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... Trump is expected to open up federal lands for more oil and gas drilling, but much of the land in the country's largest oil and gas producing state, Texas, is private. Still, there's plentiful federal land in neighboring New Mexico which includes the oil- and gas-rich Permian Basin.

"If those rules were substantially changed, you would be able to drill more, assuming you have the quality and met your economic threshold," Mallon said. "But I don't think we're going to see anybody in the drill, baby, drill mode. I really don't."

Exxon's European rival TotalEnergies SE is also skeptical of Trump's vow to open US taps.

"Maybe he has a magic recipe to push them to drill like mad," TotalEnergies Chief Executive Officer Patrick Pouyanne said at the conference. He cited US producers' commitment to return cash to shareholders and said "it's not only decisions by politicians" that drive American output.

The US is pumping more than 13 million barrels of crude a day, exceeding every other nation and up almost 45% in the past decade.

With a surplus looming next year, the global oil market is watching to see at what rate American explorers drill new wells.

Many of the biggest US operators are taking a long-term approach to production, weighing when to bring certain wells online against their overall inventory. ...