Despite the widely-held belief that the Republican Party and the fossil fuel industry are natural allies, one of the world’s most prominent fracking tycoons admitted Tuesday that, actually, his business has fared better under Democrats.

“The industry has actually historically done better under Democratic presidents during my 42 years, going back, than under Republican presidents,” said Scott Sheffield, chairman and CEO of Pioneer Natural Resources, which runs an enormous oil drilling operation in West Texas’ Permian Basin.

Sheffield went on to explain how from the time Democratic President Barack Obama took office in January 2009 to the crash of the oil market at the end of 2014, his business skyrocketed, with Pioneer stock reaching the fifth place on the S&P exchange and first in the industry market.

The remarks came in response to a question from a reporter with Inside Climate News during a CEO speaker session at the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). The reporter was asking Sheffield to comment on how important the 2016 presidential election is for the future of fossil fuel industry, and more specifically, the industry’s tepid support for Republican Party nominee, Donald Trump.

“I think most of us would agree that […] there are better candidates on each side,” Sheffield said, referring to Trump and presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. “That doesn’t meant that either person [couldn’t] end up doing a great job.” The fossil fuel industry is “going to support whoever is president. Our goal is to educate them both on the importance of strong domestic oil and gas,” which, he said, includes the need to grow the industry and access even more oil and gas deposits.