5-20-26

Texas Energy Report NewsClips

Wednesday May 20, 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 down about 1% on Wednesday after U.S. President Donald ​Trump again asserted the war with Iran will end “very quickly”, though investors remain wary about the outcome of peace ‌talks amid continued disruptions to Middle Eastern supply.

Brent crude oil futures fell $1.11, or 1.0%, to $110.17 a barrel by 0640 GMT.

“Benchmark prices softened on a potential deal as the market gauges the geopolitical outcomes,” said Emril Jamil, a senior oil research ​analyst at LSEG.

Both benchmarks fell nearly $1 on Tuesday after ⁠U.S. Vice President JD Vance said the U.S. and Iran had made progress in talks, with neither side wanting to see a resumption ​of military action.

“Investors are keen to gauge whether Washington and Tehran can actually find common ground and reach a peace agreement, with ​the U.S. stance shifting daily,” said Toshitaka Tazawa, an analyst at Fujitomi Securities.

 

Top Stories

 

The Wall Street Journal – May 19, 2026

Inside the Tiny Oil Sheikhdom Cut Off by the Iran War*

Kuwait City — Thirty-five years ago, the oil fields of this desert sheikhdom the size of New Jersey went up in flames when Iraq’s Saddam Hussein invaded and drew the U.S. into the first Gulf War. Today, Kuwait’s crude has stopped flowing again. Rigs are standing still, while oil-loading berths along the Persian Gulf are empty. With the Strait of Hormuz closed, Kuwait has stopped exporting nearly 2 million barrels a day, depriving the world of around 2% of its daily needs, and shutting off the country’s main income source. The Iran conflict has hurt countries up and down the Gulf—but few as much as Kuwait. Practically everything its 5 million residents eat and drink must be trucked in from neighboring Saudi Arabia.

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San Antonio Express-News – May 19, 2026

Texas faces water supply woes as big tech continues its Lone Star takeover

As data centers ramp up their presence in the Lone Star State, new research out of Texas’ capital city is shedding more insight into just how much more water use these developments will need amid Texas’ ongoing drought and water supply woes. The University of Texas at Austin shared new research earlier this month that revealed Texas’ data center water use could make up 3% to 9% of Texas’ overall water use by 2040 as production ramps up statewide. That estimate accounts for both data centers’ use of water as a cooling mechanism as well as their water needs for power production. Right now, data centers’ water usage accounts for fewer than 1% of the state’s total water use.

Researchers’ forecasts have been shaped by factors such as industry growth, cooling technologies used in those processes as well as the specific source of electricity used to power Texas data centers. That estimated figure could potentially surpass the total water use from Texas’ manufacturing industry, which sits at 7% of statewide figures, UT’s research noted.

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electrek – May 19, 2026

Tesla is building its giant solar panel factory in Houston

Electrek has learned that Tesla (TSLA) is building its massive new solar panel manufacturing operation at its facility in Brookshire, Texas, near Houston. The factory will be co-located with the Megapack Megafactory Tesla is already constructing at the same site. A source familiar with the plans pointed us to the Houston location, and Electrek was able to independently confirm it. This is the first concrete sign of where Tesla plans to build toward its 100 GW annual solar manufacturing target.

Tesla’s solar manufacturing story has been a decade-long saga of broken promises and modest restarts. When Tesla acquired SolarCity in 2016, it inherited a factory deal with New York state worth nearly $1 billion in public subsidies. The state built Tesla a massive facility in Buffalo in exchange for commitments to create 1,500 factory jobs and invest $5 billion over 10 years in New York.

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KUHF NPR – May 19, 2026

Defense Department delays 54 wind projects in Texas, citing national security concerns

Dozens of wind projects in Texas are in limbo after the U.S. Department of Defense paused issuing routine federal permits citing national security concerns, a move that experts say expands the Trump administration’s crusade against wind energy. According to data collected by the American Clean Power Association, 54 Texas wind projects are waiting for the department to review development plans to ensure that turbines don’t interfere with military operations. It’s part of a broader nationwide logjam that has ensnared 165 onshore wind projects, a figure first reported by the Financial Times.

Federal law requires any structure 200 feet or taller — such as antennas, smokestacks or wind turbines — to be reviewed first by the Federal Aviation Administration, then the military, which must determine whether a structure may interfere with military airspace.

 

The Latest TERse Tips

Election for oil regulator becomes battleground for wealthy donors — Texas Tribune

Greg Abbott says Bo French would ‘wreck’ Texas oil and gas if elected to Railroad Commission — San Antonio Express-News*

President Trump has endorsed state Attorney General Ken Paxton in Texas’ high-stakes Senate race, snubbing incumbent senior Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) ahead of next week’s GOP primary runoff — The Hill

The U.S. Senate narrowly voted to approve Steve Pearce’s nomination to lead the Bureau of Land Management — Pearce, a 78-year-old Republican, has deep ties to the oil and gas industry and a record of supporting federal land sales — Mountain Journal

“Two Chinese VLCCs carrying 4 mb of Iraqi oil have crossed the Strait of Hormuz and are now heading straight for the US blockade. If they’re allowed to pass, it means Trump and Xi have quietly agreed to let it happen. Meanwhile, 4 LNG carriers are on their way to China to deliver US LNG … so they have a deal” — Anas Alhajji on X

Haynesville Shale pure-play Comstock Resources could supply up to 1 Bcf/d of natural gas by 2031 to a 5.2 GW data center project in Anderson County, TX, as the company expands its position in the formation — Natural Gas Intelligence*

Texas upstream oil and gas employment increases by 1,800 jobs in March — Permian Basin Petroleum Association Magazine

Fitch Ratings has assigned a ‘BBB’ rating to Oncor Electric Delivery Company LLC’s junior subordinated notes due 2056 — Fitch

 

Oil & Gas Texas

 

Reuters – May 19, 2026

Venezuelan oil minister tells Houston conference country is open to foreign dispute resolution*

Venezuelan Oil Minister Paula Henao said ​on Tuesday that the country’s new hydrocarbons rules allow for dispute resolution outside the country, a key demand of many foreign oil companies before stepping ‌up activity in the South American country. “On the issue of legal certainty, which I know many of you are looking for, the law incorporates all of that through dispute resolution mechanisms, not only within our national territory, but it also allows and opens the door for other venues to be used to resolve any disputes that may arise,” she said at a conference outside Houston in The Woodlands.

“We trust ​that it won’t come to that, but in the event that any difficulty does arise, we can resolve it through that channel.” Her remarks at the ​event, hosted by the American Association of Petroleum Geologists in The Woodlands, Texas, marked the first visit to the U.S. by ⁠a senior oil official from the South American country since President Nicolas Maduro was ousted in January by American military forces.

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S&P Global Platts – May 19, 2026

US LNG feedgas demand hits four-month low amid maintenance

US LNG feedgas demand fell May 19 to the lowest level since late January amid seasonal maintenance work, led by sharp declines in nominations at the Freeport and Sabine Pass LNG export terminals along the US Gulf Coast. The nine major LNG export terminals operating in the Lower 48 were scheduled to receive about 16 billion cubic feet/day on May 19, S&P Global Energy CERA data showed, based on nominations for the morning cycle that could later be revised. That would mark the lowest level of feedgas demand since Jan. 27 and a decline of nearly 1.6 Bcf from May 18.

At the Freeport facility in Texas, flows were scheduled to decline by about 500 million cubic feet/day, or 35%, on May 19 to about 900 MMcf/d, which suggested two of the terminal’s three trains were offline. Freeport spokesperson Heather Browne declined to comment. Freeport on May 13 confirmed taking one of the plant’s three liquefaction trains offline for scheduled maintenance that it expected to last “several weeks.”

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May 18, 2026

Wars damage fertilizer plants, take toll on production: Texas Farm Bureau

While the closure of the strait has received a lot of media attention due to its importance, Rosenbusch said it’s only part of the story. “There have been 31 ammonia plants in the region that have curtailed production or have been damaged during the conflict. Another 49 plants in India and South Asia were also shuttered due to disruption of their natural gas supply from the region,” he said. This exacerbated an already tight global fertilizer supply.

“China, who is the world’s largest producer of fertilizer with about a third of all nitrogen production and 43% of the global phosphate supply, are currently restricting all of their exports,” Rosenbusch said. “Twenty Russian nitrogen plants have been damaged due to Ukrainian drone strikes, and Russia also has implemented an export ban on their fertilizer or restriction.” At the same time, globally, there’s strong demand for fertilizer.

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Texas Tribune – May 19, 2026

Rain gives Corpus Christi a small break, delaying projected water crisis by 3 months

A projection for when Corpus Christi expects to reach a water crisis was pushed back by three months after a wet April brought enough rain to delay an emergency but too little to quench a brutal drought. The city was initially bracing for a Level 1 emergency — the point when water demand is projected to be six months from exceeding supplies — to hit by September. Rain that the community has long prayed for fell last month, delaying the Level 1 projection to December and buying the city a few more months to plan for the expected emergency.

Still, the delay provided “some very encouraging news,” Nick Winkelmann, chief operating officer of Corpus Christ’s water department, told the City Council on Tuesday. The new projection came largely because Lake Texana, one of three reservoirs the city depends on, jumped from 55% capacity last month to 76%. The two other reservoirs the city depends on have shrunk to historic lows: Lake Corpus Christi is a little above 10% capacity, and Choke Canon is at 7% capacity. Winkelmann added that “there is a beneficial forecast this week, so we need to remember that these numbers do not include any future rain.”

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Inside Climate News – May 19, 2026

Corpus Christi Leaders Believe Data Center Plans May Be Behind Delays to Emergency Water Supply

Corpus Christi needs the groundwater beneath the small town of Sinton so urgently that it’s already laying pipeline, even before it has the permits to start drilling for water.  Sinton, with 5,500 residents about half an hour north, is fighting those permits in court, citing concerns for its own water supply. But leaders in Corpus Christi, which supplies water to half a million people, now suggest an ulterior motive: Sinton wants a thirsty, new complex of data centers.

Officials and executives in Corpus Christi point to recent land deals, well permits and a rezoning ordinance as evidence for the data center plans. Officials in Sinton neither confirm nor deny Corpus Christi’s supposition. “It is rumors,” said John Hobson, Sinton’s city manager, declining to say whether or not it is true.  Everyone involved in the deal probably signed non-disclosure agreements, said Greg Ellis, an attorney for the San Patricio Groundwater Conservation District, which is based in Sinton and issued the drilling permits in dispute.

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Texas Tribune – May 19, 2026

What soaring gas prices mean for Texas and how long it could take for costs to come down

Texas fuel prices have risen significantly since the U.S.-Israel war on Iran began on Feb. 28, which led to Iran closing a key international shipping lane for oil and gas, the Strait of Hormuz. The average price for a gallon of gas in Texas, which was $2.55 in early February, surged by nearly two dollars to $4.52 on Monday, according to the AAA.

The Strait of Hormuz, a narrow maritime corridor south of Iran, accounts for one-fifth of the world’s oil supply — the energy trade passing through it was valued at roughly $600 billion annually. Any threat to shipping in the strait can affect oil prices globally.

 

Oil & Gas National & International

 

Associated Press/KXAN – May 19, 2026

Video and satellite photos show Iran war oil spill on Persian Gulf island

A mysterious attack on an Iranian oil refinery during the Iran war caused an oil spill that affected a nearby Persian Gulf island that’s a protected breeding ground for wildlife, videos and satellite photos show. The oil-soaked waves lapping onto Shidvar Island, an uninhabited island, represent yet another sign of the ecological damage wrought by the war. Oily rain has also fallen on the Iranian capital, Tehran, after airstrikes targeted oil facilities there. Iranian attacks on ships passing through the Persian Gulf, the Strait of Hormuz and the Gulf of Oman also caused environmental damage.

Mobile phone footage shot April 9 by an Iranian named Ehsan Jalali shows thick black smoke rising after the strike on an oil refinery on Lavan, an island just off mainland Iran near Shidvar. The footage corresponds with known features of both islands and only was posted by Jalali to Instagram in the last few days as Iran’s theocratic government has shut off access to the wider internet for weeks.

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Argus Media – May 19,m 2026

Venezuela close to issuing oil regulations: Henao

Venezuela will soon issue rules meant to provide energy investorswith more clarity, hydrocarbons minister Paula Henao said on Tuesday. The national assembly passed a hydrocarbons law reform earlier this year aimed at opening the sector to investment, but it lacks the moredetailed regulations needed to implement many changes.

“In coming days, we should publish the regulations … to make all these reforms operational,” Henao told a Venezuela E&P conference organized by the American Association of Petroleum Geologists near Houston, Texas. The national assembly will need to publish the regulations in the official gazette for them to take effect. Several different draft versions have circulated among market participants in Venezuela.

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The Wall Street Journal – May 19, 2026

U.S. Seized Iran-Linked Oil Tanker in the Indian Ocean*

The U.S. seized an Iran-linked oil tanker in the Indian Ocean overnight, according to three U.S. officials, as President Trump threatens to resume military strikes on Iran.  The tanker, known as the Skywave, was sanctioned by the U.S. in March for its role in transporting Iranian oil. Ship-tracking data showed it sailing just west of Malaysia on Tuesday after transiting the Malacca Strait. The ship was likely loaded with more than 1 million barrels of crude at Iran’s Kharg Island in February, according to brokers and data from Lloyds List Intelligence. It couldn’t be determined if the ship unloaded the oil in Asia. It was sailing in an area known for shadowy ship-to-ship transfers, and was heading back to the Middle East when it was seized.

S&P Global Platts – May 19, 2026

New Pemex CEO seen as boosting financial focus, reinforcing political control

The departure of Víctor Rodríguez Padilla as Pemex’s CEO and his replacement by former CFO Juan Carlos Carpio Fragoso is seen as positive by observers, as it suggests the government’s focus will be on keeping the finances of the state oil company healthy. “I think it’s positive that the new management focuses on the numbers,” said Daniel Sánchez, a partner at Baker & McKenzie in Mexico City who specializes in the Mexican energy sector. “The financial community will welcome the profile,” Sánchez said, noting that Pemex now has a person who understands the numbers and can assess the size of the debt.

Carpio has only been CFO for a few months. He previously worked in Mexico City’s finance department under President Claudia Sheinbaum. In recent years, Pemex’s reliance on federal funding has increased. According to company filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Pemex’s operational continuity and timely compliance with its financial obligations depend on the recurrence of equity contributions from the Mexican government.

 

Utilities, Electricity & Renewables

 

El Paso Times – May 19, 2026

Houston firm aims to connect El Paso to Eastern U.S. power grid*

Grid United, a Houston company backed by a Houston billionaire, has begun the years-long process of connecting El Paso Electric’s Western power grid to the Eastern grid, providing a new electricity stream for this region. The 5-year-old company has started buying residential properties in the far East Montana area of El Paso County as part of a possible route for high-voltage transmission lines, much to the chagrin of some homeowners in that area. It may cross some of the same areas where El Paso Electric (EPE) plans to build its own high-voltage power lines.

Michael Skelly is the co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Grid United. He is a prominent pioneer in the U.S. renewable energy industry and has extensive experience in developing transmission infrastructure and clean energy projects. Grid United is backed and co-founded by Houston-based commodities billionaire John Arnold. He has committed several hundred million dollars to the independent transmission company, which he established

El Paso Matters – May 19, 2026

More data centers could be coming to El Paso. What will that mean for your electric bills?

El Paso Electric is signaling that more large-scale artificial intelligence data centers are likely to come to the Borderland over the next three years – and wants them to operate under a set of rules meant to prevent El Pasoans from paying higher electric bills as a result. Companies including Meta Platforms, Oracle and Open AI are developing hyperscale data center campuses in and around El Paso as the city government is setting up operating policy guides for any future developments. Some see data centers as the future of the region’s economy, while others view them as unsustainable resource hogs.

El Paso Electric earlier this month asked its regulator, the Public Utility Commission of Texas, for permission to set up a special rate specifically for big data centers – a sign the utility anticipates it will provide service to more of the facilities soon.  El Paso Electric “expects to begin serving between 1 and 2 (gigawatts) of new load” under the data center rate in the next three years, the utility said in PUC filings.

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KVUE – May 19, 2026

Austin Energy, Base Power partner on home battery storage program

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Power Magazine – May 15, 2026

Phantom Data Centers Didn’t Break the Power Grid—They Proved it Was Already Broken: Tom Bailey, Flexential

America’s power grid was built for a world that no longer exists. For more than two decades, U.S. electricity demand grew at well below 1% annually, and utilities knew to expect one or two large-load interconnection requests a year. Today, demand is projected to grow by 5.7% annually through 2030, and utilities are fielding 40 to 50 large-load proposals. In Houston, Texas, CenterPoint Energy’s data center interconnection requests surged from 1 GW to 25 GW within 12 months. Exelon, which serves the Mid-Atlantic and Midwest, said only 22% of its 65-GW pipeline through 2040 is likely to materialize.

If these numbers seem unreal, in one sense, they are. The requests flooding interconnection queues come from data center developers, private equity funds, land brokers, and shell companies, many of whom lack site control, a construction timeline, or even a signed customer. They secure a queue position, bet that powered land will attract a buyer, and wait. The industry calls them “phantom data centers,” and the grid isn’t prepared to handle them.

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KUHF NPR – May 19, 2026

Why you should care about 2 power companies merging. Hint: affordability

One of the largest electricity producers in the U.S. could grow even bigger if a proposed merger with another power company goes through. It comes at a time when energy demand is surging due to the AI boom and there are heightened worries about rising electricity prices.

“Anytime there’s a merger there’s a worry consumers might face raising rates,” said Darrell West, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution’s Center for Technology Innovation. NextEra Energy said on Monday it plans to acquire Dominion Energy in a roughly $67 billion deal, The merger will require both federal and state approvals, including in Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina. Those three states would be covered by the merged company, as well as Florida.

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The New York Times – May 19, 2026

Rising Energy Prices and Data Centers Are at Center of a Utility Deal*

NextEra Energy’s proposed acquisition of Dominion Energy will make it the nation’s largest utility and power company, placing it at the center of national debates about why electricity bills are soaring and how the country should meet the seemingly insatiable energy demands of data centers. The deal, which was announced Monday, would bring together utility operations serving around 10 million customers in Florida, Virginia and other Southeastern states. NextEra will also own nuclear power plants, renewable energy projects, transmission lines and pipelines from Maine to Hawaii.

The companies and some analysts say that combining all those operations under one corporate roof will result in big benefits, including lower costs and the speedier addition of new sources of electricity. But who reaps those rewards from this deal, which values Dominion at more than $120 billion including its debt, is a big question. Even before the war in Iran sent fuel prices soaring, anger was building about the rising costs of energy, especially for electricity. Residential electric rates are up around 34 percent since 2020. At least some of that increase can be linked to the rapid growth of data centers used to develop artificial intelligence.

Most utility industry experts do not expect electricity rates to drop but say that policymakers can do a lot to arrest their rapid rise. One early sign of their willingness to do so will come when federal and state governments weigh NextEra’s purchase of Dominion. Regulators could try to block the deal or impose conditions aimed at keeping electricity rates in check.

What does this deal mean for electricity rate and bills? It is hard to say with any certainty. NextEra, based in Juno Beach, Fla., said on Monday that if its deal is approved, it will offer Dominion’s roughly four million customers in Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina $2.25 billion in bill credits over two years. That amounts to about $550 per customer.

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The Wall Street Journal – May 19, 2026

The Biggest Challenge of a Utility Megadeal: Regulators*

NextEra Energy and Dominion Energy  have agreed to combine in a blockbuster utilities deal. Now comes the hard part: a regulatory marathon. The companies must convince a web of state and federal regulators that combining two of the U.S.’s largest utilities will benefit customers and avoid increasing electricity bills at a time of heightened scrutiny on consumer costs and grid reliability. Dominion owns the transmission lines at the center of America’s data center boom in northern Virginia’s “Data Center Alley,” while NextEra is a major developer of the power generation and batteries needed to fuel energy-hungry AI campuses. The $67 billion deal would create an East Coast energy behemoth with 10 million customer accounts in Florida, the Carolinas and Virginia. It would be the largest U.S. electricity producer—specifically the biggest provider of natural gas-fired power and No. 2 in nuclear, the companies said.

 

Regulatory

 

The New York Times – May 19, 2026

E.P.A. to End Some Limits on ‘Forever Chemicals’ in Drinking Water*

The Trump administration announced Monday that it will drop some limits on “forever chemicals” in drinking water that officials had determined can cause cancer and other serious health problems — angering some key activists who had supported President Trump’s campaign. The Environmental Protection Agency said it would unravel the nation’s first federal drinking water limits for the compounds, perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS. The Biden administration established the limits on six of the substances in 2024, after the agency determined that long-term exposure to PFAS was linked to kidney cancer, immune system suppression, developmental delays in infants and children and other issues.

Instead, the Trump administration will issue narrower regulations that rescind protections for four of the substances and continue to protect against two of them, though companies will be able to request two extra years to comply with those. But the move, which had been planned for more than a year, has sparked fury within the Make America Healthy Again movement, a diverse group of anti-vaccine activists, wellness influencers and others who make up a key part of Mr. Trump’s coalition.

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The Hill – May 19, 2026

Bipartisan highway bill includes $130 registration fee for EVs

The House version of a bipartisan highway bill proposes to add a $130 registration fee for electric vehicles (EV) and a $35 fee for plug-in hybrids. The provision is part of the five-year Surface Transportation Reauthorization, a bipartisan bill that seeks to make investments in the country’s roads, bridges, rail and other infrastructure.

The bill text was unveiled Sunday as Reps. Sam Graves (R-Mo.) and Rick Larsen (D-Wash.), the top lawmakers on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, announced they had reached a deal. It’s not clear whether the registration fee will ultimately become law, as the bill would also require Senate approval, and Senate Democrats may not want the provision to be included. In the House bill, the fee would increase by $5 every other year starting in 2029, but the fees would not exceed $150 for EVs or $50 for hybrids.