HomeTop StoriesWealth of US 'oil garchs' has risen 15% in nine months, report...

Wealth of US ‘oil garchs’ has risen 15% in nine months, report shows, as industry figures plan for Trump’s inauguration party

While Joe Biden warns in his farewell speech as president that “an oligarchy is taking shape in America,” a new report shows that the fossil fuel wealth of American billionaires has increased by 15% in the past nine months. Some of these wealthy figures will be at parties in DC on Monday to celebrate Trump’s inauguration and expect further rewards for his “drill, baby, drill” energy agenda.

The report from the research group Climate Accountability Research Project (Carp) comes just days before the second presidential inauguration of climate denier Donald Trump, which oil and gas representatives and Trump donors plan to celebrate at a swanky industry party in Washington DC.

“The ‘oil garchs’ are already reaping the benefits of their political donations and activities in support of Trump – and they know there’s more to come,” said Chuck Collins, co-founder of Carp and one of the report’s authors.

The oil and gas industry has donated more than $75 million to Trump’s campaign. Energy giant Chevron and fossil fuel financiers such as Citibank have also donated to Trump’s inauguration fund.

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The industry expects to benefit significantly from Trump’s second term, in which he has promised to undo Biden’s climate policies, roll back decades-old environmental protections, abandon the 2015 Paris climate accord and scrap green financing programs.

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The sector has also asked specific questions to the new government. On Tuesday, for example, the main US oil lobby group, the American Petroleum Institute, launched an energy roadmap for Trump’s team and the Republican-controlled House and Senate.

The wish list includes expanding oil and gas drilling areas and reversing Biden-era crackdowns on auto emissions and fossil fuel exports — steps Trump is expected to take early.

“There are many steps the Trump administration can start taking on day one,” the lobbying group’s CEO Mike Sommers said at a news conference.

These expected policies will be a boon to fossil fuel profits. And they will follow the recent prosperity gains for the oil bosses, according to the new Carp report.

For their research, the authors analyzed figures from a Forbes database, which is updated every five minutes based on shifts in the stock market. The authors examined the fluctuations in the wealth of the top 15 US oil billionaires – including energy CEO Jeffery Hildebrand, oil and gas boss Timothy Dunn, pipeline company chairman Kelcy Warren and fossil fuel CEO Charles Koch – since April 2024.

That month, Trump held a meeting with fossil fuel bosses where he reportedly asked them for $1 billion in campaign donations while promising to roll back dozens of environmental regulations if elected. Since that infamous meeting, the combined wealth of these fifteen fossil fuel billionaires has increased by $40.2 billion, the report shows, from $267.6 billion to a staggering $307.8 billion.

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The two oil bosses who made the biggest gains were Richard Kinder, the CEO and chairman of leading US gas pipeline operator Kinder Morgan, and Lyndal Stephens Greth, owner of Texas oil and gas company Diamondback Energy. Right behind them were Charles Koch, chairman of the fossil fuel conglomerate Koch Industries, and Julia Flesher-Koch, widow of former Koch Industries CEO David Koch.

Harold Hamm, the oil and gas billionaire who founded the Oklahoma-based petroleum company Continental Resources, was an anomaly in the report; his wealth remained consistent at $18.5 billion.

But Hamm, who has poured $4.3 million into political action committees supporting Trump while helping raise money for his campaign from other executives — and even tried to help pay Trump’s bail — stands to benefit significantly from the energy agenda in the coming months of Trump, the report said. .

On Monday, when Trump is inaugurated, Hamm will host an exclusive daytime party on the roof of the Hay-Adams hotel, which is steps from the White House. Liberty Energy, the fossil fuel company founded by Chris Wright, who was appointed by Trump to lead the Department of Energy, will also help foot the bill for the party, the New York Times reported.

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The party’s news angered climate advocates. “Oil billionaires spent tens of millions of dollars to put Donald Trump in the White House, hand-picked his Cabinet nominees and now they are celebrating the tax breaks he promised to give them as president,” said Pete Jones, director of activist and research group Nun -profit Climate Power.

Each of the 15 billionaires Carp investigated has used their wealth and power “to deny climate change, fund climate disinformation and bogus science, and block clean energy alternatives,” the report said. For example, Dunn contributed to the anti-climate and anti-regulation policy blueprint Project 2025, while the Kochs have long been criticized for promoting climate doubt.

This week, senators also confirmed appointments to Trump’s Cabinet who are expected to oversee the expansion of oil and gas to warm the planet. This includes not only fracking director Wright, but also Lee Zeldin, a former New York congressman who railed against Democrats’ “far-left climate agenda” and who will head the Environmental Protection Agency.

Trump’s pick for Interior secretary, former North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, also helped organize Trump’s April meeting with oil executives. He was invited to the fossil fuel industry’s inaugural meeting on Monday, although he reportedly will not attend.

Trump’s next administration will be the richest in US history, the Carp report found, with a combined wealth of more than $300 billion.

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