1-19-26

Texas Energy Report NewsClips

Monday January 19, 2026

Asterisk (*) denotes news stories that may be inaccessible because portions are behind a paywall

 

Good morning! Here are today’s Texas Energy Report NewsClips

Oil prices were up slightly on Monday, after the previous session’s rise, as Iran’s deadly crackdown on protests quelled civil unrest, narrowing chances for a U.S. attack on the major Middle Eastern producer that could disrupt supplies.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate for February rose 9 cents, or 0.15%, to $59.53 a barrel. That contract expires on Tuesday and the more active March contract was at $59.39, up 5 cents, or 0.08%.

Brent crude was trading at $64.19 a barrel by 0327 GMT, up 6 cents or 0.09%.

Iran’s violent crackdown on protests spurred by economic hardship, which officials say killed 5,000 people, quelled the unrest.

U.S. President Donald Trump seemed to step back from his earlier threats of intervention, saying on social media Iran had called off mass hangings of protesters, although the country had not announced any such plans.

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Top Stories

 

Bloomberg – January 16, 2026

Hamm to Halt Drilling in Bakken Shale on Lower Crude Prices*

Harold Hamm, the billionaire wildcatter who helped kick off the US shale oil revolution, said he’s about to shut down his company’s drilling in North Dakota’s Bakken for the first time in decades because of low crude prices. “This will be the first time in over 30 years that Harold Hamm has not had an operation with drilling rigs in North Dakota,” Hamm, the founder of shale driller Continental Resources Inc., said in a telephone interview Thursday. “There’s no need to drill it when margins are basically gone.”

It’s a significant milestone for the Bakken. The shale patch in North Dakota is where Hamm, 80, first proved that fracking and horizontal drilling techniques could be successfully applied to previously untouchable oil reserves. The fracking revolution ushered in a new growth era in US oil and the country went on to become the world’s top producer. Operators in the US shale patch, once the world’s leader in oil production growth, are now closely watching commodity prices as they hover near the level that makes drilling profitable for producers. If prices drop into the low $50-per-barrel range for several months, companies are expected to make more drastic cuts to drilling and fracking.

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The New York Times – January 16, 2026

The Dirty Truth About Your Clean-Energy Car*

No object is marketed with a greater sense of messianic promise than the electric vehicle. Here, we are told, is the corrective to centuries of environmental catastrophe as the price of material gain. Here is the antidote to climate change. Yet that framing has always sat uneasily alongside a troubling reality: Extracting and processing the raw materials needed to make the electric car’s central element — the batteries — entails its own environmental destruction, along with the exploitation of workers.

The journalist Nicolas Niarchos is intent on confronting us with this tension, transporting us on a world tour of its uncomfortable implications. His book, “The Elements of Power: A Story of War, Technology, and the Dirtiest Supply Chain on Earth,” is a deeply reported revelation of the human costs of mining the minerals on which those batteries depend, from cobalt in the Democratic Republic of Congo to nickel in Indonesia.

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Midland Reporter-Telegram – January 17, 2026

Independence Power becomes public-reporting company after merger*

Independence Power Holdings Inc. this week transitioned to a public-reporting company following the successful completion of its business combination with TriUnity Business Services Limited. With the transition complete, the company will focus on addressing the critical energy gap in the Permian Basin. Independence Power deploys behind-the-meter microgrids in the form of battery energy storage systems, or “BESS,” that function as private, on-site power stations.

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The Guardian – January 13, 2026

Red-state Republicans seek climate ‘liability shield’ for fossil fuel industry

US lawmakers in two red states are attempting to shield the fossil fuel industry from climate liability. In Oklahoma, a newly introduced bill would bar most civil lawsuits against oil companies over their role in the climate crisis, unless plaintiffs allege violations of specific environmental or labor laws. A similar proposal in Utah would block lawsuits over climate-warming emissions, unless a court finds the defendant violated a statute or permit.

“I think anyone in America who breathes the air around them and also believes in corporate accountability ought to be very concerned about these types of end-runs against accountability,” said Jay Inslee, the former governor of Washington state and a former trial attorney.

 

The Latest TERse Tips

U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro has introduced legislation aimed at blocking any unauthorized invasion in Mexico — San Antonio Express-News*

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality has approved $1,909,731 in fines against 71 different entities for regulation violations — KTBC

Xcel is to participate in a proposed power line expansion along Interstate 94 from North Dakota to central Minnesota will maintain a reliable electric grid by meeting the region’s growing electricity needs, continuing to improve reliability and saving energy users’ money by accessing low-cost power — see the press release

KULR Technology Group was awarded a five-year preferred battery supply agreement from Caban Energy on Jan 14, 2026, generating an estimated $30 million in total revenue to KULR beginning in 2026, and as part of the deal, KULR took over Caban’s Plano, Texas manufacturing assets — Stock Titan

Natural Gas Pipeline Company of America LLC has filed an application with the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission requesting authorization for its Texas-Arkansas Power Project — Gas Compression

Peregrine Energy Solutions has announced it will build a battery energy storage facility on 42 acres near the intersection of FM 3251 and Fyffe Cutoff in Harrison County, a $400 million project that is one of the largest private investments in the county’s history, according to Marshall Economic Development — Marshall News Messenger

A 936-acre data center could come to the city of Lubbock after a proposal submitted by solar energy supplier Texas Solarworks LLC to rezone a land parcel southeast of East Municipal Drive and northeast of Northeast Loop 289 for uses related to power generation, transmission, and distribution was considered by the city’s Planning and Zoning Commission on January 8 — Data Center Dynamics

U.S. regulators have granted a five-week extension for Tesla to respond to allegations that its vehicles have broken traffic laws while operating in what the electric automaker calls “full self-driving” mode — Associated Press/Spectrum News

 

Oil & Gas Texas

 

Oil Price – January 16, 2026

US Oil Drillers Add To Active Rigs

The total number of active drilling rigs for oil and gas in the United States fell by 1 this week, according to new data that Baker Hughes published on Friday, bringing the total rig count in the US  to 543 this week, down 37 from this same time last year. The number of active oil rigs rose by 1 during the reporting period, according to the data. Oil rigs are now at 410, which is 68 below this same time last year. The number of gas rigs fell by 2 to 122, which is 24 more than this time last year. The miscellaneous rig count stayed at 11.

The latest EIA data showed that weekly U.S. crude oil production fell by 58,000 bpd in the week ending January 9 to 13.753 million bpd on average, 110,000 bpd under the all-time high. Primary Vision’s Frac Spread Count, an estimate of the number of crews completing wells, rose by 3 during the week ending January 9, to 156. This is 39 under the same time last year.

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Rigzone – January 16, 2026

Valero to Cut 200+ Jobs as California Refinery Closes

Valero Energy Corp. plans to let go of 237 employees at its Benicia refinery as it winds down operations at one of California’s few remaining fuel-making plants. Valero expects the shutdown to be permanent and 237 jobs will be cut March 15 to July 1, the company said in a letter to California’s employment regulator and local officials.

Those losing jobs are not represented by a union and represent the bulk of the plant’s 348-person staff.  “We do not plan to coordinate services with the local workforce development board or any other entity,” refinery manager Lauren Bird, whose position is being eliminated, said in the letter.

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Inside Climate News – January 18, 2026

A Small Oil Company Polluted Midland’s Water Reserve. The Cleanup Has Dragged on for Years.

Winkler County, Texas—The first sign of trouble appeared in 2003 when the water samples came back salty. This remote corner of West Texas, known as the T-Bar Ranch, had long served as the City of Midland’s insurance policy for water security. Midland purchased 20,000 acres spanning Winkler and Loving Counties in 1965, waiting for the day it would need to pump water from the property.

Extra salts in the aquifer was not part of the plan. The city’s investigation soon landed on Heritage Standard Corporation as the prime suspect. The small Dallas-based company operated oil and gas wells and a disposal well near Midland’s water source.

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Fort Worth Star Telegram – January 16, 2026

Fort Worth expects a lawsuit over millions of dollars spent on oil spill cleanup*

The city of Fort Worth is planning litigation related to the oil spill that contaminated a municipal water treatment plant last summer. In May, a 16-inch pipeline owned by Dallas-based Energy Transfer broke and discharged 6,800 barrels of crude oil near Lake Arlington. Some of that oil entered a damaged sanitary sewer main and ended up in Fort Worth’s Village Creek Water Reclamation Facility, which discharges treated wastewater into the Trinity River.

According to contracts obtained by the Star-Telegram, Fort Worth authorized up to $5 million in emergency funds for the associated cleanup and repair costs. When asked in July who would cover those costs —Fort Worth taxpayers or Energy Transfer — a water department spokesperson said, “Further coordination with Energy Transfer will occur.”

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Politico – January 16, 2026

GOP plan to refill US reserves with Venezuelan oil hits roadblock*

Republican lawmakers are asking if barrels of Venezuelan crude could help refill the United States’ strategic oil stockpile, though analysts say it may be logistically impossible. President Donald Trump said Venezuela will send 30 million to 50 million barrels of sanctioned oil to the U.S. after the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro this month, leading to questions about what’s possible.

House Republicans this week called for spending $1.1 billion to refill the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve “in whole or in part” with discounted Venezuelan oil as part of a proposed party-line budget bill. But stockpiling more oil by pumping Venezuelan crude into the reserve may be infeasible. “We do think that there is some possibility on the SPR, but the grade of Venezuelan crude does have a higher sulfur content than the current SPR can take,” said Mike Sommers, CEO of the American Petroleum Institute during a media call this week. “There are some logistical issues about the SPR that make it difficult for it to take in Venezuelan crude.”

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Midland Reporter-Telegram – January 16, 2026

West Central Texas highway set for $125 million, 3-year massive upgrade*

A nine-figure overhaul is headed to West Central Texas with roughly three years of construction on the horizon. The project will expand Interstate 20 in Taylor County from FM 600 to SH 351. Alaisha Montanez, a spokesperson for the Texas Department of Transportation, told Chron the expansion will cost approximately $125 million.

 

Oil & Gas National & International

 

The Wall Street Journal – January 17, 2026

U.S. Blockade Shuts Off China, Cuba From Venezuelan Oil*

On New Year’s Day, an oil tanker partially filled with sanctioned crude slipped out of Venezuela’s main export terminal and sailed toward Iran. The next day, another tanker escaped with Venezuelan oil, scrambling its signals to hide its course. Satellite imagery later confirmed it was headed to China. The two cargoes appear to be the last illicit oil to leave Venezuela, according to a report from shipping intelligence firm Kpler.

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Reuters – January 18, 2026

January 15, 2026

How a Brazilian ‘mystery’ oil spill traveled over 5,000 miles to the sands of Palm Beach, Florida: Northwestern University

In 2019, Brazil experienced the largest oil spill in its history, affecting nearly 1,800 miles of coastline. No one knew its origin. The story doesn’t end there. A year later, Florida beach cleanup crews started finding plastic trash contaminated with oil. New research from Northeastern University has made a positive link between the two events: The oil that stained Brazilian waters black in 2019 was the same oil that polluted Florida in 2020, more than 5,000 miles away.

First, what caused all that oil to be released in Brazil? Bryan James, an assistant professor of chemical engineering, suggests that the most likely theory points to the SS Rio Grande, a German supply ship and blockade runner sunk by American vessels in 1944, off the coast of Brazil.

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Dallas Morning News – January 16, 2026

Andy Garcia on why ‘Landman’ is ‘positive for the American oil and gas industry’*

When actor Andy Garcia first agreed to play a role in Taylor Sheridan’s wildly popular West Texas oil drama Landman, he thought he’d be getting his hands dirty in the oil patch. Instead, Garcia’s character is a suit-and-tie-wearing Fort Worth-based executive with ties to all sorts of businesses. The Hollywood veteran shared more behind-the-scenes stories during an appearance Tuesday at the American Petroleum Institute’s annual State of American Energy event, joining API president and CEO Mike Sommers for a wide-ranging fireside chat.

Sommers said API first became involved with Landman because it was concerned about how Hollywood would portray the industry. API ended up producing ads featuring real-life landmen that aired during the show on Paramount+. “After about two episodes, we figured out real fast that Landman was going to be positive for the American oil and gas industry, and a key part of that has been Andy’s participation in this,” Sommers said. Turning to Garcia, Sommers asked what attracted him to the show. “Well, it was Taylor,” Garcia said, adding he was a fan of Sheridan’s writing “even before Yellowstone” for movies like Hell or High Water and Sicario.

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PolitiFact – January 6, 2026

Fact-checking Donald Trump on promised U.S. oil company investment in Venezuela

One thing President Donald Trump has consistently promised after the U.S. ouster of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro is private U.S. investment in the country’s underproductive oil fields. “We’re going to have our very large United States oil companies, the biggest anywhere in the world, go in, spend billions of dollars, fix the badly broken infrastructure, the oil infrastructure, and start making money for the country,” Trump said Jan. 3 in a Mar-a-Lago press conference. …

If companies aren’t eager to spend on drilling in the U.S., with its established infrastructure and relative political stability, it’s not clear that they would go all in on Venezuela. The long-term importance of oil depends on the future of electric vehicles. “If we continue using lots of oil and oil prices stay high, then it is likely that new entrants in Venezuela would recoup their investments over time,” Gillingham said. “However, if electric vehicles continue to come down in price and really take off, in the U.S. and globally, this will keep a lid on oil prices and make it less likely that the investment costs will be recouped.”

 

Utilities, Electricity & Renewables

 

El Paso Matters – January 18, 2026

El Paso Electric proposes $473 million gas plant to power Meta data center operations

El Paso Electric is seeking state approval to build a new natural gas-powered electric plant to support Meta Platform’s future data center needs – a move that is raising concerns among some city leaders though state regulators must review and approve the application before the facility can be built.

The utility is aiming to amend its certificate of convenience and necessity for a 366-megawatt natural gas generation facility. The estimated $473 million plant, if the application is approved by the Public Utility Commission of Texas, will be named the McCloud facility and will be used and paid for by Meta, according to El Paso Electric’s application to the utility commission.

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Dallas Morning News – January 16, 2026

A manufacturing renaissance is happening in North Texas. Some say clean energy is to thank*

Inside T1 Energy’s state-of-the-art G1_Dallas facility in Wilmer, employees are dressed in gray and yellow vests, stationed at different points along seven parallel half-mile-long manufacturing lines. The staff works alongside robots — some of which blare “The Imperial March” from Star Wars at full volume as they cruise through the crisp, bright factory — and large, boxy machinery to make 20,000 solar panels a day.

The advanced technology manufacturing facility, about 20 miles south of downtown Dallas, opened last year and employs 1,200 people. Operations have ramped up to 24 hours a day. “What can we say? We’re bullish on American solar,” Russell Gold, T1’s executive vice president for strategic communications, told The Dallas Morning News in a recent email. The company is investing $1 billion in the state of Texas and in domestic manufacturing, including G1 Dallas and its forthcoming G2_Austin, a 5-gigawatt solar cell manufacturing facility being constructed in Rockdale. The latter is expected to begin production later this year.

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Utility Dive – January 15, 2026

America’s new power barons: Who will rule the AI-grade megawatt megasector?: Emily Easley

When Rick Perry’s Fermi America rang the Nasdaq bell, Wall Street didn’t just see another initial public offering. It saw a multi billion-dollar bet that the next energy revolution will be built not around cars or climate — but around computation.

Fermi’s pitch is simple but audacious: an 11-GW “Hyper-Power Campus” in Amarillo, Texas, combining nuclear, natural gas and solar to feed hyperscale data centers. It’s a case study in the new race for “AI-grade” megawatts: power that’s clean enough for investors, cheap enough for operators and available every hour of every day.

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Associated Press – January 16, 2026

White House and governors pressure grid operator to boost power supply, slow electricity price hikes

The Trump administration and a bipartisan group of governors on Friday tried to step up pressure on the operator of the nation’s largest electric grid to take urgent steps to boost power supplies and keep electricity bills from rising even higher. Administration officials said doing so is essential to win the artificial intelligence race against China, even as voters raise concerns about the enormous amount of power data centers use and analysts warn of the growing possibility of blackouts in the mid-Atlantic grid in the coming years.

“We know that with the demands of AI and the power and the productivity that comes with that, it’s going to transform every job and every company and every industry,” Interior Secretary Doug Burgum told reporters at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, next to the White House. “But we need to be able to power that in the race that we are in against China.”

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Engineering News Record – January 14, 2026

Are Nuclear Power Projects Finishing Faster Than in the 1970s and ’80s?

Nuclear power construction projects in England and France, years late and billions over budget, reached milestones in recent weeks. In January, a project in Somerset, U.K., took delivery of its second reactor. In December the other project, in Normandy, France, powered up fully for the first time. Instead of being examples of a bad trend, a prominent British supporter of atomic energy says those projects are outliers and nuclear power developers and contractors are building new power plants faster than in the 1970s and 1980s.

“We’re actually faster now,” writes Tim Gregory, a nuclear chemist and author of “Going Nuclear: How Atomic Energy Will Change the World” (Pegasus Books, 2025). The French state-controlled utility, Electricité de France (EdF), is developing both the English and French projects as European pressurized water-type power plants.

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The Guardian (UK) – January 17, 2026

How Trump’s promise to slash energy bills in half has failed across the US

Donald Trump has comprehensively failed to meet a key election promise to slash Americans’ energy bills in half within the first year of his presidency, with power prices instead surging across the US.

The average household electricity bill in the US was 6.7% more expensive in 2025 compared with the previous year, according to a Guardian analysis of data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA), the Department of Energy’s statistical arm. The increases meant that, on average, US households paid nearly $116 more across 2025 than they did in 2024.

 

Regulatory

 

The Wall Street Journal – January 8, 2026

The Climate-Disaster Scores That Could Make or Break Your Home Sale*

John Simeone was sure his vacation condo, nestled in New Hampshire’s White Mountains, would sell easily. Then the listing went live in August: “It was like a bolt of lightning hit me in the head.” The three-bedroom townhouse in Lincoln, N.H., was labeled on the home-listing site Zillow as an “extreme” 9 out of 10 flood risk. Simeone was shocked. The home is around 60 feet above the nearest river, and the flood rating shown on Zillow linked to a report with a different address. He thinks the rating spooked buyers. Despite a price cut, his $769,000 home remains unsold.

Millions of home sellers and buyers are caught in the battle over how to rate a home’s exposure to natural disasters—and who gets to see that information. Until November, all the major listing platforms showcased scores from First Street, a small but influential climate-research company. It rates homes by their vulnerability to wildfire, flood, wind, heat and poor air quality. A backlash from the real-estate industry prompted Zillow in November to remove the scores from display, while still allowing buyers to click through to the data. Other listings sites still show the scores, but some will suppress them if a seller objects. The flood score for Simeone’s home no longer appears on Redfin or Realtor.com at his request. A very high flood or fire score makes a house less likely to sell, according to a Zillow analysis last year. It can also create a “disaster discount,” with high-scored homes that do sell more likely to go for under the initial list price, the analysis found.

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Dallas Morning News – January 15, 2026

Dallas greenhouse gas emissions fall below 2015 levels, city data shows*

Dallas is discharging less greenhouse gas than it did a decade ago, according to a newly released environmental report from the city. The city’s 2023 Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory shows Dallas produced about 18.6 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, an 11% decrease from 2015, the baseline year for the city’s climate goals. Emissions increased slightly, about 1%, compared with 2019, reflecting shifts in transportation and expanded data tracking.

Greenhouse gases trap heat and make the planet warmer and are said to be the biggest contributor to changes to the Earth’s climate. Human activities are responsible for almost all of the increase in greenhouse gases in the atmosphere over the last 150 years, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

“Results from each greenhouse gas inventory are used to evaluate the city’s overall progress for climate action goals and used to identify key initiatives and progress and challenges by sector and by city department,” said Alfredo Ortiz, an environmental coordinator with the city of Dallas’ Office of Environmental Quality and Sustainability. The city of Dallas has a 30-year plan to address environmental issues and develop strategies to mitigate the challenges associated with climate change. The Comprehensive Environmental and Climate Action Plan was unanimously adopted by the city in 2020.