US ELECTIONS: Trump signs fracking order aimed at voters more than supply

The Trump administration's weekend executive order on fracking -- aimed squarely at the tight election race in No. 2 gas producer Pennsylvania -- is the latest in a string of White House orders on energy that will have mostly messaging impact rather than changing any supply or demand fundamentals.

And like earlier executive orders promoting energy projects, President Donald Trump promised the Oct. 31 action would have broader reach than the plain text of it indicates.

Trump told a campaign crowd of supporters in Montoursville, Pennsylvania, that the order would protect fracking and "block any effort to undermine energy production in your state."

In fact, the order would have little to no impact on a future White House's energy policies.

The order instructs the Department of Energy, in consultation with the US trade representative, to submit a report in 70 days assessing the economic impacts of "prohibiting, or sharply restricting, the use of hydraulic fracturing and other technologies" on jobs, energy prices, trade and other factors.

The order calls hydraulic fracturing "one of the great success stories of our time."

"When coupled with horizontal drilling and other new technologies, fracking has opened up new sources of inexpensive, reliable, abundant energy for our country," the order says. "It has also produced jobs and economic opportunities for many Americans."

Pennsylvania is a key battleground state in the Nov. 3 presidential election, and Trump has tried to capitalize on Democratic challenger Joe Biden's plans for drilling regulations to sway voters connected to the state's natural gas industry.

Biden's energy plan includes ending new drilling permits on federal lands, which would have a bigger impact in New Mexico than Pennsylvania.S&P Global Platts Analytics expects Biden's proposal to cut domestic oil output by 1.1 million b/d and natural gas output by 3.7 Bcf/d by 2025, as long as existing permits and drilled-but-uncompleted wells are allowed to continue. A halt to all drilling on federal lands and waters would cut oil output by 1.6 million b/d.

Pennsylvania is the second top gas-producing state in the US, after Texas, but its oil production barely registers. It pumped 20.3 Bcf/d of gas and 14,000 b/d of oil in August, according to the latest Energy Information Administration data.

The latest Pennsylvania polls showed Biden ahead at 50.3% and Trump at 45.2%, according to FiveThirtyEight polling averages as of Nov. 2.