The world needs to more than double oil production, U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said Thursday, while criticizing the European Union and the U.S. state of ‍California for wasting money on what ‍he described as inefficient green energy.

In recent years, the World Economic Forum's discussions ⁠on energy have centered on ways to boost lower-carbon policies.

But during Wright's discussion with energy company Occidental's CEO ​Vicki Hollub in Davos, they emphasized that the world will depend on oil for decades to come.

Wright said ‍corporate environmental regulations in the European Union posed risks to ⁠energy cooperation with the United States and warned they could affect U.S. gas imports into Europe.

"These regulations could threaten you (U.S. producers) liability-wise to send gas to Europe," Wright ⁠said. "We're working with our colleagues ​here in Europe ⁠to remove those barriers."

The EU requires importers of oil and gas ‍into Europe to monitor and report methane emissions associated with those imports, ‌in a bid to curb emissions of the potent planet-warming gas.

After months of pressure from companies and ⁠governments, the European ​Union agreed last ‍month to sharply scale back two flagship laws, the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive and the ‍Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive.