Washington was a key driver of second-quarter energy costs, with political actions and regulatory intervention affecting power sources from oil and coal to solar and wind.
In May, U.S. crude reached $70 per barrel—for the first time since November 2014. Among key contributing factors to the rise were fears of constrained Iran supply following President Donald Trump’s withdrawal from the Iranian nuclear weapons pact, and election uncertainties in Iraq, Lebanon and Venezuela. But higher prices also have the countervailing effect of boosting production. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) projects U.S. crude-oil producers will generate 10.7 million barrels per day in 2018 on average, up from 9.4 million bpd in 2017. Production will average 11.9 million bpd in 2019.