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Tariffs raise costs for energy companies, CEOs say

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TotalEnergies, Baker Hughes ( BKR ) cite financial impacts from US

trade

policies

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Exxon says it focuses on long-term fundamentals, not

political

cycles

By Stephanie Kelly

LONDON, Oct 14 (Reuters) - The executives of two oil

companies warned this week that tariffs resulting from the U.S.

administration's trade policies were driving up costs across the

energy production chain and affecting investment decisions.

TotalEnergies CEO Patrick Pouyanne told the Energy

Intelligence Forum in London on Tuesday that tariffs on steel

were pushing up costs for liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects.

In June, Trump signed an executive proclamation hiking

tariffs on steel and aluminium imports to 50%.

Lorenzo Simonelli, chief executive of energy services

company Baker Hughes ( BKR ), told the same conference on Monday

that tariffs would add between $100 million and $200 million to

the company's costs this year, though probably closer to the

lower end of that range.

"It is an incremental pressure point, but it's something

that we have to manage through," he said.

However, Darren Woods, chief executive of U.S. major

ExxonMobil ( XOM ) downplayed the impact of policies pursued by

any single administration, saying the group's long-term

investments were not affected by one political cycle.

Instead, he flagged Europe's environmental regulations as a

factor driving away investment.

"The challenge in Europe is that they try to micromanage and

instruct the industry on how to achieve (decarbonisation),"

Woods told the conference on Monday. "Frankly, they don't have

the expertise."