QUOTEBOX: Energy sector on presidential candidates' plans

(Reuters) - U.S. energy policy has been at the fore of the 2008 presidential race due to growing concerns about energy costs, U.S. reliance on foreign oil and environmental issues.

Republican candidate John McCain and Democratic candidate Barack Obama have proposed energy plans highlighting offshore drilling, alternative energy, climate change, and fuel efficiency.

Below are comments by energy analysts, traders and industry groups on both candidates' policies.

ANTOINE HALFF, ANALYST FOR NEWEDGE GROUP IN NEW YORK

"I would imagine that both candidates as president would set the stage for further gains in efficiency, both have expressed support for cap-and-trade systems, that may be an incentive to consume less.

"I think that the major driver is the economy-financial markets, economic markets.

"Would drilling offshore more aggressively increase supply to such an extent that the prices would drop and there would be more demand? No, I don't think so.

"Any production that would result from offshore drilling, would be several years down the road unlikely to happen in the next administration, maybe in the second term, but not the first, under any kind of scenario.

"It would add supply to the global market, but it wouldn't really tip the balance globally. It's hard to claim that it will change the U.S. energy balance, let alone global energy balances significantly."

JOHN FELMY, CHIEF ECONOMIST FOR THE AMERICAN PETROLEUM

INSTITUTE

"We are hear a lot of things from the campaigns, so we're trying to understand what they are saying, but don't have a good feel for the final positions that they will have."

"An economist would say that you would really need to increase supplies of all energy. People talk a lot about alternatives -- well, that's fine. We're certainly going to need that but most of the alternatives that you're talking about are electricity and so that won't help the average car user until you have a fleet of electric vehicles out there.

"We really do need to pay attention to the needs of developing more conventional energy, whether it be oil, coal, gas and so on. ... We need clearly improved energy efficiency, we need to educate consumers in the wise use of energy.

"Hopefully, the new president will come in and do all of the things that need to be done to actually start moving forward to start developing some of those areas.

"If (reducing dependence on foreign oil) is done through both producing more oil here and improving efficiency, that's a wise course of action.

"We hope that it's part of a comprehensive policy that does move forward in those three areas of supply, demand, and infrastructure.

"In terms of the broad policy discussions, (the candidates) seem to be fairly similar in terms of the things what they are talking about... the devil will be in the details."

PETER BEUTEL, OIL ANALYST, CAMERON HANOVER, NEW CANAAN,

CONNECTICUT

"Neither has an energy policy that is completely fleshed out yet. Obama wants to drill on existing land. McCain wants to drill on other lands.

"The most important thing any president can do is to keep their eye on the ball. We need to prepare for 'peak oil'. We need to drill in a lot of places we don't now. We need to do everything Republicans and everything Democrats want."

ED MORSE, CHIEF ECONOMIST FOR LCM COMMODITIES IN NEW YORK

"If you look beyond the rhetoric, if you look at the guts of their energy and environmental platforms, they are very similar. I think that similarity reflects what now is an underlying consensus in the American political system to do something about supply, about demand, about the integrity of the environment, about carbon and to do it through market solutions.

"Both of them have taken a position on accelerating what was legislated a year ago which was unbelievable tightening of CAFE (vehicle mileage) standards -- not only by boosting them by nearly 30 percent but also imposing regulations on cars, SUVs and light trucks. They are going to be coming into office -- no matter who is elected -- partly as a fallout of this political environment where the consumer has moved away from energy-intensive transportation to lighter, more efficient vehicles.

"If they actually tighten the CAFE standards, they will be moving to get America off oil more rapidly. We are now in a situation where in the United States, we have reduced consumption of oil products by 1.5 million barrels per day over where we were a year ago. That's responsible for the fall in oil prices."