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What the Energy Industry Is (and Isn’t) Saying About the War in Iran
The latest from a closely watched gathering of energy industry executives, a rare look at a whale birth and more news.
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Attendees of the CERAWeek energy conference in Houston on Monday.
Credit...
Danielle Villasana/Reuters
By
Claire Brown
March 26, 2026,
4:01 p.m. ET
Depending on whom you ask, the war in Iran could be a boon for renewable energy globally, a windfall for U.S. fossil fuel companies, a revival of coal (the dirtiest fossil fuel), a global recession or all of the above.
It’s no wonder then that the conflict in Iran loomed large over CERAWeek, a major annual gathering of U.S. energy executives and policymakers.
As President Trump
once again used threats
to try to get Iran to make a deal to end the war, my colleagues Rebecca Elliott and Brad Plumer were on the ground at the gathering in Houston trying to understand how “
the largest oil supply disruption in history
” would affect fossil fuels and renewables.
Rebecca, you wrote this week about how war in Iran meant
bigger profits for U.S. fossil fuel companies, but also big risks
. What are oil and gas executives saying?
It’s something that executives are studiously trying to avoid talking about. It’s this weird time where it’s the biggest energy shock that we’ve seen in anyone’s lifetime, but people are worried about talking about it.
There’s a lot of concern now, as there has always been, about criticizing the Trump administration. This has been described by many people, including us, as a
war of choice
. It’s a war of choice that is totally disrupting the flow of oil and gas around the world.
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