Trump signs order to establish council for boosting U.S. oil, gas production

WASHINGTON, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order Friday on establishing a new council to boost U.S. production and export of fossil fuels.

Tasked with driving up U.S. domestic oil and gas production, partly for export, the National Energy Dominance Council will be chaired by Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum.

As Trump was signing the executive order inside the Oval Office, Burgum said he signed a license earlier in the day, which would allow the Commonwealth LNG in the U.S. state of Louisiana to export liquified natural gas (LNG), marking the first LNG export approval after former President Joe Biden paused the approvals in early 2024.

In addition, Trump said some 635 million acres (2.57 million sq km) of offshore federal waters are now open to oil and gas development, ending a ban ordered by Biden on new offshore oil and gas drilling.

"If you look at it from the standpoint of a company, you talk about net worth, they've destroyed our net worth. We're putting it back," Trump said.