By Arathy Somasekhar and Liz Hampton

HOUSTON, March 9 (Reuters) - In one of his first

meetings with oil and gas executives since being confirmed as

U.S. energy secretary, Chris Wright said he intended to speed up

permitting and support the industry, attendees told Reuters.

His comments, made at a dinner ahead of the world's largest

energy industry gathering in Houston, were in line with

President Donald Trump's push to maximize U.S. oil and gas

production.

"They're in a hurry," said Bob Dudley, former CEO of British

oil major BP, told Reuters as he exited the dinner.

"They don't want things to be slowed by years and years and

years of permitting. The world needs to move fast, and the

United States is known as being a very slow country."

Dudley, who now chairs the Oil and Gas Climate Initiative,

an industry-led organization that aims to accelerate the

response to climate change, added he anticipated an emphasis on

nuclear development and faster permitting from Wright.

The world's energy industry leaders are gathering against

the backdrop of plummeting oil prices that may undermine the

administration's "drill, baby, drill" policy agenda. Top U.S.

energy companies have already announced thousands of job cuts

this year.

U.S. oil and gas output was already at record levels before

Trump took power, and there is little incentive to pump more

with prices hovering near their lowest in three years.

It has become a tradition in recent years for executives from

the U.S. shale industry to meet for a private dinner as the

conference gets underway.

Sunday's dinner included U.S. Interior Secretary Doug

Burgum, as well as CEOs from Baker Hughes ( BKR ), Occidental

Petroleum ( OXY ), TotalEnergies, Williams Companies ( WMB )

, Petrobras, EQT Corp ( EQT ) and Gunvor Group

Ltd.

In the past, those dinners had included representation from

the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.

Wright, who formerly ran a Denver, Colorado-based hydraulic

fracturing company, declined to comment when leaving the dinner.

He will address the conference on Monday.

The discussion at the dinner also focused on energy

production and the structure of the new government energy

dominance council, said Dan Brouillette, who was the U.S. energy

secretary during Trump's first term.

Tariffs, which have roiled oil markets as Trump has

implemented and then paused levies on neighboring Canada and

Mexico, were not discussed, said several attendees.

Trump's protectionist trade policies have shaken markets due

to concern the policies will impact economic growth and lower

demand for oil.