Washington's energy and environment policy risks plunging the US into an economic tailspin that could turn it into "the world's cleanest third world country", one of the US oil industry's most successful chief executives has warned.

James Hackett, chairman and chief executive of Anadarko, one of the US's largest independent oil and gas companies, said in an interview: "The histrionic and maniacal focus on carbon dioxide is intellectually repugnant to me."