Ben Lefebvre

Washington, D.C.

Energy Reporter at POLITICO

Politico energy reporter. Native Detroiter, former WSJ Houston and ICIS Tokyo. I didn't pay for this checkmark.

Articles

The Saudis are hurting the US oil industry. Trump’s unlikely to talk about it.

3 days ago | politico.com | Ben Lefebvre

The dynamic is yet another example of how external forces, including the Saudis’ commanding role in the world’s oil markets, continue to complicate Trump’s frequent calls for a new American “golden age.” Trump’s current stance on energy appears to confirm what U.S. oil executives have been fearing: If caught between higher production and low prices, he’ll pick the latter, said Bob McNally, founder and president of the consulting firm Rapidan Energy Group and a former energy adviser to...
The Saudis are hurting the US oil industry. Trump’s unlikely to talk about it.

3 days ago | yahoo.com | Ben Lefebvre

President Donald Trump’s campaign promise of U.S. “energy dominance” is running into a flood of OPEC crude oil — a surge of fuel production pushed by the Saudi leaders greeting him during his Mideast trip this week. But don’t expect Trump to complain about the cartel’s plan to raise output by nearly a million barrels per day in June, according to three people familiar with the trip who were granted anonymity to describe private discussions.
E&E News: State Department cuts bureau tasked with expanding US energy exports

2 weeks ago | subscriber.politicopro.com | Ben Lefebvre
Powraca zagrożenie dla Polski. Kulisy poufnych rozmów Amerykanów. "Wielkie ustępstwo Trumpa"

3 weeks ago | wiadomosci.onet.pl | Ben Lefebvre |Felicia Schwartz

Zniesienie sankcji i ponowne uruchomienie Nord Stream 2 przyniosłoby Moskwie korzyści finansowe i wielkie zwycięstwo dyplomatyczne. Oznaczałoby również niezwykłe ustępstwo ze strony Trumpa. Jedna z osób zaznajomionych z rozmowami toczącymi się w Białym Domu powiedziała POLITICO, że odzyskanie przez Rosję dawnych wpływów w Europie będzie "masakrą dla amerykańskich producentów [ropy i gazu]".
White House debates lifting sanctions on Russian energy assets, Nord Stream

3 weeks ago | politico.com | Ben Lefebvre |Felicia Schwartz

The debate pits Steve Witkoff against State Department and U.S. energy export proponents. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff (left) listens to Secretary of State Marco Rubio during a diplomatic meeting at the Elysée presidential palace in Paris on April 17, 2025.
White House debates lifting sanctions on Russian energy assets, Nord Stream

3 weeks ago | yahoo.com | Ben Lefebvre |Felicia Schwartz

The White House is debating whether to lift sanctions on Russia’s Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline and potentially other Russian assets in Europe as part of discussions on ending the war between Russia and Ukraine, five people familiar with the discussions told POLITICO.
Trump's economic tumult tests the oil industry's patience

1 month ago | politico.com | Ben Lefebvre

The U.S. oil industry is suffering from the lowest crude prices in years, surging costs for steel and an economic downturn that could send consumer demand for its products plummeting. Oil prices have tumbled nearly 15 percent since April 2 to their lowest level since April 2021, a drop that is testing oil executives’ patience.
Trump's economic tumult tests the oil industry's patience

1 month ago | yahoo.com | Ben Lefebvre

The U.S. oil industry is suffering from the lowest crude prices in years, surging costs for steel and an economic downturn that could send consumer demand for its products plummeting. Oil prices have tumbled nearly 15 percent since April 2 to their lowest level since April 2021, a drop that is testing oil executives’ patience.
Forget tariffs - Beijing is already choking off US exports on the sly

1 month ago | politico.eu | Phelim Kine |Ben Lefebvre |Marcia Brown

Beijing is showing the Trump administration that tariffs aren’t the only weapon in a trade war. Long before President Donald Trump fired the opening shots of a new U.S.-China trade war from the White House Rose Garden last week, Beijing had been working to perfect its stealth campaign blocking key U.S. agriculture and energy exports.
Forget tariffs - Beijing is already choking off US exports on the sly

1 month ago | politico.com | Phelim Kine |Ben Lefebvre |Marcia Brown

“A tariff, you can just pay it, and things just get more costly,” said Ben Lilliston, director of rural strategies and climate change at the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy. “But this is a full restriction on your ability to send product to that country.” The Chinese government knows where it can pinch U.S. exporters hardest.