By Ron Bousso and David Gaffen
HOUSTON, March 15 (Reuters) - A glance at the attendee listat one of the world's largest energy industry events in Houstonthis week left little question about the growing influence ofthe United States over global oil politics.
Present: top U.S. diplomat Mike Pompeo. Absent: leadingSaudi and Russian officials, and most OPEC nations.
As the United States weans itself off foreign oil imports -thanks to booming domestic production - the complex web ofpolitics and business interests that have shaped decades ofWashington's energy diplomacy in the Middle East and beyond ischanging.
That shift was unmistakable in Houston this week.
In his keynote address, Pompeo spoke of exploiting the powerthe United States is accruing through rising energy supply in"punishing bad actors"; he laid out a vision of working withenergy firms to isolate Iran and Venezuela; and he emphasizedthe need to protect oil supplies by countering China's moves tocontrol the South China Sea.
The Secretary of State delivered the half-hour speech to apacked room of energy executives, while dozens more watched viajumbo screens at the adjacent convention center.
It marked the type of reception usually reserved for theSaudis and other members of the Organization of the PetroleumExporting Countries. When OPEC Secretary General MohammedBarkindo addressed the conference a day earlier, the auditoriumwas half empty.
The speech itself was a far cry from past addresses by OPECheavyweights: Barkindo called for cooperation with the shaleindustry, which has helped drive U.S. oil output to more than 12million barrels per day (bpd), making the United States theworld's largest producer. (Graphic: https://tmsnrt.rs/2VIJTbg)
Just two years ago, Saudi Oil Minister Khalid al-Falihdelivered a combative keynote speech warning U.S. shaleexecutives that OPEC would not carry "free riders" in itsefforts to balance world oil supply and demand.
It turned out to be an empty threat, and a reflection of howOPEC had struggled to deal with the surge in U.S. energyproduction.
POMPEO MEETS BIG OIL
Beyond his keynote at the Houston conference - the firstever for a sitting Secretary of State at the gathering known asCERAWeek - Pompeo circulated among executives in closed-doormeetings, even, according to a source, hosting a groupinformally at Pappasito's Cantina, a Mexican restaurant in theHilton Americas Hotel where the conference took place.
"I'm not used to it, but I think it's great," said VickiHollub, chief executive of Occidental Petroleum, saying she wasimpressed by Pompeo and his team's outreach. Occidental has beenone of the biggest winners from the surge of U.S. shale exports.
In one private meeting on Tuesday, Pompeo and his StateDepartment energy adviser Frank Fannon sat down with big oilcompanies including Royal Dutch Shell, BP plc, Occidental andChevron Corp.
At that meeting, first reported by Reuters, Pompeo talkedabout how the government and the world's top energy companiescould work together to encourage U.S. allies to buy more of itsoil, according to two sources familiar with the discussion. Healso asked for their cooperation on Iran.
The Trump administration has imposed hefty sanctions on Iranand Venezuela, both OPEC members, with growing confidence thatthere is enough oil from the U.S. and elsewhere to deal with anysupply disruptions.
So far, that bet has panned out - global oil prices arecurrently less than $70 a barrel.
Coming into office, President Donald Trump promised toderegulate the energy industry and assert U.S. oil independence- a sharp turn from an Obama administration that, while placingsanctions on Iran's oil exports, largely built its energy policyaround renewables and reducing emissions.
Aided by rising shale production and new technology that hasmade pumping U.S. crude less costly, Trump has also been able topublicly lean on OPEC, frequently taking to Twitter to urgemembers to increase output to keep prices low.
"Under the Trump administration the U.S. feels far moreemboldened by our oil-and-gas production and the support andalliance they feel with Saudi Arabia," said Sarah Ladislaw, wholeads energy policy analysis at the Center for Strategic andInternational Studies.
Washington's growing influence, she added, has alreadystarted to shift oil politics among allies and adversariesacross the world.
Saudi Arabia and Russia in September, for instance, informedthe U.S. before speaking to OPEC allies when they reached anagreement to boost production ahead of the official restart ofsanctions on Iran.
In addition to the Middle East, the Trump administration ishoping to use U.S. exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) toEurope to counter the planned Nord Stream 2 pipeline that wouldbring gas from Russia.
Germany in February said it would consider building two LNGterminals to import from the United States, bowing to U.S.pressure to diversify supply after Trump termed Nord Stream 2 a"horrific" project that would make Berlin more reliant onRussia.
"We don’t want our European allies hooked on Russian gasthrough the Nord Stream II project, any more than we ourselveswant to be dependent on Venezuelan oil supplies," Pompeo toldthe conference.
LESS OPEC
OPEC had its smallest representation for at least five yearsat the event. Saudi Arabia sent no senior speakers, though thatwas in part because state-run Saudi Aramco held board meetingsin Riyadh this week.
"OPEC is a less important player because the United Statesis the number-one producer of oil, natural gas and refinedproducts," said Mike Sommers, president of U.S. industry groupthe American Petroleum Agency, at the conference.
The U.S. Department of Energy sent its largest contingentever, it told Reuters, without giving a specific number.
OPEC has responded to the growing influence of U.S.production by forging an alliance with Russia and other non-OPECproducers to curtail supplies from a wider swathe of the globalenergy industry. (Graphic: https://tmsnrt.rs/2U9HzK9)
"The most relevant aspect of OPEC now is where it hasreached beyond its organization, which is Russia, and whetherthat can be sustained or formalized," said Suzanne Maloney,deputy director of the Foreign Policy program at the BrookingsInstitution.
There have been mixed signals on that front. Russia's IgorSechin, head of oil giant Rosneft, has expressed support forending production cuts, believing OPEC's deal plays into shale'shands because it underpins prices.
"They (OPEC) know they cannot do it alone. To swing thependulum from left to right in terms of production to make sureyou get the price that you want, you still need otherproducers," said Saidu Muhammad, chief gas and power operatingofficer at Nigerian National Petroleum Corp.
"Today it is Russia - tomorrow I believe it will be theU.S." (Graphic: https://tmsnrt.rs/2EUmNsT)
(Additional reporting by Rania El Gamal in Dubai, JenniferHiller, David French, Florence Tan and Gary McWilliams inHouston; Writing by David Gaffen; Editing by Simon Webb and PaulThomasch)
