US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has urged the World Bank to end its restrictions on financing upstream oil and gas projects, support deep-sea mining of critical minerals and overhaul procurement policies, pressing multilateral lenders to align their priorities more closely with the Trump administration's economic and energy agenda, according to a report by Reuters.
In a statement issued late on Wednesday to the steering committees of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, Bessent called for a technology-neutral approach to energy investment and fewer constraints on oil and natural gas projects. He argued that the bank should assess projects on their individual merits rather than exclude entire categories of energy development, the report stated.
