Sommers, head of the American Petroleum Institute, said of Wright.
- "I think that's one of the keys to his success, is that he really does have his finger on the pulse of this industry at a really, really important time."
