Meanwhile, the former energy secretary said consumers could expect higher energy prices in the near term.
Oil markets worldwide are “very tight,” and more oil will be used for heating and other purposes as winter approaches, said Brouillette. The prospect of an energy squeeze comes as Saudi Arabia hints at cutting its oil output.
The answer to alleviating the scarcity is to “produce more,” said Brouillette.
“If we can produce more, create more infrastructure development in the United States, in Europe — that is the ultimate answer to the questions.” He said it’s important that United States return to pre-pandemic levels of production.
“We are still roughly … a million and a half barrels short per day of what we were producing just two and a half, three years ago. So I think it’s very important that we get back to that number.”
Joseph McMonigle, secretary-general of the International Energy Forum, also said that oil supply is still lagging behind demand. “A lot of people think the gap between supply and demand is all OPEC or OPEC+ but half of that is still from U.S. producers,” he told CNBC’s “Capital Connection” on Monday.
