Bessent urges World Bank to restore upstream oil and gas financing

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has urged the World Bank to formally end its prohibition on financing upstream oil and gas projects, arguing that developing countries need reliable and affordable energy. His statement at the IMF and World Bank meetings also called for work on deep-sea critical-mineral development.

Bessent said the bank should produce technical guidance and support countries seeking to assess seabed resources. He also pressed the institution to reform procurement and asked the International Monetary Fund to focus more strongly on global imbalances and non-market economic policies. The Treasury framed the proposals as a return to the institutions’ core mandates.

The request is a position from the World Bank’s largest shareholder, not a policy decision by the bank. Any financing change would pass through its governance and project-review processes, where shareholders differ over climate commitments, energy access and environmental safeguards. Deep-sea mining also remains contested because ecosystems and long-term damage are incompletely understood.

The intervention could reshape development-finance debates by linking energy security and strategic minerals to institutional reform. Its practical effect will depend on whether other shareholders support rule changes and whether future projects can meet economic, social and environmental tests.