FWIW, here is what Reagan actually said about energy in announcing for the presidency in 1979:
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Another serious problem which must be discussed tonight is our energy situation. Our country was built on cheap energy. Today, energy is not cheap and we face the prospect that some forms of energy may soon not be available at all.
Last summer you probably spent hours sitting in gasoline lines. This winter, some will be without heat and everyone will be paying much more simply to keep home and family warm. If you ever had any doubt of the government's inability to provide for the needs of the people, just look at the utter fiasco we now call "the energy crisis." Not one straight answer nor any realistic hope of relief has come from the present administration in almost three years of federal treatment of the problem. As gas lines grew, the administration again panicked and now has proposed to put the country on a wartime footing; but for this "war" there is no victory in sight. And, as always, when the federal bureaucracy fails, all it can suggest is more of the same. This time it's another bureau to untangle the mess by the ones we already have.
But, this just won't work. Solving the energy crisis will not be easy, but it can be done. First we must decide that "less" is not enough. Next, we must remove government obstacles to energy production. And, we must make use of those technological advantages we still possess.
It is no program simply to say "use less energy." Of course waste must be eliminated and efficiently promoted, but for the government simply to tell people to conserve is not an energy policy. At best it means we will run out of energy a little more slowly. But a day will come when the lights will dim and the wheels of industry will turn more slowly and finally stop. As President I will not endorse any course which has this as its principal objective.
We need more energy and that means diversifying our sources of supply away from the OPEC countries. Yes, it means more efficient automobiles. But it also means more exploration and development of oil and natural gas here in our own country. The only way to free ourselves from the monopoly pricing power of OPEC is to be less dependent on outside sources of fuel.
The answer, obvious to anyone except those in the administration it seems, is more domestic production of oil and gas. We must also have wider use of nuclear power within strict safety rules, of course. There must be more spending by the energy industries on research and development of substitutes for fossil fuels.
In years to come solar energy may provide much of the answer but for the next two or three decades we must do such things as master the chemistry of coal. Putting the market system to work for these objectives is an essential first step for their achievement. Additional multi-billion-dollar federal bureaus and programs are not the answer.
In recent weeks there has been much talk about "excess" oil company profits. I don't believe we've been given all the information we need to make a judgment about this. We should have that information. Government exists to protect us from each other. It is not government's function to allocate fuel or impose unnecessary restrictions on the marketplace. It is government's function to determine whether we are being unfairly exploited and if so to take immediate and appropriate action. As President I would do exactly that.
http://www.4president.org/speeches/reagan1980announcement.htm
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Now, granted, to be a candidate and to be a president are two different things--but candidates as well as presidents have to pay attention to public opinion. And in this case, Reagan's address does pretty much forecast his actual outlook as president--namely that the answer to the problem was to "produce, produce, produce"
https://newrepublic.com/article/98083/reagan-and-big-oil and that government interference with the market was the cause of US economic difficulties in general and its energy problems in particular. Yes, Reagan did realize that the oil companies were unpopular. But notice he even takes an agnostic position on the extremely widespread belief that the oil companies were making "excess" profits. Probably as president he would make some ritualistic criticism of the big oil companies--and suggest that government regulations were the obstacles to allowing the smaller oil companies to find the energy America needed! "No company will refuse favors bestowed by the administration, yet there’s concern about Reagan’s tone, which resembles the upbeat, we-can-produce-lots-more rhetoric of the independent wildcatters more than it does the cautious forecasts of industry giants like Exxon..."
https://newrepublic.com/article/98083/reagan-and-big-oil