Oil exec: Trump should keep US in Paris climate pact

The head of oil giant ConocoPhillips said President Trump should keep the United States in the landmark Paris climate change agreement.

Ryan Lance, whose company is one of the largest oil and natural gas producers, gave the comment at an industry conference in Houston.

“It would be good for the U.S. to stay in the climate agreement,” Lance said after giving a speech, according to Axios.

{mosads}Lance puts ConocoPhillips in the same league as Exxon Mobil Corp. and numerous oil companies outside the United States in supporting the Paris pact, like BP and Royal Dutch Shell.

Trump promised on the campaign trail to pull the United States out of the agreement, a four-year process.

He so far has not taken any action to exit the accord, which includes non-binding greenhouse gas emissions limits that nearly 200 countries determined on their own.

Officials in the Trump administration have taken different public positions on the pact. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who used to be Exxon Mobil’s CEO, wants to stay in the accord, while White House chief strategist Stephen Bannon opposes it.

The president’s daughter Ivanka Trump and her husband, presidential adviser Jared Kushner, reportedly convinced Trump to delete criticism of the Paris agreement form an upcoming executive order.

The agreement could be extremely beneficial to oil companies, particularly if the countries involved forego coal-fired power and switch to natural gas, which numerous utilities worldwide are doing.