Texas Energy Report NewsClips
Friday December 12, 2025
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 rose on Friday supported by concerns of Venezuelan supply disruptions, though they remained on track for a weekly drop amid cautious market sentiment and optimism over the prospects for a Russia-Ukraine peace deal.
West Texas Intermediate crude was at $58.03 a barrel, up 43 cents, or 0.75%.
Brent crude futures rose 43 cents, or 0.70%, to $61.71 a barrel by 0352 GMT.
Both benchmarks fell about 1.5% on Thursday.
The U.S. is preparing to intercept more ships transporting Venezuelan oil following the seizure of a tanker this week, as it increases pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, six sources familiar with the matter said on Thursday.
The U.S. seizure this week raised concerns about supply disruptions.
Top Stories
Reuters – December 12, 2025
US preparing to seize more tankers off Venezuela’s coast after first ship taken, sources say*
The U.S. is preparing to intercept more ships transporting Venezuelan oil following the seizure of a tanker this week, as it increases pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, six sources familiar with the matter said on Thursday. The seizure was the first interdiction of an oil cargo or tanker from Venezuela, which has been under U.S. sanctions since 2019. It came as the U.S. executes a large-scale military buildup in the southern Caribbean and as U.S. President Donald Trump pushes for Maduro’s ouster.
The latest U.S. action has put shipowners, operators and maritime agencies involved in transporting Venezuelan crude on alert, with many reconsidering whether to sail from Venezuelan waters in the coming days as planned, shipping sources said. Further direct interventions by the U.S. are expected in the coming weeks targeting ships carrying Venezuelan oil that may also have transported oil from other countries targeted by U.S. sanctions, such as Iran, according to the sources familiar with the matter who declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the issue.
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Houston Chronicle – December 11, 2025
A $9.4 billion network of long-distance power lines will be built across the eastern swath of Texas to create a new “superhighway” for the state’s power grid, after state officials voted unanimously to approve the plan this week. The project, made up of more than 1,100 miles of power lines and transmission towers, would cut through the Houston area, though exact routes haven’t been determined yet. Once completed in the early 2030s, the 765-kilovolt power lines would be able to carry more than twice as much electricity as the existing 345-kilovolt power lines across the state.
This new “superhighway” is needed so that the state’s power grid can keep the lights on amid an expected boom in electricity demand in the coming years, said Kristi Hobbs, vice president of system planning for the Electric Reliability Council of Texas. ERCOT manages the power grid that serves most of the state’s electricity demand. By 2031, that demand could increase more than 70%, according to ERCOT’s forecasts, primarily because of electrification in the oil and gas industry and an influx of data centers powering artificial intelligence technologies.
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Straight Arrow News – December 11, 2025
Texas crypto mines consumed more power than 1 million homes
A Straight Arrow News investigation found that in 2024, large cryptocurrency operations in Texas consumed more electricity mining virtual currencies such as Bitcoin than residential utility customers in the cities of San Antonio and El Paso combined. The footprint of crypto mines is expected to keep growing in the coming years.
As of mid-November, 22 cryptocurrency mining facilities had registered with the Public Utilities Commission of Texas. In 2024, those facilities combined to consume more than 14.7 million megawatt hours of electricity, according to public records obtained by SAN. That corresponds to about 3% of all electricity produced on the state’s power grid in 2024.
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News Nation – December 11, 2025
Texas pushing to build ‘The Gate,’ a $30B coastal project
Texas is working on building “The Gate,” the country’s largest coastal protection effort to date. The project aims to protect the state’s $1 trillion oil and gas industry from the threat of catastrophic storms after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita devastated the coastal area. “What we’re trying to do is protect not human life but also property and economic vitality,” said Coalter Baker, executive director of the Gulf Coast Protection District. …
Baker said the community is energized, noting the state has already committed $950 million to advance the work. He pointed to Hurricane Ike in 2008, which brought a 17-foot storm surge that narrowly missed the Houston Ship Channel and the world’s largest petrochemical complex, as a reminder of what’s at stake. “If it had hit our petrochemical industry, we would’ve had more than $100 billion in damage, not only ecological but also economic,” he said.
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Politico – December 11, 2025
‘Windmills are a disgrace’: Inside Trump’s war against a growing U.S. industry
The day after President Donald Trump halted construction of a $5 billion wind project off the New York coast, the nation’s top offshore wind developers gathered for a regularly scheduled strategy session in Washington. The mid-April meeting quickly became heated.
Michael Brown, an outspoken Scotsman who leads the developer Ocean Winds, expressed anger that the industry’s main trade association would not join a blue-state lawsuit challenging Trump’s freeze on offshore wind permitting. American Clean Power Association CEO Jason Grumet pushed back, saying the industry should preserve its political capital at a time when Congress was gearing up to eliminate former President Joe Biden’s clean energy tax credits.
The pair “were shouting at one another,” said one person at the meeting, who like most industry figures quoted in this story was granted anonymity to discuss sensitive business and political matters. Another attendee described it as “definitely contentious.” A third called it one of several confrontations among industry members over how to respond to Trump.
The Latest TERse Tips
Trinity Gas Storage LLC has reached a final investment decision on a second phase of its East Texas natural gas storage facility, expanding capacity as Texas contends with growing demand volatility from data centers, LNG exports and extreme weather — Natural Gas Intelligence*
Origis Energy has successfully closed a $290 million financing deal for its Swift Air Solar II and III projects in Ector County — Tip Ranks
Repsol advances its renewable energy strategy in the United States with a new deal with Stonepeak with the investment firm specializing in infrastructure and real assets agreeing to acquire a 43.8% stake in Repsol’s Outpost solar project, located in Webb County, Texas, for $252.5 million — Stonepeak
Oklahoma’s data center boom is about to hit the grid — The Frontier
The Intense True Story of “Landman”: All About the Texas Oil Boom That Inspired Taylor Sheridan’s Show — AOL
These are the Top 10 Oil Spill Response Technologies — Energy Digital
US guardrails aren’t built for electric vehicles. It’s time to change that: opinion by David Schrum* — The Hill
Bitcoin Miners Hunted After Stealing $1 Billion of Electricity From Malaysia Grid — Bloomberg*
More than any conflict in history, the Russia-Ukraine war has been about electricity. Now, a proposed peace deal would give Russia half of the juice generated by the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant — Robert Bryce (blog)
Kern County has announced it will resume issuing oil and gas permits in 2026 following a court decision to discharge a writ related to ongoing litigation — KBAK (Bakersfield CA)
When Zillow removed climate risk scores from its home listings last month, following a complaint from the real estate industry, many observers took to the press and social media to warn that disappearing the data doesn’t get rid of the risk — Politico*
Beyoncé, Oxy’s Vicki Hollub make Forbes’ 100 most powerful women list — Houston Chronicle*
Oil & Gas Texas
Reuters – December 11, 2025
Buyout firm Carnelian raises eyebrows with rare effort to sell multiple energy assets, sources say*
Carnelian Energy Capital is moving to sell six of its North American oil and gas production investments, multiple people familiar with the matter said, at a time of mounting pressure on private equity firms to increase exits and return cash to investors. The moves, representing most of the Carnelian-backed companies that produce oil and gas, and about 40% of its overall investments, have raised eyebrows among industry participants because buyout firms traditionally space out sale efforts to avoid exhausting buyer demand.
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Rigzone – December 11, 2025
Aramco, ExxonMobil Mull Petrochemical Complex at Samref
Exxon Mobil Corp and Saudi Arabian Oil Co (Aramco) have agreed to evaluate upgrading their Samref refinery in Yanbu, Saudi Arabia, with plans to expand the site into an integrated petrochemical complex. The facility currently has a declared oil processing capacity and storage capacity of about 400,000 barrels per day and 13.2 million barrels respectively. It produces mostly gasoline, as well as diesel fuel, heating oil, jet fuel, liquefied petroleum gas and others, the joint venture says on its website.
“The companies will explore capital investments to upgrade and diversify production, including high-quality distillates that result in lower emissions and high-performance chemicals, as well as opportunities to improve the refinery’s energy efficiency and reduce emissions from operations through an integrated emissions-reduction strategy”, Aramco said in a press release.
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BNAmericas – December 11, 2025
BOURBON signs a 5-year contract with ExxonMobil in Guyana
BOURBON announces the signing of a major 5-year contract (with extension options) with ExxonMobil Guyana Limited (EMGL) to provide maritime services in Guyana. It will start in the first quarter of 2026, with the commissioning of the large PSV Bourbon Calm (Platform Supply Vessel) and covers the transport of products essential to offshore operations in one of the world’s most dynamic oil basins.
The discovery of oil fields in 2015 has made Guyana one of the fastest-growing offshore operations, with the planned commissioning of additional FPSOs (floating production, storage, and offloading units). Since 2019, BOURBON has been supporting the development of this industry thanks to the technical quality of its fleet and the expertise of its local teams.
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Bloomberg/Financial Post – December 11, 2025
Toxic Water From Texas Oil Production Is Set to Be Treated and Pumped into Rivers
Texas is about to deploy a potential solution to the oil industry’s toxic wastewater problem — but it’s a move that carries environmental risks of its own. State regulators are working to issue permits that would let four companies, including major landowner Texas Pacific Land Corp. and pipeline operator NGL Energy Partners LP, release treated wastewater from the Permian Basin into the Pecos River near New Mexico, regulatory filings show. At least one could be granted as soon as the first quarter of 2026, according to Texas Pacific.
Oil and gas wells in the Permian, the largest US shale basin, generate 21 million barrels per day of water laden with salt, chemicals and heavy metals. Drillers have been disposing of most of that fluid by pumping it back underground, a practice that has triggered earthquakes and leaks.
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Oil production in the Permian basin is poised to peak in December, a watershed moment for the U.S. shale boom that upended the global energy market over the past 15 years. Yet drilling innovations mean output in America’s most prolific oil patch will hold steady for years to come. The Permian basin, which straddles West Texas and southeastern New Mexico, is set to produce a record-high 6.76 million barrels per day (bpd) of oil in December, only slightly higher than November’s total, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said in its latest Short Term Energy Outlook.
This monthly figure may never be topped, given that most of the Permian’s top-tier oil acreage has been tapped and sharply depleted after more than a decade of drilling. But improvements in drilling technology are enabling firms to explore new, often deeper formations. That means current production levels can likely be sustained for years, defying previous warnings that the shale boom would experience a precipitous decline.
Midland Reporter-Telegram – December 10, 2025
Texas carbon management roadmap takes shape with safety, permitting focus*
Texas has numerous advantages — from power and industrial facilities to geography and a skilled workforce — that make it a prime state for carbon capture and its resulting economic and environmental benefits. The question is: What policies are needed to help Texas reach its potential? The Great Plains Institute, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping develop pragmatic energy solutions, is helping develop the Texas Carbon Management Roadmap. Ryan Kammer, research manager for carbon management at the institute, detailed the efforts going into developing the roadmap, which is expected to be unveiled in the first quarter of next year.
He told those attending the CO2 Conference that stakeholder engagement is a vital part of the process. Those stakeholders include industry representatives, state agencies, academic and legal experts, environmental groups and community representatives. The group is examining carbon capture, storage, utilization and transportation, along with direct air capture, community engagement, workforce development and hydrogen development with carbon capture, utilization and storage. Recommendations already include strengthening competitiveness through international export opportunities and ensuring permitting certainty and readiness. The third recommendation involves building public confidence through safety and transparency.
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Houston Chronicle – December 10, 2025
A trillion-dollar climate industry emerging in Houston’s backyard meets new resistance*
A week after the federal government gave Texas the power to approve permits for a new kind of well that stashes climate-warming carbon dioxide underground, one of the state’s top oil and gas regulators decried it as a waste of taxpayer dollars. Wayne Christian, one of the three elected leaders of the Texas Railroad Commission, questioned why the commission would spend state funds regulating the practice when the Trump administration believes it is “a scam” and that carbon dioxide “is no longer a threat.”
“I also find myself very disappointed that we make a decision,” he said, referring to the commission’s approval of Occidental Petroleum’s carbon storage project, “at this time that the administration, the world, seems to be realizing that a lot of this extremist environmental agenda has been over the top.”
Christian’s statements highlight the uncertainty surrounding carbon capture and storage — a climate solution that Houston’s oil and gas companies spent billions growing into what they believe can be a trillion-dollar industry. The Trump administration has gutted regulations of climate-warming gases and cut funding to hundreds of clean energy projects. Climate-focused companies and projects are folding and cutting back. Even Bill Gates, a devoted climate champion for many years, walked back funding for climate initiatives and repositioned some of his philanthropic investments.
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Politico – December 9, 2025
FERC green-lights piece of major Louisiana LNG project*
The developer of the CP2 natural gas export terminal in Louisiana can begin construction of a gas-fired compressor station tied to the project, federal regulators said Monday. In a letter to Venture Global, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission granted a November request to commence work on the Moss Lake compressor station in Louisiana’s Calcasieu Parish.
FERC’s approval is another positive step for the CP2 liquefied natural gas project, which has a proposed export capacity of at least 20 million metric tons annually. The project was delayed by the Department of Energy amid a high-profile debate during the Biden administration over the merits of increasing U.S. LNG exports, though FERC approved the project in June 2024. Venture Global “has provided the information necessary to meet the applicable conditions” of
Oil & Gas National & International
The Wall Street Journal – December 11, 2025
OPEC Holds Oil-Demand View Steady But Expects Higher Supply From Rivals*
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries left its oil-demand outlook unchanged as it prepares to pause output hikes in early 2026, but modestly raised its forecast for this year’s supply growth from rival producers. The Vienna-based cartel expects demand to grow by 1.3 million barrels a day this year and 1.38 million barrels a day the next, supported by expectations of steady economic growth. Supply from producers outside of the wider OPEC+ alliance is now expected to rise by 960,000 barrels a day this year, above previous projections of 920,000, mainly driven by the U.S., Canada, Brazil and Argentina. Next year’s supply growth is still expected at 630,000 barrels a day.
OPEC raised its economic-growth estimates for this year to 3.1% from 3%, citing easing trade tensions after a series of agreements between the U.S. and key partners. Stimulus measures and monetary easing in some major economies are also expected to support activity. Economic growth for next year is still projected at 3.1%. In November, OPEC crude-oil production was broadly unchanged, slipping by only 1,000 barrels a day to 28.48 million barrels a day, while total production by OPEC+ members rose by 43,000 barrels a day to 43.06 million barrels a day.
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Yahoo! News – December 11, 2025
Ukraine Strikes Key Russian Oil Platform in Caspian Sea
In a significant expansion of its campaign against Russian energy infrastructure, Ukraine’s security services executed a long-range drone strike on a major offshore oil field in the Caspian Sea, effectively halting production at a key Lukoil facility. The attack on Dec. 11 marks the first time Kyiv has targeted hydrocarbon extraction assets in the Caspian region, a development that signals a new phase in the targeting of Russia’s economic lifelines and raises questions regarding the security of energy corridors previously considered beyond the reach of the conflict.
The operation, carried out by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), reportedly targeted the Vladimir Filanovsky field, situated in the northern sector of the Caspian Sea. According to SBU sources, four drones successfully struck the offshore platform, forcing the suspension of oil and gas production from more than 20 wells servicing the facility.
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The Guardian (UK) – December 11, 2025
US lawmakers condemn seizure of Venezuelan oil tanker: ‘Trump is sleepwalking us into a war’
Related: ‘Spoof’ ship: Seized oil tanker Skipper hid location data, visited Iran and Venezuela — CNBC
Related: Trump Puts the Oil Squeeze on Maduro — the U.S. hits the regime in the pocketbook, and let’s hope there’s more — The Wall Street Journal editorial*
Senior Democratic lawmakers and at least one Republican have condemned Wednesday’s seizure of a Venezuelan oil tanker off the nation’s coast, with one saying Donald Trump is “sleepwalking us into a war with Venezuela”. There is growing, at least somewhat bipartisan unease in Washington over the administration’s escalating military posture in the region. Trump has accused Venezuela of facilitating drug trafficking, and increased the US military presence in the Caribbean to a level not seen in decades. The administration has also conducted a campaign of bombings of alleged drug boats, killing more than 80 people so far.
Trump confirmed the tanker seizure shortly after it occurred, telling reporters: “We’ve just seized a tanker on the coast of Venezuela – large tanker, very large, largest one ever seized, actually.” When asked what would happen to the oil, Trump responded: “We keep the oil, I guess!”
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Reuters – December 9, 2025
Putin clears deals with Rosneft and Shell’s joint-venture stake in Caspian Pipeline Consortium*
Russian President Vladimir Putin issued a decree on Monday clearing potential deals with Rosneft and Shell’s joint-venture stake in the Caspian Pipeline Consortium, which exports oil mainly from Kazakhstan. The decree said it allowed the deals, which may result in changes of ownership, in the CPC by the Rosneft-Shell Caspian Ventures Limited. It did not elaborate. The venture has a 7.5% stake in the CPC, in which other international majors, such as Chevron and Eni, as well as Russia’s second-largest oil producer, Lukoil, also have shares.
The United States imposed sanctions against Rosneft and Lukoil in October over Russia’s war in Ukraine, forcing Lukoil to declare the sale of its foreign assets. Rosneft has not announced any actions in relation to the sanctions.
Utilities, Electricity & Renewables
New York Times – December 11, 2025
How to Fight Rising Utility Bills? Take Over the Company, Activists Say.*
Everyone complains about their energy bills, but few take any action. In New York’s Hudson Valley, a coalition of officials, activists and community groups are trying to do just that by taking over their local utility. On Wednesday, the coalition released a feasibility study by the Texas-based NewGen Strategies that found that replacing the utility, Central Hudson Gas & Electric, with a public authority was feasible and could result in customer savings within the first year of operation.
The savings are relatively modest — a tenth of a percent on gas and 2 percent on electric delivery rates — but they are expected to grow over time, particularly for electric customers, the study found. Reducing energy bills is not the only goal; the coalition wants the state’s energy system to be more responsive to its customers and better positioned to respond to the climate crisis. “The only way, like we’re only going to make our energy system work if we start talking about public ownership very seriously,” said Sarahana Shrestha, an assemblywoman representing Kingston and New Paltz, who has held roughly 18 town halls to build support for the project.
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Construction Equipment Guide – December 10, 2025
Doral Renewables Chooses Bechtel to Build 430 MW Cold Creek Solar Project
Bechtel, an engineering, construction and project management firm, announced on Nov. 5, 2025, that it was selected by Doral Renewables to design and build the Cold Creek Solar+Storage project in Schleicher and Tom Green counties, Texas. The facility is expected to generate approximately 430 megawatts (MW) of clean energy using more than 850,000 solar modules. The Cold Creek project also will feature a 340 megawatt-hour (MWh) battery energy storage system to capture and store excess energy generated during the day and deliver it to the Texas electricity grid when consumer demand peaks.
“The Cold Creek project highlights the power of an all-of-the-above energy strategy,” said Scott Austin, Bechtel general manager of renewables and clean power. “Texas continues to lead the nation in blending traditional and renewable resources to strengthen its grid. By combining 430 MW of solar generation with 340 MWh of storage, Cold Creek will make the Texas grid stronger and more reliable for years to come. We are proud to bring Bechtel’s experience to this important project and support Doral Renewables’ mission to deliver reliable, homegrown power to Texas.”
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Inside Climate News – December 11, 2025
How Batteries Could Play a Role in Data Center Rollouts
With data center developers in Texas and most other states now commonly deploying fossil fuel generators as backup power sources, a nascent industry from the renewable side of power generation—battery storage—has started elbowing its way into the fast-growing sector. A new report by Oxford-based Aurora Energy Research detailed how adding battery storage to a site could improve data centers’ power quality, provide flexibility and reduce transmission congestion, while offering an opportunity to reduce emissions.
Battery storage already works as an uninterruptible power supply (UPS), or a bridge from grid power to backup power, as most generators take anywhere from five to 30 minutes to ramp up, said Lizzie Bonahoom, an Aurora Energy Research associate.
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Texas Public Radio (NPR) – December 9, 2025
AI is bringing old nuclear plants out of retirement
The Palisades Nuclear Generating Station is nestled between sand dunes on the eastern shore of Lake Michigan. It shut down for financial reasons in 2022. Three years later, it’s on the cusp of reopening, with hundreds of workers streaming through its security barriers every day.
Palisades is on track to restart in early 2026. When it does, it will be the first nuclear plant in the United States to generate electricity again after being decommissioned. Nick Culp of Holtec, the company that owns the plant, said its revival is a response to a surge in demand for electricity.
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MSN – December 8, 2025
NextEra to build 15 gigawatts of power for data centers by 2035
NextEra Energy plans to build 15 gigawatts of new power generation for data center hubs by 2035, CEO John Ketchum told investors on Monday. NextEra is the largest renewable energy developer in the U.S. through NextEra Energy Resources, and also owns Florida Power & Light. The utility also operates a fleet of nuclear- and natural gas-powered plants.
The power company also announced a partnership with Alphabet’s Google unit on Monday to develop three gigawatt scale data center campuses in the U.S. with plans to expand to additional locations. NextEra shares closed about 3% lower on Monday. A gigawatt is roughly equivalent to more than 800,000 homes based on average household electricity consumption in 2024, according to the Energy Information Administration. Ketchum said the 15 gigawatts of power for data center hubs is a “fairly conservative” target.
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Bloomberg – December 9, 2025
Nuclear and Fossil Fuels Join Forces to Undermine Renewables*
The towering smokestacks of the Indian River power plant have been etched on the horizon of Delaware Bay for more than 60 years. From its opening in 1957, the plant burned tens of millions of tons of coal, sending pollution over thousands of homes and toxic ash into the groundwater. About 20 years ago, residents began joining in opposition. They collected health data from downwind communities; their findings prompted Delaware to officially designate the area a cancer cluster and led the plant to start downscaling operations.
Last year the administration of Joe Biden, whose summer home is about 14 miles northeast of the plant, approved a plan that reimagined the site. The project called for putting a substation next to it that would distribute energy from more than 100 wind turbines to be built about 10 miles out to sea. The last of the plant’s four coal-burning units was already scheduled to shut down for good within a year. Renewable energy would take the place of coal.
David Stevenson had something different in mind. A former executive for the DuPont de Nemours Inc. chemical company, he worked for the Caesar Rodney Institute, the Delaware affiliate of the State Policy Network (SPN), a national consortium of think tanks aligned with, and partly funded by, fossil fuel interests. On behalf of the institute, Stevenson, 77, campaigned against electric vehicle subsidies, national ozone standards and a carbon tax.
Regulatory
San Antonio Current – December 11, 2025
Texas cut more from its environmental budget than nearly any state
As the Trump administration pushes for deep cuts to the Environmental Protection Agency, saying states can take a bigger part in environmental oversight, new data show the majority of states — Texas included — have already slashed their budgets for pollution control. A study released this week by the Environmental Integrity Project found that 27 states have reduced budgets for their environmental agencies over the past 15 years, adjusted for inflation, and Texas was among the worst offenders.
The Lone Star State is among seven that have axed a third or more of their funding for environmental oversight. Indeed, the 33% funding reduction for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality was the nation’s seventh-largest. Lawmakers whittled the agency’s budget from $615 million in 2010 to just $413 million last fiscal year.
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Texas Energy Report NewsClips
Thursday December 11, 2025
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 eased on Thursday as investors shifted focus back to Russia-Ukraine peace talks and monitored potential fallout from a U.S. seizure of a sanctioned oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela.
West Texas Intermediate crude fell 78 cents, also 1.3%, to $57.68 a barrel.
Brent crude futures were down 81 cents, or 1.3%, at $61.40 a barrel at 0904 GMT.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Thursday that a visit to Moscow this month by U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff had resolved misunderstandings between the two countries.
He added that Moscow had handed over Russia’s proposals on collective security guarantees to Washington.
Top Stories
The Wall Street Journal – December 10, 2025
A Billion-Barrel Oil Glut Is Forming at Sea*
The oil market is grappling with whether sanctioned Russian and Iranian cargoes should still be counted as supply. This may explain why oil prices have been slow to react to a huge glut that is building on the ocean. There are 1.4 billion barrels of oil “on the water.” That is 24% higher than the average for this time of year between 2016 and 2024, according to oil-analytics firm Vortexa. The data measures shipments that are on their way to be unloaded at a port, or cargoes that haven’t yet found a buyer.
The rise of oil on water comes from multiple sources. There has been a 16% year-over-year jump in barrels from mainstream producers, Vortexa data shows. OPEC+ has been pumping more oil as it unwinds production cuts, and supply is also increasing from non-OPEC exporters like Brazil, Guyana and the U.S. But there has also been a surge from sanctioned producers Russia, Iran and Venezuela. The number of “dark” barrels on the ocean has jumped 82% in a year, with a rapid rise in the past three months.
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Inside Climate News – December 10, 2025
Greenpeace Scrutinizes the Environmental Record of the Company That Sued the Group
The Greenpeace version of this story is here
The environmental nonprofit Greenpeace was under the microscope in a North Dakota trial this year. Now the organization is calling attention to the environmental impacts of the pipeline company that brought it to court and won a $345 million judgment. A new report released Wednesday identifies oil spills, gas releases, air pollution and other incidents at Energy Transfer’s web of pipelines and infrastructure nationwide, including subsidiaries and joint ventures. More incidents occurred in Texas, where Energy Transfer is headquartered, than any other state, according to the report.
The report, titled Bad Neighbor, follows a March 2025 jury verdict that found Greenpeace USA liable for damages during protests against Energy Transfer’s Dakota Access pipeline. Greenpeace calls the case a strategic lawsuit against public participation, or SLAPP, designed to silence criticism of the company. Greenpeace’s report on Dallas-based Energy Transfer summarizes public information on the company’s environmental record and calls for defending the rights to protest and free speech.
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Reuters – December 10, 2025
Energy Transfer says Lake Charles LNG investment nod expected in early 2026*
U.S. pipeline operator Energy Transfer has secured enough agreements to sell liquefied natural gas to make a final investment decision on its Lake Charles LNG project early next year, an executive said on Wednesday at the Reuters Energy Live conference in Houston. Energy Transfer has been developing the LNG export facility in Louisiana, with capacity of 16.5 million metric tons per annum. It said last month that it wanted to sell 80% of the project to equity partners.
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Politico – December 10, 2025
House panel approves major changes to the Clean Air Act*
A House panel advanced seven Republican bills Wednesday that could collectively amount to the biggest rewrite of the Clean Air Act in more than three decades if signed into law. The House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on the Environment consistently broke along party lines in approving the legislation during a sometimes confrontational markup. Majority Republicans also rejected all proposed Democratic amendments.
Among other changes, the GOP measures would overhaul EPA’s machinery for setting National Ambient Air Quality Standards, give President Donald Trump more power to exempt polluting industries from existing air regulations and weaken implementation of a stronger soot standard put in place last year that’s predicted to eventually save thousands of lives. The markup’s contours were set in the opening statements of subcommittee Chair Gary Palmer (R-Ala.) and ranking member Paul Tonko (D-N.Y.). Despite the act’s undeniable importance in improving air air quality, it “has not been significantly amended since 1990 and has not kept pace to meet the economic and security risks facing this country,” Palmer said.
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Houston Chronicle – December 10, 2025
‘Recipe for disaster’: Why Texas could see big impacts from Trump’s EPA cuts*
The Trump administration’s deep cuts to Environmental Protection Agency staff and programs since January will have an outsized impact on Texas, where its own state agency has also shrunk, according to a new Environmental Integrity Project report. The EPA has seen a precipitous decline in funding and staff since January, with one group of academics calculating that the agency will have lost one in three of its employees by the end of the year. Many programs – including all environmental justice work and a large percentage of agency research – have already been terminated, and lawmakers are now contemplating even deeper cuts to its operational budget. …
“The federal government is proposing the deepest cuts to EPA in 40 years,” said Drew Ball, the NRDC’s director of Southeast campaigns. “That’s a recipe for disaster.” With thousands of jobs eliminated, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin has repeatedly touted a plan to emphasize “cooperative federalism” where states take the reins. The Environmental Integrity Project report released Wednesday argues that the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality isn’t in a position to take on that role. Adjusted for inflation, its own budget has been reduced by 33% in the past decade.
The Latest TERse Tips
Lyntegar CEO Greg Henley is retiring after four decades of dedicated service — congratulations, Greg, from Texas Energy Report — Facebook
Former Texas Lt. Gov. Bill Ratliff died Monday in Mount Pleasant at 89 — Marshall News Messenger
Atmos Energy is teaming up with South Plains Community Action to provide assistance to customers behind on their natural gas bills in the nine surrounding counties of Lubbock — KCBD
The US General Services Administration has announced the public auction of the oil & gas mineral rights of approximately 133 total net mineral acres in Big Spring — see the press release
Jeff Bezos’ aerospace firm Blue Origin has been working for over a year on the necessary technology for artificial intelligence data centers in space, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday, citing a person familiar with the matter — Reuters*
The autonomous ride-hailing service Waymo plans to file a voluntarily software recall after several reports that its self-driving taxis illegally passed stopped school buses — a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration investigation is underway — KACU
South Carolina’s stalled nuclear power project could finally finish construction as a private company has offered to pay $2.7 billion to the state-owned utility and a small share of the power if they can reach an agreement to get the two reactors up and running — Associated Press
Oil & Gas Texas
Houston Chronicle – December 10, 2025
Texas candidate took money from Democrats, then flipped to GOP*
A Texas Railroad Commissioner candidate is in hot water after flipping her candidacy from Democrat to Republican—just days after fundraising from Democratic donors. Katherine Culbert, a process safety engineer who has worked in the oil and gas sector, reportedly raised money for her 2026 campaign as a Democrat through ActBlue, a fundraising site for Democratic candidates, before suddenly filing to run as a Republican. Culbert signaled that she had switched gears, announcing that she officially filed to run as a Republican on X on Tuesday, writing, “I am directing my campaign toward all Texans and stressing that effective statewide leadership must rise above partisan expectations.”
Her flip-flop sparked immediate anger online, with critics calling for her to issue refunds to donors, run as a Democrat, and be blacklisted from ever using ActBlue. “Let’s be clear. Switching from Democrat to Republican is not a decision you make on a whim,” Michelle Davis, of Lone Star Left Substack, wrote. “You don’t wake up one morning, pour your coffee, and say, ‘You know what? Forget everything I’ve ever said publicly, every donor I’ve taken money from, every volunteer who’s knocked doors for me. I think I’ll join the party of election deniers and book banners today…This was a plan.”
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The Wall Street Journal – December 10, 2025
Chevron CEO Sees Growing Potential in Biofuels and Geothermal Energy*
The head of one of the biggest oil companies in the world has his eye on expanding a variety of alternative energy sources. “We worked on things that leveraged our capabilities, our customers, our value chains,” said Chevron CEO Mike Wirth, highlighting projects for hydrogen, carbon capture and storage, as well as geothermal and biofuels. Wirth, who was speaking at the WSJ CEO Council on Tuesday, discussed the company’s low-carbon plans alongside the expansion of its traditional oil-and-gas business.
“We start with things where we have some reason to believe we can create shareholder value, where we’ve got skills and competency, so we didn’t go into wind or solar because we’re not a turbine manufacturer installing wind and solar,” he said. Wirth said another core criteria was being able to compete and meet customer needs without relying on long-term subsidies. Subsidies for renewable energy such as wind and solar were cut this year as political tides changed in the U.S. “There’s certainly a case for subsidies or other forms of government policy to help technologies get established and bring down the cost, but over time we need to invest in things that can compete and deliver return on capital without relying on subsidies,” he said.
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KXAN – December 10, 2025
First of 30 oil lease sales planned for Gulf of Mexico draws $300 million from companies
Oil companies offered $300 million for drilling rights in the Gulf of Mexico on Wednesday in the first of 30 sales planned for the region under Republican efforts to ramp up U.S. fossil fuel production. The sale came after President Donald Trump’s administration recently announced plans to allow new drilling off Florida and California for the first time in decades. That’s drawn pushback, including from Republicans worried about impacts to tourism.
Wednesday’s sale was mandated by the sweeping tax-and-spending bill approved by Republicans over the summer. Under that legislation, companies will pay a 12.5% royalty on oil produced from the leases. That’s the lowest royalty level for deep-water drilling since 2007.
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Rigzone – December 10, 2025
Kinder Morgan Expects to Ride on LNG, Power Demand Growth
Kinder Morgan Inc has announced adjusted earnings per share (EPS) guidance of $1.37 for 2026, with the North American pipeline operator encouraged by growth in the liquefied natural gas (LNG) and power sectors. That is an increase of eight percent versus its adjusted EPS forecast for 2025. For 2026 adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA), Kinder Morgan expects $8.7 billion, up four percent compared to its guidance for 2025.
The outlook reflects “continued execution on expansion projects in our natural gas pipelines business segment”, chief executive Kim Dang said in an online statement. “We are projecting an annualized dividend of $1.19 for 2026, marking the ninth consecutive year of dividend increases”, Dang added.
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S&P Global Platts – December 10, 2025
USGC energy economy outlook ‘cautiously optimistic’ despite uncertainty: LSU
Despite substantial energy policy and trade uncertainty, the outlook for much of the US Gulf Coast’s energy economy is “cautiously optimistic,” albeit less so than in 2024, the Louisiana State University Center for Energy Studies said Dec. 10.
“One of the central themes in the stakeholder calls this year was policy uncertainty,” said Greg Upton, executive director of the center, during a webinar about its Gulf Coast Energy Outlook, which focuses on Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. He cited the Republican Party’s “unprecedented” repeal of renewable energy tax credits before a previous law’s expiration and the Trump administration’s unilateral levy of tariffs on international trade partners.
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MSN – December 10, 2025
Enterprise Products Partners faces growth challenges, says JPMorgan analyst
On December 1, JPMorgan analyst Jeremy Tonet downgraded Enterprise Products Partners L.P. (NYSE:EPD) to Neutral from Overweight and kept a price target of $35. The firm sees limited upside at current share prices and noted that the company’s EBITDA falls behind its peers. The analyst mentioned in a research note that excess capacity in several hydrocarbon logistics areas is limiting the company’s ability to grow due to “aggressive” competition.
Enterprise Products Partners L.P.’s multi-year capital investment phase, which was announced in 2022, is finally in its concluding phase. As a part of this plan, the company has built several pipelines and marine terminal facilities in recent years. In addition, it also closed some acquisitions to support growth in new areas. As soon as Enterprise finishes its last major expansion project in the first half of next year, the company’s free cash flow generation will be more significant.
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Bloomberg – December 10, 2025
How a Nuclear-Fossil Fuel Alliance Is Winning the Fight for Energy Dominance*
The towering smokestacks of the Indian River power plant have been etched on the horizon of Delaware Bay for more than 60 years. From its opening in 1957, the plant burned tens of millions of tons of coal, sending pollution over thousands of homes and toxic ash into the groundwater. About 20 years ago, residents began joining in opposition. They collected health data from downwind communities; their findings prompted Delaware to officially designate the area a cancer cluster and led the plant to start downscaling operations.
Last year the administration of Joe Biden, whose summer home is about 14 miles northeast of the plant, approved a plan that reimagined the site. The project called for putting a substation next to it that would distribute energy from more than 100 wind turbines to be built about 10 miles out to sea. The last of the plant’s four coal-burning units was already scheduled to shut down for good within a year. Renewable energy would take the place of coal.
David Stevenson had something different in mind. A former executive for the DuPont de Nemours Inc. chemical company, he worked for the Caesar Rodney Institute, the Delaware affiliate of the State Policy Network (SPN), a national consortium of think tanks aligned with, and partly funded by, fossil fuel interests. On behalf of the institute, Stevenson, 77, campaigned against electric vehicle subsidies, national ozone standards and a carbon tax.
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Indian Chemical News – December 5, 2025
Fineotex Chemical acquires US-based oilfield chemicals firm CrudeChem Technologies
Fineotex Chemical Limited (FCL), a leading global provider of specialty performance chemicals, has acquired the CrudeChem Technologies Group (CCT), a well-established U.S.-based specialty chemical manufacturer. This move marks a major step in the company’s global expansion and technological advancement in sustainable chemical solutions.
CrudeChem specializes in advanced chemical fluid additives and comprehensive chemical solutions for the global oil and gas industry. … CrudeChem is supported by a world-class technical laboratory in Texas and operational facilities in Midland and Brookshire, Texas, providing a strong foundation of scientific depth and operational capability.
Oil & Gas National & International
CBS News – December 10, 2025
U.S. seizes oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, escalating tensions
The U.S. has seized a large oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, officials said Wednesday, escalating tensions between the two countries. President Trump said he assumes the U.S. will keep the oil. Bloomberg first reported the oil tanker seizure. Mr. Trump announced the seizure during a roundtable meeting at the White House, saying the tanker was “seized for a very good reason.”
“As you probably know, we’ve just seized a tanker on the coast of Venezuela, a large tanker, very large,” he said. “Largest one ever seized, actually. And other things are happening, so you’ll be seeing that later and you’ll be talking about that later with some other people.”
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S&P Global Platts – December 10, 2025
LyondellBasell eyes 2032 start for Sipchem JV Jubail petchems complex: CEO
US-based LyondellBasell has estimated a 2032 startup for the Jubail-based petrochemical complex, CEO Peter Vanacker told Platts during the Gulf Petrochemicals and Chemicals Association annual forum in Bahrain Dec. 9. “This is a huge project,” Vanacker said, remarking that the project is currently in its first phase of evaluating feasibility and the market environment, “but if everything would continue to progress, then we’re probably talking about 2032,” he added.
In February, Saudi-based Sipchem announced it had successfully allocated feedstock from the Saudi Ministry of Energy for the joint venture complex, which is set to add a production capacity of 1.5 million metric tons/year of ethylene and 1.8 million mt/y of derivative products, including basic and specialty polymers, the company reported Feb. 27 to the Saudi stock exchange, Tadawul.
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Politico – December 9, 2025
Supreme Court asks for Trump admin’s view on pipeline fight
The Supreme Court is asking the Trump administration to offer its thoughts on a quarrel over who should pay the legal fees in a landowner dispute over compensation for a pipeline crossing their property. North Dakota rancher Len Hoffmann and other landowners represented by the Institute for Justice want the high court to rule on whether state or federal law determines which party is responsible for covering their attorneys’ fees.
On Monday, the court asked the solicitor general to file a brief on the merits of the case, Hoffmann v. WBI Energy Transmission. The input of the solicitor general can play an important role in helping the court decide whether to grant a case. At least four justices have to agree to hear a petition. The Supreme Court petition comes after landowners challenged the rate WBI reimbursed them for their land after the gas company built a pipeline across their property. The landowners had not opposed the pipe itself but instead challenged how the company calculated the value of their land.
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Utilities, Electricity & Renewables
pv magazine – December 10, 2025
What to know about ERCOT’s new RTC+B program
While many of us wait until January to start our New Year’s Resolutions, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) began its 2026 glow-up a little early.
Last week, Texas’ independent system operator officially launched its long-awaited Real-Time Co-optimization plus Batteries (RTC+B) program in what’s the biggest change to the market in 15 years. The new structure integrates ancillary services into the real-time market rather than the day-ahead market, allowing ERCOT to simultaneously optimize them with energy.
“RTC+B is a win for the ERCOT energy market overall,” Portia Gilman, a market monitoring manager at energy market analysis firm Yes Energy, told ESS News. By co-optimizing energy and ancillary services together instead of addressing them separately, she explained, the program will likely result in “more optimal, least-cost dispatch across the system.”
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ESG Today – December 10, 2025
Geothermal energy project developer Fervo Energy announced that it has raised $462 million aimed at supporting the development of its large-scale project in Utah and other new carbon-free energy projects, with the new Series E funding round adding Google as a new investor, and Bill Gates-backed Breakthrough Energy Ventures as a returning investor.
Founded in 2017, Houston Texas-based Fervo Energy focuses on the development of enhanced geothermal systems (EGS) projects to deliver carbon-free energy. The company uses techniques such as horizontal drilling and distributed fiber optic sensing to make reservoirs of hot rock that exist beneath the earth’s surface into clean energy sources.
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Politico – December 10, 2025
Can the grid handle data centers? Look to Texas.*
The state’s primary grid operator reported this month that large power consumers will need 225 gigawatts of electricity over the next five years. Almost three-quarters of that new demand would come from data centers. Two things stand out about that number. First, it is almost absurdly large. The nation’s largest wholesale power market, serving 67 million people from D.C. to Chicago, has a peak demand of about 160 GW. In contrast, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, which serves about 90 percent of the state, now tops out around 85 GW.
The second thing is just how quickly that number has grown. In January, ERCOT reported 83 GW of new demand seeking to plug into its grid. Taken together, those figures show how quickly the race to develop artificial intelligence is remaking America’s power markets.
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Governing – December 10, 2025
Public Pressure Builds Over Utility Costs Nationwide
The last time the Maine Public Utilities Commission considered an electricity price hike, the proposal received fewer than 90 comments from the public. Three years later, amid skyrocketing energy prices, more than 800 people weighed in on the plan, showing up to public hearings and even protesting outside.
The commission last month ultimately rejected the proposal that would have raised bills by about $35 per month for customers of Central Maine Power, the state’s largest electricity provider. In explaining the denial, Commission Chair Philip Bartlett cited growing energy costs.
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Data Center Dynamics – December 8, 2025
Palantir unveils Chain Reaction OS to accelerate AI infrastructure buildout
US software developer Palantir is launching an operating system to help power generation and distribution companies accelerate AI data center buildouts. Dubbed Chain Reaction, the system was developed in partnership with CenterPoint Energy and Nvidia. The rationale behind its creation, the companies contend, is that power has become the biggest bottleneck for AI development, requiring new tools to support the buildout of both data centers and the infrastructure that powers them.
“The energy infrastructure buildout is the industrial challenge of our generation,” said Tristan Gruska, Palantir’s head of energy and infrastructure. … According to Palantir, the Chain Reaction platform is designed to modernize aging power plants for AI-era reliability, stabilize and expand strained power grids, accelerate the buildout of new energy and computing infrastructure, and streamline the design of hyperscale data centers to meet the soaring demands of AI.
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Utility Dive – December 10, 2025
EIA cuts 2026 power generation forecast by more than a percentage point
The Energy Information Administration cut its 2026 electricity generation growth forecast by 1.3% from last month “based on how much large load electricity demand has come online so far this year,” particularly in Texas, “and its implications for near-term growth,” according to its most recent Short-Term Energy Outlook released Tuesday.
EIA now projects generation to grow 2.4% this year and 1.7% next year. The agency expects the United States will generate 4,327 billion kWh in 2026, down from a 4,382 billion kWh estimate issued last month. Just last month, the EIA said it expected U.S. electricity generation to grow by 3% in 2026, more than a percentage point higher.
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Politico – December 8, 2025
Trump admin urges Supreme Court to reject utility antitrust petition*
The Trump administration is calling on the Supreme Court to deny Duke Energy’s request for relief in an antitrust case that could have broader implications for how courts evaluate business competition. The North Carolina-based utility is seeking to overturn a 2024 ruling from a lower bench that allowed Florida-based power supplier NTE to pursue an antitrust suit against Duke. In a Supreme Court brief filed last week, Solicitor General D. John Sauer said Duke’s request “arises out of a campaign by an established monopolist to stop a more efficient rival from disturbing its long-dominant hold over a regional energy market.”
The justices in June invited the administration to weigh in on the matter. At least four justices have to vote to take up a case, and the solicitor general’s view can be an important factor in the justices’ decision to grant or reject a petition. Sauer said the Supreme Court does not need to review the decision from the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which found that actions Duke took involving NTE could qualify as anticompetitive. Nor, he wrote, “is this case a suitable vehicle to announce any broader rule of antitrust law.”
Regulatory
Politico – December 10, 2025
Most states slashed environmental budgets long before Trump*
States were downsizing their environmental watchdogs long before the Trump administration began unraveling federal rules, according to a new report. Two-thirds of states have cut staffing levels at environmental agencies over the past 15 years, and more than half have cut those agencies’ budgets, according to a report published Wednesday by the Environmental Integrity Project, a group that advocates for less pollution.
That includes seven states that have cut their environmental budgets by at least one-third, adjusted for inflation, led by Mississippi (71 percent cut), South Dakota (61 percent), Connecticut (51 percent) and Alabama (49 percent). Iowa, Wyoming and Texas cut their budgets by about 33 percent.
Those cuts could have profound effects on efforts to cut pollution, especially as the Trump administration cancels climate grants and rolls back environmental regulations. Under the Clean Air Act and other federal laws, implementation and enforcement of pollution standards often depends on states. The nonpartisan Environmental Council of the States estimates that 90 percent of federal environmental laws are delegated to states.
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Politico – December 10, 2025
House easily clears bills on public lands, wildlife*
The House on Tuesday cleared a slate of natural resource and water bills, including one to reauthorize the the Secure Rural Schools program. The chamber passed S. 356, from Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), by a vote of 399-5. The Senate passed the measure in June by unanimous consent. The program was created in 2000 to help school districts and counties that don’t receive property taxes from federal land within their jurisdictions. Without the funding, they’d rely on timber harvest revenue that is much less than what SRS provides.
The program lapsed in September 2023, and since then bill backer say schools and counties across 41 states have seen a 63 percent shortfall totaling $177 million. “Natural forests define our landscape, and they define who we are,” Rep. Gabe Vasquez (D-N.M.) said during debate. “Yet those beautiful lands also mean fewer taxable acres, fewer revenue streams for public schools and fewer resources to maintain the roads that our families travel every day. For more than 20 years, SRS helped close that gap.”
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Texas Energy Report NewsClips
Wednesday December 10, 2025
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 held steady on Wednesday after falling about 1% in the previous session, as investors watched for progress in Russia-Ukraine peace talks and awaited a decision on U.S. interest rates.
West Texas Intermediate crude was at $58.44 a barrel, up 19 cents, or 0.3%.
Brent crude futures were up 19 cents, or 0.3%, to $62.13 a barrel at 0645 GMT.
“Oil markets are currently struggling for direction as far as we can see, with a minor lift from falling U.S. inventories as reported by API,” said Suvro Sarkar, lead energy analyst at DBS Bank, referring to the American Petroleum Institute.
“Traders will be looking for cues from any breakthroughs or lack thereof in Ukraine peace talks, while the U.S. Fed rate cut policy is another key macro driver that could provide some support for oil prices.”
Market sources, citing API figures, said on Tuesday that U.S. crude inventories fell by 4.78 million barrels last week, while gasoline stocks rose by 7 million barrels and distillate inventories rose by 1.03 million barrels.
Top Stories
Politico – December 9, 2025
Tom Steyer’s climate pivot signals new playbook for Dems*
Related: Democratic candidates running in next year’s midterm elections should focus their campaign messages on reducing energy prices, including backing new fossil fuel projects, a new polling memo advises — even if that means potentially straining relationships within the environmental movement — Politico*
You can measure how far Democrats have retreated from climate politics in one name: Tom Steyer. The billionaire environmental activist who built his political profile on climate change — and who wrote in his book last year that “climate is what matters most right now, and nothing else comes close” — didn’t mention the issue once in the video launching his campaign for California governor. That was no oversight. Instead, he leaned hard into economic populism, criticizing the rich and aiming to tap into the magic that powered the likes of Sen. John Fetterman to office in Pennsylvania and is the bedrock of other 2026 hopefuls, like Graham Platner in the Senate race in Maine.
“Everyone knows that this race is really about affordability,” Steyer’s campaign strategist Rebecca Katz said in an interview. “Tom wants to get back to basics.” It’s a far cry from Steyer’s 2020 presidential campaign, when he proclaimed climate his No. 1 priority, vowed to declare a climate emergency on day one, and pressed Joe Biden on his climate credentials. But it reflects a political reality confronting Democrats ahead of the midterms, where one-time climate evangelists are running into an electorate more worried about the climbing cost of electricity bills and home insurance than a warming atmosphere.
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Houston Chronicle – December 9, 2025
Related: The amount of ERCOT‘s large load interconnection requests ballooned to more than 230 gigawatts this year, a massive increase from the 63 gigawatts reported in December 2024. The agency, which operates the electrical grid for most of Texas, reported “many” of the interconnection requests exceed one gigawatt per site. More than 70% of the large loads were data centers. — Dallas Morning News*
The Texas power grid is expected to hold up through most weather conditions this winter, even though the emerging data center boom adds a new layer of risk, grid officials said Tuesday. Through February, there is an approximately 1% to 2% chance of rotating outages during the highest-risk morning hours, according to reports released by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas in the last few months.
That’s an improvement from last year, when ERCOT forecasted an approximately 7% chance of rotating blackouts during last winter’s highest-risk hours. ERCOT CEO Pablo Vegas credited the continued growth of electricity supply — mostly solar arrays and battery storage facilities — for helping to reduce the risk of outages, particularly this summer. Since last winter, the ERCOT grid has added 11 gigawatts of new capacity, Vegas said, which is enough power for nearly 2.8 million homes during peak demand times. “2025 is going to represent a year with tremendous supply growth on the ERCOT grid,” Vegas said at the grid operator’s quarterly board meeting Tuesday morning.
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Bloomberg – December 9, 2025
Exxon Lifts 2030 Cash Flow Forecasts, Sees Less Low Carbon*
Exxon Mobil Corp. raised its forecast for future earnings and cash flow due to growth in key assets in the Permian Basin, Guyana and liquefied natural gas — and reduced low carbon investments. Exxon expects $35 billion in cash flow growth by 2030, an increase of about 17% from what it was projecting a year ago, with no changes to capital expenditure, the Spring, Texas-based company said today in a statement. It sees $20 billion of low-carbon investment over the next five years, down from $30 billion last year after Chief Executive Officer Darren Woods warned of lagging customer demand for green fuels such as hydrogen.
“We expect a slightly positive reaction to the updated outlook,” Arun Jayaram, an analyst at JPMorgan Chase & Co. said in a note. “Importantly, capex expectations were in line,” he said, noting next year’s production will be “a bit light” compared with forecasts.
Heavy investment in low-cost assets in the Permian Basin and Guyana, both of which are profitable at less than $35 a barrel, are helping Exxon grow production and make money even as rivals struggle to adjust to crude prices that are hovering near the lowest in four years. CEO Darren Woods believes his fossil fuel investments over the past decade — even during the pandemic and wave of environmental, social and governance investing — has set the company up to thrive, whatever path the energy transition takes in the future. “Our transformation helps ensure that in any future environment, and for decades to come, Exxon Mobil will have an important role and deliver substantial shareholder value,” he said in the statement.
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Pipeline & Gas Journal – December 8, 2025
Antero Midstream Buys HG Energy Gas Gathering Assets for $1.1 Billion, Sells Utica System
Antero Resources Corp. and its affiliate Antero Midstream have unveiled a series of coordinated transactions worth about $3.9 billion, including the $2.8 billion purchase of HG Energy’s Marcellus Shale assets and a $1.1 billion acquisition of related midstream infrastructure, alongside separate sales of non-core Utica properties. Under the agreements, Antero Resources will acquire the upstream assets of HG Energy II LLC for $2.8 billion in cash plus the assumption of HG Energy’s commodity hedge book.
The deal adds roughly 850 million cubic feet equivalent per day of expected 2026 production and 385,000 net acres in West Virginia’s core Marcellus region. At the same time, the company will sell its Ohio Utica Shale assets for $800 million, with both transactions expected to close in the first half of 2026.
The Latest TERse Tips
One of the European intelligence agencies reports on Russia’s plans to carry out large-scale sabotage in Europe — experts are confident that this is only part of a larger scheme — according to the Financial Times, Russian agents are actively studying road bridges and railways across the continent, looking for vulnerable spots to plant explosives — the scale of Russia’s sabotage activities is striking — it is known that one of the Russian sabotage networks was preparing to blow up planes flying to the United States. — 112 UA
State funding boosts Corpus Christi water projects as Inner Harbor desal plan returns — Corpus Christi City Council received major updates on water supply projects, including $46M in state funding, new wells, pipeline expansion and a revived desal plan — KIII
Halliburton says Shannon Slocum has been promoted to Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer and been appointed to the board of directors, effective January 1, 2026 — Rigzone
Fitch Ratings has affirmed Antero Resources Corporation’s Long-Term Issuer Default Rating at ‘BBB-‘ and senior unsecured notes ratings at ‘BBB-‘ following the announcement that it will acquire HG Energy II, LLC’s (HG) assets in West Virginia — the Rating Outlook is Stable — Fitch
Enverus, the leading energy SaaS and analytics platform, today announced the appointment of Matt Johnson as its new president and Chief Revenue Officer, effective December 8, 2025 — see the press release
Perma-Pipe International Holdings, Inc. says Richard M. Sherrill has been added to its board, effective immediately — he has served as a member of the Board of Talos Energy, Inc. since February 2023 — see the press release
Trinity Gas Storage, LLC say it has reached Final Investment Decision on Phase II of its gas storage development project in East Texas — see the press release
Energy Impact Partners, an investment firm that recently closed a new fund of nearly $1.4 billion, is looking to buy out struggling companies working on the energy transition — Politico*
Ukraine strikes Druzhba oil pipeline again, HUR source says, despite Hungary, Slovakia’s appeal — Kyiv Independent
Oil & Gas Texas
Houston Chronicle – December 9, 2025
Chevron settles Texas ‘zombie’ well case, sidestepping trial that threatened industry*
The legal fight that gave name to “zombie wells” in Texas is winding to a close as Chevron finalizes a settlement out of court with the owner of Antina Ranch. Had it gone to trial next month, the rare litigation between a wealthy rancher and a Houston oil giant would have offered unprecedented detail into the damage caused by leaking wells on the sprawling 22,000-acre ranch in West Texas. A courtroom win for landowner Ashley Watt could have paved a new legal path for landowners whose properties were polluted by decades-old leaking wells.
It also could have made Chevron and other big oil companies responsible for problems created by thousands of wells drilled and plugged decades ago in ways that haven’t withstood the test of time. The largest oil companies have acquired vast numbers of these old wells as they have gobbled up smaller companies. The Antina team sought to prove scores of old oil wells on Watt’s beloved family ranch in Crane and Ward counties were failing at an alarming rate. It challenged a long-held assumption that a plugged well stays plugged, permanently protecting the groundwater it cuts through from the toxic fluids often found deeper underground.
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Politico – December 9, 2025
FERC green-lights piece of major Louisiana LNG project*
The developer of the CP2 natural gas export terminal in Louisiana can begin construction of a gas-fired compressor station tied to the project, federal regulators said Monday. In a letter to Venture Global, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission granted a November request to commence work on the Moss Lake compressor station in Louisiana’s Calcasieu Parish.
Venture Global “has provided the information necessary to meet the applicable conditions” of the commission’s2024 authorization of the CP2 project, Shannon Crosley, an environmental project manager at FERC, said in the Monday letter. In November 2024, FERC set aside part of its authorization for the project to conduct an additional environmental review, in light of a July 2024 ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. FERC reaffirmed its authorization of CP2 in May of this year after preparing the supplemental review.
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KFDM – December 9, 2025
LNG tanker with ‘cool down cargo’ arrives at $10 billion Golden Pass export terminal
A cool down cargo of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Ras Laffan, Qatar has berthed at the Golden Pass LNG export terminal in Sabine Pass– signaling a major step toward first LNG production, according to Golden Pass LNG. The cargo contributes to the next phase of commissioning and start-up activities at the $10 billion project, representing major progress toward the first LNG from Golden Pass.
The cool down cargo will be used to pre-cool the terminal’s LNG storage tanks and associated equipment prior to the commencement of LNG production. Golden Pass LNG expects to begin exporting LNG from Train 1 early in the new year.
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Ship and Bunker – December 9, 2025
Galveston LNG Bunker Port Signs Supply Deal with International Shipping Firm
The project has signed a heads of agreement with an unnamed international shipping company covering LNG bunker supply via a Jones Act compliant bunker vessel in Galveston Bay from 2029, it said in an emailed statement from Tuesday. The project’s LNG bunkering terminal is due to begin operations in 2028, supplying LNG as a marine fuel by barge to vessels calling at the Port of Houston, the Port of Galveston or the Port of Texas City.
The terminal will eventually have a total capacity of up to 720,000 gallons per day, with two three-million-gallon storage tanks.
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Midland Reporter-Telegram – December 9, 2025
DOE official urges Permian Basin to push carbon capture, enhanced oil recovery*
Kyle Haustveit, assistant secretary for the hydrocarbons and geothermal energy office at the U.S. Department of Energy, urged attendees at the annual. CO2 Conference to continue their work. “Your work keeps the U.S. strong and prosperous and raises standards of living,” he said during his virtual appearance at the conference. He urged attendees to continue collaborating and navigating challenges to find solutions to carbon capture and storage issues and bring their expertise before policymakers.
“Push boundaries together there in the Permian Basin,” he said. Chuck McConnell, executive director at the University of Houston Center for Carbon Management in Energy, sees this as a pivotal moment for carbon capture and its use in enhancing oil recovery. “The interest in EOR has never been stronger than it is today. This conference bears that out — it’s an exciting time. There will be business opportunities in West Texas and other parts of the world,” he said.
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Oil & Gas National & International
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Reuters – December 9, 2025
Oil major Shell said output at two of its offshore platforms in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico has been temporarily shut due to a shutdown of the Hoover Offshore Oil Pipeline System (HOOPS). The top producer in the U.S. Gulf said it expects its Whale and Perdido platforms, which were shut in on Monday night, to resume production by the end of Tuesday. Whale was producing about 90,000 barrels per day (bpd), while Perdido’s output stood at around 57,000 bpd in September, market analytics firm Energy Aspects estimated.
Whale has a production capacity at peak rates of about 100,000 boepd, while Perdido’s stands at around 125,000 boepd, Shell said, declining to provide current output figures. Prices for Southern Green Canyon, a crude oil grade produced in the region, strengthened 40 cents on Tuesday to a discount of $2.45 to U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude. Exxon Mobil, the operator of the HOOPS pipeline, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The pipeline system carries oil from offshore fields south of Galveston, Texas, to near Freeport, Texas.
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Reuters – December 10, 2025
Venture Global submitted its response late on Tuesday to a legal challenge from Shell over the oil major’s defeat in an arbitration case concerning liquefied natural gas cargoes, rejecting allegations of fraud and accusing Shell of breaching arbitration confidentiality. The legal documents submitted in New York Supreme Court mark the latest development in a prolonged saga over Venture Global’s claimed failure to deliver LNG under long-term contracts while selling on the spot market as prices soared after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Shell and other companies including BP and Edison filed arbitration claims against Venture Global starting in 2023. Shell in August, while BP in October. Unipec , Reuters reported previously, citing sources. In a challenge last month to the arbitration ruling, Shell alleged that a third party testified in arbitration that Venture Global had abruptly decided to delay the start of its Calcasieu Pass LNG plant. Shell said it asked arbitrators to study that communication, but said Venture Global avoided disclosure by giving misleading statements.
Utilities, Electricity & Renewables
KHOU – December 9, 2025
ERCOT weighs how growing data center industry could impact Texas power grid
ERCOT is speaking up about the growth in data centers across the state. They said they’re seeing applications for the large load centers come in at record rates. These large load centers could be for data or crypto miners. All applications must go through special processes before being connected. This is to ensure they don’t de-stabilize the grid because of how much energy they require.
ERCOT said they received 225 applications for new large load interconnection requests in 2025 alone and the vast majority are for data centers. ERCOT officials said this totals 233 gigawatts, which is an almost 300 percent increase from 2024. “We have outgrown the process that was established for reviewing these large loads. It was originally set up for, we were thinking about 40 to 50 loads back in the 2022 time frame,” ERCOT Vice President of System Planning and Weatherization Kristi Hobbs said.
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Reuters – December 9, 2025
U.S. power consumption will hit record highs in 2025 and 2026, the Energy Information Administration said in its short-term energy outlook on Tuesday. The EIA projected power demand will rise to 4,199 billion kilowatt-hours in 2025 and 4,267 billion kWh in 2026, up from a record 4,110 billion kWh in 2024. The demand increases come in part from data centers dedicated to artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency and as homes and businesses use more electricity and less fossil fuel for heat and transportation.
The EIA forecast power sales in 2025 will rise to 1,516 billion kWh for residential consumers, 1,486 billion kWh for commercial customers, and 1,055 billion kWh for industrial customers. The forecasts compare with all-time highs of 1,509 billion kWh for residential consumers in 2022, 1,451 billion kWh in 2024 for commercial customers, and 1,064 billion kWh for industrial customers in 2000. The EIA said the share of power generation from natural gas would slide from 42% in 2024 to 40% in 2025 and 2026. Coal’s share will rise from 16% in 2024 to 17% in 2025 before sliding back to 16% in 2026 as renewable output rises.
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Energy Now – December 9, 2025
Texas Makes Clean Power Breakthrough as Solar Output Overtakes Coal: Gavin Maguire
For the first time, Texas’ main power system looks set to generate more power from solar farms than coal plants during a calendar year in 2025, marking a key new energy transition milestone for the largest power network in the U.S. The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) generated 2.64 million megawatt hours (MWh) of power from solar assets, compared with 2.44 million MWh of power from coal plants for the January-to-November period, according to data compiled by LSEG.
Even as solar generation declines in the final weeks of 2025 due to reduced daylight, coal output is unlikely to overtake solar production for the full year as solar farms look set to generate at least 150,000 MWh in December. Higher solar output versus coal output in Texas will mark a rare highlight for U.S. climate trackers in 2025. Nationally, coal generation has registered a steep climb this year and remains around three times greater than total U.S. solar output.
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RTO Insider – December 5, 2025
ERCOT Successfully Deploys Real-time Co-optimization*
ERCOT says it has successfully deployed Real-time Co-optimization + Batteries into the market, a mechanism used in most other RTOs and ISOs that procures energy and ancillary services in real time. The grid operator has successfully launched Real-Time Co-optimization + Batteries (RTC+B) on December 5, 2025, a major upgrade allowing it to simultaneously optimize the dispatch of energy and ancillary services (like frequency regulation) in real-time, making the grid more efficient, especially for batteries, by letting them charge and discharge dynamically across both markets to reduce costs and price volatility.
This aligns ERCOT with practices in other US grid operators, improving flexibility and market liquidity for resources like batteries, which now have clearer rules for participating across different services. Instead of separate processes, ERCOT’s market clearing engine now considers energy (megawatts) and ancillary services (reserves, regulation) together in its real-time decisions, finding the cheapest overall solution.
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KTSM – December 5, 2025
El Paso mayor urges Texas Railroad Commission to reconsider Texas Gas Service’s proposed rate hike
El Paso Mayor Renard Johnson is urging the Texas Railroad Commission (TRC) to reconsider and reduce the proposed rate increase by the Texas Gas Service, as it would “disproportionately” impact El Paso families, he wrote in an official letter on Thursday, Dec. 4. This comes after the El Paso City Council on Nov. 17 unanimously voted to reject Texas Gas Service’s proposed 27 percent rate increase because it would cause an “excessive and unjustified” burden on El Pasoans.
As KTSM previously reported, in November, the City of El Paso and Texas Gas Service (TGS) held a series of community meetings to outline the proposal, which includes a residential gas rate increase of more than 27 percent. According to a TGS presentation, “residential small” customers would have seen an average increase of about $10 per month, while “residential large” customers could have paid roughly $14 more each month.
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The New York Times – December 9, 2025
Not All Drilling in Texas Is About Oil*
Pump jacks nod and the smell of gas wafts across the low brush and cactuses in the oil fields outside Christine, Texas. Little about the landscape suggests that a new form of alternative energy has been gaining its first commercial foothold in Texas. But down a dirt road, near a coal-fired power plant, sits a unique kind of industrial battery, one that uses water pressure and the techniques of hydraulic fracturing to store energy deep underground and then release it to generate electricity when the time is right.
The energy storage system — known as a geopressured geothermal well — is among the most concrete examples of how some Texas oil and gas workers and executives are applying their knowledge of the underground to geothermal energy.
“We don’t have to wait to build skill sets,” said Cindy Taff, a former executive at Shell who now runs Sage Geosystems, the company behind the energy storage project. Teams that drill for oil, she said, can just as easily drill a geothermal well. That overlap has helped make Texas a hub of innovation in the expanding world of what’s considered next-generation geothermal power. Some of the most prominent start-ups, including Sage and Fervo Energy, are based in Houston, not far from the campuses and office towers of major oil companies like Chevron, Shell and Exxon Mobil.
“In Texas, we know what the world looks like under the surface,” said Barry Smitherman, a former chairman of the state’s oil and gas regulator and now the head of Texas Geothermal Energy Alliance, which promotes the industry.
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Politico – December 9, 2025
States push to end secrecy over data center water use*
States facing drought and dwindling groundwater supplies are seeking to pull back the curtain on water use at data centers, in a push for transparency that has scrambled traditional partisan alliances. Lawmakers from at least eight states this year introduced legislation to require data centers to report their water use, which supporters say is crucial to protecting consumers and managing a finite resource. Driven by concerns about artificial intelligence’s environmental footprint, the effort is generating support — and skepticism — from both sides of the aisle.
In New Jersey and California, bills requiring data center water use reporting passed both legislative chambers but were vetoed by Democratic governors. In Virginia, a bill authorizing local governments to evaluate data center noise, water and land-use impacts was vetoed by Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin. The issue is certain to return to statehouses next year, as officials scramble to keep up with the rapid deployment of AI data centers championed by Silicon Valley and the Trump administration.
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Regulatory
Politico – December 9, 2025
EPA erases references to human-caused climate change from websites*
EPA has scrubbed references to people’s contribution to rising temperatures from some of its climate change webpages. The agency modified sections of its website by deleting information about human-created greenhouse gases and the role they play in warming the planet. It also removed links to scientific data and information.
The website now directs visitors to a subsection on climate “causes” that mentions only natural phenomena as the drivers of warming, like changes in the Earth’s orbit and variations in solar activity. Two subsections titled “Climate Change Indicators” and “Climate Change Impacts and Analysis” have been removed. An image of the agency’s “climate causes” website that was captured on Oct. 8, before it was changed, by the web archival site Wayback Machine, showed that it listed both human-induced and natural causes of warming with an emphasis on man-made emissions. “It is unequivocal that human influence has warmed the atmosphere, ocean and land,” the earlier version of the website stated.
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Politico – December 9, 2025
Panel to probe legal fees paid to environmental groups*
A House Natural Resources subcommittee will probe attorneys fees paid to environmental groups that successfully sue the federal government over compliance with wildlife protections and other laws. The hearing this week before the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee, chaired by Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.), will look at what he describes as “abuse” by environmentalists utilizing the Equal Access to Justice Act. Under the 1980 law, litigants who file lawsuits against federal agencies and are successful can recover certain legal costs.
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Texas Energy Report NewsClips
Tuesday December 9, 2025
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 edged down on Tuesday, extending losses from the 2% drop in the previous session, with markets keeping a close eye on peace talks to end Russia’s war in Ukraine and a looming decision on U.S. interest rates.
West Texas Intermediate crude was at $58.75, down 13 cents, or 0.2%.
Brent crude futures were down 8 cents, or 0.1%, to $62.41 a barrel at 0409 GMT.
Both contracts fell by more than $1 a barrel on Monday after Iraq restored production at Lukoil’s West Qurna 2 oilfield, one of the world’s largest.
“Brent’s slip back toward the $62 (is) aligning seamlessly with the broader December narrative,” said Phillip Nova’s senior market analyst Priyanka Sachdeva. “The noise around potential Iraqi disruptions faded overnight, and the market quickly reverted to its core theme of ample supply and cautious demand expectations.”
Ukraine will share a revised peace plan with the U.S. after talks in London between its President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and the leaders of France, Germany and Britain.
Top Stories
The Hill – December 6, 2025
Gas prices sink while electricity jumps, giving both GOP and Dems an affordability talking point
Gasoline prices are down while electric and natural gas costs are up, turning the issue of energy affordability into a political Rorschach test. Democrats are lambasting the White House for high power bills, while President Trump and his allies tout low prices at the pump.
“Energy — gasoline — we’re now at about $2.50 a gallon. We’re going to be, I think, at $2 a gallon. We could even crack that at some point,” Trump said during a Cabinet meeting this week. In recent days, the national average price of gasoline has dipped below $3 per gallon, standing at $2.98 on Friday, according to the American Automobile Association (AAA). “Our prices now for energy, for gasoline, are really low,” Trump added.
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CNBC – December 8, 2025
NextEra Energy is working with Exxon Mobil, the country’s largest oil company, to build a large data center site powered by natural gas for a potential tech customer, CEO John Ketchum told investors Monday The 1.2 gigawatt power plant would combine gas generation with Exxon’s carbon capture technology to reduce emissions, according to NextEra’s presentation to investors.
They plan to market the site to a hyperscaler in the first quarter of 2026. Hyperscalers are the big tech companies that are building data centers to train and run artificial intelligence applications. There is no signed agreement with a hyperscaler yet. NextEra and Exxon have secured 2,500 acres of land for the facility. The site will be located in the Southeast in close proximity to Exxon’s carbon dioxide pipeline infrastructure, according to NextEra.
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Associated Press – December 8, 2025
Federal judge throws out Trump order blocking development of wind energy
A federal judge on Monday struck down President Donald Trump’s executive order blocking wind energy projects, saying the effort to halt virtually all leasing of wind farms on federal lands and waters was “arbitrary and capricious” and violates U.S. law. Judge Patti Saris of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts vacated Trump’s Jan. 20 executive order blocking wind energy projects and declared it unlawful.
Saris ruled in favor of a coalition of state attorneys general from 17 states and Washington, D.C., led by New York Attorney General Letitia James, that challenged Trump’s Day One order that paused leasing and permitting for wind energy projects.
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Texas Border Business – December 8, 2025
Paxton, DOJ Force Divestitures in $26.6B Energy Merger
Attorney General Ken Paxton finalized a major antitrust settlement in partnership with President Trump’s Department of Justice to preserve competition in electricity generation markets and prevent electricity price increases for Texans.
Attorney General Paxton’s settlement requires Constellation Energy Corporation, Inc. (“Constellation”) and Calpine Corporation (“Calpine”) to divest two electricity-generating plants in Texas before moving forward with their proposed $26.6 billion merger. Constellation and Calpine are two of the largest electricity generators in Texas, and together they supply a significant share of wholesale electricity to the electricity grid operated by Electric Reliability Council of Texas (“ERCOT”), which supplies electricity to more than 27 million Texans.
The Latest TERse Tips
Texas drivers got a little break at the pump this week as prices drop, with the state average for regular unleaded at $2.52 per gallon, eight cents below the statewide average last week — Fox 44
Texas has launched its new cryptocurrency reserve with a $5 million purchase of Bitcoin as the state continues to embrace the volatile and controversial digital currency — Texas Tribune — Also see: Texas’ crypto investment is questionable use of public money — Dallas Morning News editorial*
HF Sinclair said Monday it agreed to acquire Industrial Oils Unlimited, an Oklahoma-based producer of industrial lubricants and specialty fluids, for $38 million, including $15 million of working capital — Seeking Alpha
Bulk carrier Detmar Logistics will begin hauling proppants in Texas and New Mexico early in 2026 using autonomous semis, Aurora Innovation said Dec. 8 — Transport Topics
NextEra Energy Inc.’s infrastructure arm agreed to acquire closely held Symmetry Energy Solutions to expand its natural gas capabilities in the US and help meet the boom in AI power demand — NextEra Energy Resources said Monday in a statement it will purchase Symmetry from Energy Capital Partners and that the transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2026. No terms were given. Talks on a deal valuing Symmetry at about $800 million were first reported by Bloomberg News last month — Bloomberg*
Fermi America says it has signed a definitive Electric Service Agreement with Southwestern Public Service Company, a subsidiary of Xcel Energy, to provide up to 200 megawatts of electrical capacity to Fermi’s 11 GW Project Matador Campus — see the press release
Farmers Electric Cooperative and Base Power Monday announced the launch of the first residential battery partnership in Farmers’ service area to “provide reliable, cost-effective resiliency as the DFW Metroplex continues to grow” — see the press release
Texas Eyes Potential New Interstate Connecting DFW to Amarillo — Reform Austin
A flaring event at the PEMEX Deer Park Refinery in Texas drew attention to the Mexican state-owned oil company’s foreign operations — the flare, visible for miles, coincides with a multi-unit overhaul at the facility and underscores how maintenance, legacy incidents, and public scrutiny may affect PEMEX’s global refining strategy going forward — Mexico Business
Oil & Gas Texas
Reuters – December 8, 2025
Kinder Morgan expects higher 2026 profit on strong natural gas demand*
The Houston, Texas-based company forecast an adjusted profit of $1.37 per share for 2026, which is about 8% higher than its forecast for 2025. Analysts expect the company to post a profit of $1.38 per share in 2026, according to data compiled by LSEG. … “We are projecting an annualized dividend of $1.19 for 2026, marking the ninth consecutive year of dividend increases,” said CEO Kim Dang.
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Argus Media – December 4, 2025
Golden Pass LNG approved to receive cool-down cargo
QatarEnergy and ExxonMobil’s 18.1mn t/yr (2.4bn ft³/d) Golden Pass LNG export terminal in Texas received federal approval today to unload a cool-down cargo, a key step in commissioning the plant. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission granted the project’s request to introduce hazardous fluids into various systems and receive the cool-down cargo. The 174,000m³ Imsaikah has been holding offshore Texas’ Port Arthur since 29 November after departing QatarEnergy’s 77mn t/yr Ras Laffan export terminal with a cargo on 27 October. The vessel’s LNG will be used to cool down Golden Pass’ equipment for its start-up process.
The three-train project also has federal approval to introduce fuel gas to train 1 and train 1’s gas turbine. Feedgas flows to Golden Pass have yet to materially rise. Pipeline nominations on 4 December were just over 8mn ft³, in line with daily flows since mid-October. Flows to LNG plants can be revised later in the day.
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Mother Jones – December 8, 2025
The exact scope of the abandoned wells problem is hard to pin down but is undeniably enormous. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates the number of abandoned oil and gas wells in the US at about 3.9 million, with 2.2 million unplugged. The Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) says that tackling the abandoned well problem could be equal to removing up to 4.3 million cars from the road for a year.
In recent years, attending to old wells seemed like a rare practical climate solution that everyone could agree on. In 2021, the Biden administration pledged $4.7 billion to help states remediate their orphan wells, more than $300 million of which has been slated for Texas. Still, that is not nearly enough to address the problem. Regulators report there are more than 10,000 orphan wells—sites with no known owner who could be held responsible for cleaning them up—in the Lone Star State alone. That’s on top of more than 147,000 inactive wells with an identified owner.
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World Oil – December 8, 2025
LNG Canada reaches milestone as Fluor JV delivers second production train
Fluor Corp. and joint-venture partnerJGC Corp. have handed over Train 2 of the LNG Canada project, completing the first phase of Canada’s flagship LNG export development in Kitimat, British Columbia. Pierre Bechelany, Fluor’s business group president for Energy Solutions, said the milestone reflects “the continued commitment to safety, quality and schedule performance by the thousands of workers who contributed to bringing Canadian natural gas to the world.”
James Ticer, Fluor’s senior vice president and LNG Canada project director, highlighted the project’s extensive local and Indigenous engagement, noting more than C$3.3 billion in contracting with Indigenous businesses and joint ventures, and over C$550 million in awards to local companies.
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Aurora is partnering with San Antonio, Texas-based Detmar Logistics to haul fracking sand between Midland, Texas, and a mining site, making it the first autonomous haul of its kind in the Permian Basin. “Launching autonomous highway operations for Detmar is a great example of how we’re delivering immediate customer value,” said Chris Urmson, co-founder and CEO at Aurora, in a release on Monday.
Fracking sand is used in oil and gas drilling to keep fissures open and allow oil and gas to flow more efficiently. It’s also known as “proppants.” The Permian Basin, stretching from western Texas to southeastern New Mexico, is the highest-producing oil field in the country. “With the Aurora Driver, Detmar can achieve nearly 24/7 asset utilization and effectively double its capacity to move sand for a leading energy producer,” Mr. Urmson said.
Oil & Gas National & International
S&P Global Platts – December 8, 2025
US gasoline prices fall to multiyear lows amid low demand
Benchmark US gasoline outright prices have slid to or near multi-year lows in recent days as storage continues to swell and demand remains relatively tepid. Platts, part of S&P Global Energy, assessed US Gulf Coast benchmark Unleaded 87 (M grade) 4.60 cents lower at $1.8056/gal on Dec. 8, just days after hitting a near two-year low of $1.7921/gal on Dec. 4. Similarly, benchmark CBOB 87 (A grade) gasoline on the USGC saw its outright price assessed near five-year lows on Dec. 8 at $1.6741/gal.
The most recent supply and demand data from the US Energy Information Administration showed USGC gasoline inventories up 3.75 million barrels for the week ended Nov. 28 compared to the same week a year ago.
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Oil Price – December 8, 2025
OPEC+’s Strategic Pause Signals a Shifting Oil Power Balance
Brent crude has drifted into the low-$60s, a price corridor OPEC+ has spent the better part of two years trying to defend through disciplined supply management. Yet the market’s center of gravity is shifting. Independent forecasts now point to a looming surplus of 2.1–4 million barrels per day in early 2026. Against that backdrop, OPEC+ has chosen what it calls a “strategic pause,” rolling over production quotas rather than deepening cuts.
The decision is meant to stabilize prices. But it raises a more fundamental question: Is OPEC+ still shaping the market, or merely reacting to forces now beyond its control? For most of its modern history, OPEC’s power was due to the fact that it controlled enough spare capacity to move prices at will. When demand weakened, it cut. When supply tightened, it opened the taps. That leverage is not gone, but it has been diluted.
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Oil & Gas 360 – December 6, 2025
Equinor strikes gas in North Sea wildcat wells, opening new development potential
Equinor and Aker BP have announced a new gas and condensate discovery in the North Sea after drilling two exploration wells at the Lofn and Langemann prospects, marking a promising start for Production Licence 1140. The wildcat wells—15/5-8 S and 15/5-8 A—were drilled about 7 km north of the Eirin field and roughly 240 km west of Stavanger using Odfjell Drilling’s Deepsea Atlantic rig. The license, awarded in 2022, is now seeing its first exploration results.
Early estimates indicate that the Lofn prospect contains 22–63 million barrels of oil equivalent, while Langemann could hold 6–50 million barrels. Together, the finds represent a meaningful addition to the area’s resource base. Both wells encountered gas and condensate in the Middle Jurassic Hugin Formation, confirming hydrocarbon-bearing sandstone reservoirs. Although deeper Triassic targets were water-bearing, operators collected extensive samples and data to support further evaluation.
Utilities, Electricity & Renewables
Politico – December 8, 2025
Republican-backed grid bills up for House vote*
The House will vote this week on two Republican-backed energy bills aimed at bolstering grid reliability by examining supply chain vulnerabilities and requiring states to maintain adequate on-demand power. On the agenda are H.R. 3628, the “State Planning for Reliability and Affordability Act,” sponsored by Rep. Gabe Evans (R-Colo.), and H.R. 3638, the “Electric Supply Chain Act,” authored by Rep. Bob Latta (R-Ohio), chair of the Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Energy.
Evans’ bill is emerging as the more contentious of the two. It would require state utility regulators to ensure “reliable availability of electric energy” over a 10-year planning horizon — effectively steering utilities toward natural gas, coal and other firm, dispatchable resources. Renewable energy sources, which the bill does not categorize as “reliable,” would not qualify. Democrats unanimously opposed the measure in the Energy and Commerce Committee in June, and only a handful of moderates are expected to support it on the House floor.
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Utility Dive – December 8, 2025
With antitrust settlement, Constellation set to become largest US wholesale power provider
Constellation Energy has agreed to sell six power plants and a minority stake in a seventh power plant to settle an antitrust complaint filed by the U.S. Department of Justice and the state of Texas, clearing the way for the company’s $26.6 billion deal to buy Calpine, the parties said Friday. Constellation’s purchase of Calpine — which will make it the largest U.S. wholesale power provider — would reduce competition, allowing the company to withhold power supplies to drive up market prices, according to the complaint, while was filed and settled the same day.
That could have driven up electricity costs by more than $100 million a year in the Electric Reliability Council of Texas market and in PJM’s Mid-Atlantic region, it said. “When it comes to their electricity bills, Americans deserve the benefit of robust competition among electricity generators,” Assistant Attorney General Abigail Slater said in the press release.
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Midland Reporter-Telegram – December 5, 2025
Views differ on natural gas demand from data centers
Data centers are expected to require large amounts of energy as they come online in the next few years. But just how much energy they will need is now in question. Major electric grid operators, including the Electric Reliability Council of Texas and PJM Interconnection, have projected demand will reach 50 gigawatts by 2030. That forecast is being questioned in a new analysis from Enverus Intelligence Research.
EIR’s new analysis projects 30 gigawatts of new data center capacity through 2030. This more conservative outlook reflects the impact of stricter utility requirements, which have already reduced speculative project proposals by more than 50% in states such as Ohio. Recent policy changes in states like Ohio, including higher power costs and stricter credit requirements, have led to a 15 gigawatts, or more than 50%, decline in proposed data center projects. “Our research shows that while data center expansion will drive substantial energy demand, it will have a marginal impact on natural gas in the immediate years,” said Jimmy McNamara, principal analyst at EIR, in a statement.
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Reuters – December 9, 2025
US solar installations jump 49% in third quarter, report says*
The U.S. solar industry installed 11.7 gigawatts of new solar capacity in the third quarter, a jump of 49% sequentially, a study by the Solar Energy Industries Association and Wood Mackenzie showed on Tuesday. The report said solar accounted for 58% of all new electricity-generating capacity added to the U.S. grid through the third quarter, with more than 30 GW installed.
The rise follows a period of industry-wide disruption caused by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), with most of the gains driven by utility-scale solar projects that were largely completed in the second quarter, the report added. The OBBBA requires projects to begin construction by July next year or enter service by the end of 2027 to qualify for a 30% tax credit and bonuses that can push the subsidy even higher, creating uncertainty for the solar and storage industries.
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MSN – December 8, 2025
Report reveals concerning side effect of cryptocurrency industry in US: ‘Does not generate’
The Energy Information Administration reported that large-scale cryptocurrency mining now accounts for about 2% of all electricity use in the United States, according to PYMNTS. That’s roughly the same amount of electricity an additional U.S. state would consume. Cryptocurrency activity in the U.S. has surged in the last five years, with operations consuming enormous amounts of energy. PYMNTS noted that research from the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance estimates that U.S. bitcoin mining uses as much electricity as the state of Utah — and possibly even Washington state.
In response, the White House proposed a Digital Asset Mining Energy tax, which would charge crypto mining firms 30% of the cost of the electricity they use. As PYMNTS reported, the White House Council of Economic Advisers wrote that “crypto mining does not generate the local and national economic benefits typically associated with businesses using similar amounts of electricity.”
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CNBC – December 8, 2025
NextEra to build 15 gigawatts of power for data centers by 2035
NextEra Energy plans to build 15 gigawatts of new power generation for data center hubs by 2035, CEO John Ketchum told investors on Monday. NextEra is the largest renewable energy developer in the U.S. through NextEra Energy Resources, and also owns Florida Power & Light. The utility also operates a fleet of nuclear- and natural gas-powered plants.
The power company also announced a partnership with Alphabet‘s Google unit on Monday to develop three gigawatt scale data center campuses in the U.S. with plans to expand to additional locations. NextEra shares closed about 3% lower on Monday. A gigawatt is roughly equivalent to more than 800,000 homes based on average household electricity consumption in 2024, according to the Energy Information Administration.
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Utility Dive – December 4, 2025
Tech giant Google recently announced a landmark deal to capture and store carbon dioxide emissions from a new natural gas plant that will provide electricity to the company’s data centers in Iowa. It’s a big deal for Google, but quite possibly an even bigger deal for supporters of carbon capture and storage technology, which traps the exhaust emissions from a power plant and injects those emissions deep underground.
For decades, widespread adoption of CCS technology in the U.S. power sector has been an elusive goal — but the fast-growing electricity demands of data centers could be a game-changer. Data center developers are scrambling to secure power generation options of all types in a global race to dominate the emerging field of artificial intelligence. In just the next few years, AI-driven electricity demand may double and possibly triple to reach 12% of total U.S. power consumption, according to projections from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
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The New York Times – December 5, 2025
Once a Gamble in the Desert, Electric Grid Batteries Are Everywhere*
Lithium-ion batteries, which power everything from cellphones to cars, are increasingly saving electric grids around the world. Batteries as large as shipping containers are being connected to power lines and installed beside solar panels and wind turbines. They soak up power when it’s plentiful and cheap and release it when electricity use soars, helping reduce the need for expensive power plants and lines. American researchers invented the lithium-ion battery in the 1970s and later showed that the devices could help the electric grid. But for a long time batteries made little headway because grid managers and utility executives dismissed them as expensive and risky.
One of the first breakthroughs came about 15 years ago when engineers at a U.S. energy company installed one of the first lithium-ion batteries tied to a grid in a desert nearly 9,000 feet above sea level in Chile. Challenging conventional notions of how the electricity system should be run, that team helped prove that batteries could help make electric grids more stable and reliable. The concept of storing energy was not new. Thomas Edison developed alkaline nickel-iron batteries largely for industry and early electric vehicles. Various companies tried other technologies like sodium sulfur, which have not gained much traction. And some utilities have long pumped water uphill so that later it could be sent back down to generate electricity. But those systems were relatively limited. The kinds of lithium batteries installed in the Atacama Desert in 2009, by comparison, are now being used around the world.
Regulatory
Politico – December 8, 2025
First permitting bills reach the House floor*
House Republican leaders are planning two weeks of floor action on permitting, starting with legislation to ease Clean Water Act scrutiny of projects and pipeline permitting reviews. The action is a major step on the road to a broad permitting compromise that members of both parties want to pass this Congress. But deep divisions persist between and within parties.
House Natural Resources Chair Bruce Westerman (R-W.Va.), for example, has been looking to secure support for the “Standardizing Permitting and Expediting Economic Development (SPEED) Act,” H.R. 4776, which would overhaul the National Environmental Policy Act. It’s scheduled to reach the floor next week. Many Democrats say it would go too far in cutting oversight of polluters and public participation. Far-right conservatives are now saying it would continue federal incentives for renewable energy. Bills on the floor agenda this week are likely to pass easily. Some are even expected to advance with broad bipartisan backing under a process called suspension of the rules.
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Texas Energy Report NewsClips
Monday December 8, 2025
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 hovered at two-week highs on Monday as investors expect a likely U.S. Federal Reserve interest rate cut this week to lift economic growth and energy demand, while monitoring geopolitical risk that threatens Russian and Venezuelan supply.
West Texas Intermediate crude was at $60.16, up 8 cents, or 0.13%.
Brent crude futures rose 9 cents, or 0.14%, to $63.84 a barrel by 0321 GMT.
Both contracts closed Friday’s trading session at their highest levels since November 18.
Markets are pricing in an 84% chance of a quarter-point cut at the Fed meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday, LSEG data showed. However, board member comments indicate the meeting is likely to be one of the most divisive in years, intensifying investor focus on the bank’s policy direction and internal dynamics.
Top Stories
December 5, 2025
Why are utilities building tomorrow’s grid with yesterday’s technology?: Niskanen Center
The U.S. must rapidly expand its high-voltage transmission system to keep electricity affordable and reliable over the coming decade. After years of nearly stagnant development, any interest in transmission buildout among grid operators is encouraging. Yet, even amid this renewed momentum, utilities nationwide continue to embrace alternating current transmission, a 19th century innovation, instead of embracing modern and commercially viable high-voltage direct current (HVDC) technology.
Of the nation’s seven regional grid operators, four have recently announced or approved initiatives to expand transmission capacity using 765 kilovolt (kV) high-voltage alternating current (HVAC) lines. But by favoring HVAC lines almost exclusively, planners risk leaving benefits on the table by overlooking opportunities where HVDC could deliver greater value.
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Politico – December 5, 2025
Conservatives sound alarm about Westerman’s NEPA bill*
Members of the House Freedom Caucus are objecting to House Natural Resources Chair Bruce Westerman’s big permitting bill, contributing to a planned floor vote being postponed. House Republican leaders were eyeing a vote next week on the “Standardizing Permitting and Expediting Economic Development (SPEED) Act,” H.R. 4776, from Westerman and Rep. Jared Golden (D-Maine). The bill is now poised to come up the following week.
Westerman said the delay was “to get everything ready to go and to consider any amendments and stuff we need a little more time on.” The House is still poised to take up some permitting and electric reliability legislation next week as lawmakers look to make progress on a broad, bipartisan deal this Congress. Westerman has been hearing from Democrats who want changes to the National Environmental Policy Act but think the legislation goes too far. But conservatives are also chiming in. One concern for the right is a bipartisan amendment added in committee meant to protect permits. It was in response to the administration’s attack on already-approved renewable energy projects, particularly offshore wind.
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Fortune – December 5, 2025
How a Texas gas producer plans to exploit the ‘megatrend’ of power plants for AI hyperscalers
After natural gas producer BKV expanded into the power business, the company went on its IPO road show two years ago and was met with suspicion and ridicule about its then unusual business model. It’s rare—and uncomfortable for shareholders—for oil and gas producers to take over power plants that require very different skill sets. They’re both hydrocarbon industries, but drilling and extracting from the earth and producing electricity require completely different business models and technologies.
“I went to a very large institutional investor and explained our gas-to-power strategy in our business, and I got berated for like 30 minutes about how it was such a foolish thing for me to go into power,” BKV founder and CEO Chris Kalnin told Fortune.
The Latest TERse Tips
Pardoned Democrat Henry Cuellar wants GOP to probe his prosecutors — the Texas lawmaker said in an interview he’d be willing to cooperate with a House Judiciary “weaponization” probe — Politico…
… and Trump slams pardoned Democrat Rep. Henry Cuellar as ‘disloyal’ for not switching parties — Dallas Morning News*
Constellation must divest of Texas properties in its $26.6 billion acquisition of Calpine Corp.– including the Jack A. Fusco Energy Center, a natural gas combined cycle plant southwest of Houston and The Gregory Power Plant, both of which serve ERCOT — Corpus Christi Caller-Times
The Dallas-based O’Donnell Foundation is committing $60 million to Southern Methodist University to help the school advance its vision of becoming a national leader in energy studies amid the industry’s boom in North Texas — Dallas Morning News*
Fort Worth-based Valor, the tech-enabled professional services company providing oil and gas asset management for mineral rights owners, operators, and investors, is promoting Jason Beck to chief operating officer — Jason is a veteran mineral manager and landman — Dallas Innovates
The City of Corpus Christi will raise water and wastewater rates starting January 1, 2026 — officials said under the new plan, the average residential water bill is expected to increase by $4.78 per month, and wastewater rates will rise by $4.20 — KIII
Ferrovial has added two significant Texas water infrastructure upgrades to its fast-growing U.S. portfolio, securing a combined $721 million in contracts for major improvement projects in Austin and Fort Worth — Construction Owner
US oil refiner Phillips 66 said a process upset was found at one of the units at its 265,000 bpd Sweeny refining and petrochemical complex — Quantum Commodity Intelligence*
Oil & Gas Texas
Oil Price – December 5, 2025
US Oil Rig Count Stages A Comeback After Last Week’s Losses
The total number of active drilling rigs for oil and gas in the United States rose this week, according to new data that Baker Hughes published on Friday, after last week’s sharp decline. The total rig count in the US rose by 5 to 549 this week, according to Baker Hughes, down 40 from this same time last year.
The number of active oil rigs rose by 6 in the reporting period, according to the data, after falling by 12 rigs in the week prior. Oil rigs are now at 413, which is 69 below this same time last year. The number of gas rigs fell by 1 to 129, which is 27 more than this time last year. The miscellaneous rig count stayed the same at 7. The latest EIA data showed that weekly U.S. crude oil production rose slightly in the week ending November 28 to 13.815 million bpd on average, 47,000 bpd under the all-time high.
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Houston Chronicle – December 5, 2025
The Energy Capital of the World needs the Coastal Texas Project: Sen. John Cornyn*
Due to the sheer scale of the project, it will take years of consistent funding from Congress to fully pay for the storm barrier. The project will have to compete with others for resources during the appropriations process. I was pleased that my colleagues in the U.S. House of Representatives secured an additional $5 million, and I have secured language in the Senate’s Energy & Water Development appropriations bill that encourages the Army Corps to prioritize funding of the coastal storm barrier. While this may feel like a drop in the bucket, it is an important step toward securing our energy supply.
This will require a whole of government effort from Texas’ congressional delegation. I’m proud to lead the charge, and I’d encourage you to reach out to your congressional representatives and urge them to join this fight. There are naysayers who think this is impossible, but here’s my message to them: Since when did Texas quit when the going got tough? The repercussions of failing to bring the Coastal Texas Project to the finish would be costly both financially and in loss of precious Texans’ lives.
This storm barrier system is imperative, not just for Houston and the surrounding areas, but for our entire country and all who rely on American energy. Fortifying the Energy Capital of the World will come at a price, but we cannot afford to fail.
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Houston Chronicle/MSN – December 5, 2025
A delegation of congressional Republicans visited the Gulf Coast Friday to reaffirm their support for expanding exports of liquefied natural gas – good news for Texas’ oil and gas companies, reassuring the industry of greater access to customers overseas. Whether increasing LNG exports is good news for consumers across Texas and the rest of the country, though, is another question – one that the visiting Republicans seemed particularly sensitive about.
Natural gas is used by many homes for heating and is the primary source of Texas’ electricity generation. Democrats and some energy analysts – including the Energy Department’s own data division – have said that increasing LNG exports is expected to increase energy costs for consumers, as less natural gas supply is available domestically. U.S. Rep. Brett Guthrie, R-Ky., chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, called such arguments “junk.”
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Atmos.Earth – December 5, 2025
Why Oil Country Is Betting on Geothermal
A few years after he moved to Presidio County, Texas, Trey Gerfers became aware of something strange underground. Most people know the region for Marfa, with its galleries and Prada store art installation, and for its remarkably dark skies, a testament to the county’s remoteness. But below the town of Presidio, where most of the people in the county live, and where a visit to the dentist generally involves a trip across the border, is a remarkable reservoir of heat. Below the borderland, the Rio Grande river valley continues as a geological rift where the crust has splayed apart, allowing the mantle to bleed just a little closer toward the surface. Down below, the rock gets hot, fast. The temperature rises by 300 degrees Fahrenheit within a half-mile.
To Gerfers, this heat presented an opportunity. Originally from San Antonio, he had traveled the world working as a translator (mostly of technical reports between German, Spanish, and English). Soon after settling in Presidio County, he learned that living in a small, remote place means wearing many different hats. He first became the head of a local environmental nonprofit that was taking on the Trans-Pecos pipeline, which would ferry natural gas from the Permian Basin, a few hundred miles northeast, to Mexico, via Presidio. “We lost that fight,” Gerfers said. “Big surprise.” Next he became the chair of the county water board.
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Colorado Sun – December 5, 2025
Update: Texas company Enterprise broke federal rules in cleanup of Colorado gas spill, EPA says
A large Texas oil and gas company broke three federal rules when it improperly transported and dumped hazardous materials while attempting to clean up a 97,000-gallon gasoline spill near the Animas River. The Environmental Protection Agency cited Houston-based Enterprise Products last month, nearly a year after a gasoline pipeline was found leaking Dec. 5, 2024. The resulting spill contaminated the groundwater near the Animas River, prompted local evacuations and forced some La Plata County residents to move. It is Colorado’s largest refined gasoline pipeline spill since the state health department began tracking such releases in 2016.
“Although significant corrective action progress has been made, cleanup efforts will continue for some time,” the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment said in a written statement. Last December, community members reported the ground was soaked in gasoline, prompting a hazmat crew to respond and residents to evacuate homes. Houses in a small subdivision within the boundaries of both La Plata County and the Southern Ute Reservation near the spill received water filters and cisterns.
Oil & Gas National & International
CNBC – December 5, 2025
Russian President Vladimir Putin has underlined Moscow’s willingness to provide “uninterrupted shipments of fuel” to India, as the U.S. pressures New Delhi to give up importing their oil. Putin made the offer during a joint address with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday, part of his first visit to the country since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, which triggered widespread sanctions.
The sanctions forced Russia to seek new customers for its exports. India has become the second biggest buyer of Russian crude oil, after China, with a report Finland-based Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air showing India bought 38% of Russian crude exports in October. In October, President Donald Trump sanctioned two of Russia’s largest oil companies, Rosneft and Lukoil. This followed a tariff of 25% on India for buying Russian oil in August. But India has to walk a tightrope because it has close ties to the U.S. while also relying on Russia for fuel and access to military hardware.
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Oil Price – December 6, 2025
Platts Cuts Out Russian-Linked Fuel From Price Benchmarks
Platts just redefined European oil pricing, and it did it with a single line: Russian-crude-derived fuels are out. Beginning Dec. 15 for cargoes and Jan. 2 for barges, any diesel or other oil product that can be traced back to Russian crude will simply not count in the assessments that shape benchmark prices across the region. If that sounds wonky, you’re not alone. This is a material shift in how one of the most influential price setters on the planet defines supply.
Historically, Platts has been product-focused. If you offered a cargo of diesel that met the published spec, the backstory of the crude that fed the refinery didn’t matter. The assessment reflected the physical market as it traded that day—Russian molecules, Kazakh molecules, recycled unicorn tears, whatever—as long as the fuel met the cut-and-dry standard.
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Midland Reporter-Telegram – December 5, 2025
Morningstar says oil demand will peak in 2032, slip 8% by 2050*
Oil prices may be considerably softer as the year comes to a close than when the year began, but resilient demand is expected to keep prices afloat for the next 25 years. In its most recent forecast, Morningstar projects global oil demand still has five to 10 years of decent growth before beginning to plateau in the early 2030s, followed by a decline in the late 2030s. Ultimately, Morningstar forecasts demand will decline 8% by 2050 compared to 2024 levels. Yet that forecast is more bullish than the company’s forecast in 2021.
“Our prior forecast projected oil demand at 89 million barrels per day in 2050, whereas our current forecast is 96 million barrels per day in 2050,” Preston Caldwell, chief U.S. economist, told the Reporter-Telegram. The forecast calls for demand to grow from 104 million barrels per day in 2024 to a peak of 108 barrels per day in 2032 before beginning to decline.
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Politico – December 5, 2025
Turkey eyes US gas investments after wave of LNG deals*
Turkey is exploring investments in U.S. oil and gas fields as it accelerates a sweeping overhaul of its energy portfolio that’s so far been built around American liquefied natural gas. Turkish Petroleum is in talks with Chevron, Exxon Mobil and other U.S. majors to take positions in upstream assets, as part of Turkey’s plan to expand from its growing exposure to liquefied natural gas, the country’s Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar said Wednesday on the sidelines of the World LNG summit in Istanbul. Announcements might come as early as next month, he said.
The plan adds a new layer to Turkey’s expanding relationship with the United States, which has become a major source of long-term gas supply to Ankara. While Turkey is looking to secure access to fuels that are key to power the energy-hungry $1.4 trillion economy and diversify sources away from Russia and Azerbaijan, it’s also a way for President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to boost influence and build economic relationships.
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Elk Valley Times – November 27, 2025
Carney advances new Canada oil pipeline, raising climate concerns
Related: A look at previous failed pipeline projects in Canada — Daily Commercial News
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney signed an agreement Thursday with the western energy-producing province of Alberta to advance a new oil pipeline, a divisive move raising concern about Ottawa’s commitment to confronting climate change. The memorandum of understanding charts a plan for a pipeline going from Alberta to Canada’s Pacific coast, specifically to boost oil exports to Asia — in line with Carney’s goal of expanding overseas trade to offset damage from US President Donald Trump’s trade war.
“At the core of the agreement, of course, is a priority to have a pipeline to Asia,” Carney said ahead of the signing alongside Alberta’s conservative Premier Danielle Smith. Aside from broadening exports, the plan endorses an overall increase in Alberta oil and gas production. The deal marked a clear pivot for Carney’s Liberal Party and a departure from the policies that defined former prime minister Justin Trudeau’s decade in power.
Utilities, Electricity & Renewables
Politico – December 5, 2025
Power plants dodge pollution cuts under Texas haze control plan*
EPA has agreed to a new haze reduction plan for Texas that will not require any fresh pollution cuts from the state’s outsize fleet of coal-fired power plants. In the plan, Texas “determined that no additional controls for stationary sources were necessary to make reasonable progress” toward the regional haze program’s goal of restoring unclouded vistas in national parks and wilderness areas by 2064, EPA said in a signoff published in Friday’s Federal Register.
The newly approved plan succeeds a much more aggressive 2016 blueprint that EPA had to scrap last year after losing records needed to defend it in court against lawsuits brought by power companies and the state who had attacked that earlier plan as too costly. The new plan also incorporates a weaker yardstick adopted by President Donald Trump’s administration for determining more generally whether states are making reasonable progress toward the 2064 target. “EPA is trying to gut the haze program at every turn,” Sierra Club senior attorney Joshua Smith said in a Friday interview, adding that the agency’s approval of the Texas plan was “extremely disappointing.”
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KSAT – December 5, 2025
Is San Antonio prepared for a 2021-like freeze?
As temperatures drop, memories of the February 2021 freeze and power crisis tend to rise for some. Even five years later, they hung like icicles over a Monday news briefing at CPS Energy headquarters. CEO Rudy Garza said he hoped the seasonal prep sessions would start to feel more routine for the community.
“We are ready for anything that mother nature has to throw at us this winter,” he said, “but I’m proud of the fact that it’s been quite some time since we’ve had a winter or summer event that has as has impacted our customers, and we hope to keep it that way this winter season.” CPS Energy says its energy capacity is twice as high as the record winter peak demand it saw in January 2024.
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The Hill – December 5, 2025
Americans are angry about the cost of living, and Democrats are busily exploiting that anger to win elections — even if it means lying to the public yet again. Not content with undermining President Trump’s first four years in office with their Russiagate fable, or pretending that Joe Biden was perfectly fit to serve four more years in the Oval Office, Democrats are now blaming the Trump White House for the high cost of living.
It isn’t true, of course — under Trump, prices are up less than 3 percent. Prices surged more than 20 percent under Biden, caused by Democrats’ reckless spending and damaging programs. And arguably nothing has been worse for Americans’ pocketbooks than the left’s climate agenda. Congestion pricing in New York, electric vehicle mandates (which Trump just attacked by changing CAFE standards) and the drive for electrification and renewable energy all caused costs to skyrocket.
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The New York Times – December 6, 2025
The Data on Self-Driving Cars Is Clear. We Have to Change Course: Jonathan Slotkin*
I recently got called to see a teenager ejected in a rollover car crash. The trauma team rushed him into surgery to stop major abdominal bleeding, but we all knew. When that much energy enters a skull, no operation can turn it back. He was declared brain dead. His death was a reminder of the staggering amount of suffering and loss of human life we accept from car accidents every single day.
The self-driving car company Waymo recently released data covering nearly 100 million driverless miles in four American cities through June 2025, the biggest trove of information released so far about safety. I spent weeks analyzing the data. The results were impressive. When compared with human drivers on the same roads, Waymo’s self-driving cars were involved in 91 percent fewer serious-injury-or-worse crashes and 80 percent fewer crashes causing any injury. It showed a 96 percent lower rate of injury-causing crashes at intersections, which are some of the deadliest I encounter in the trauma bay. So far, other autonomous vehicle companies don’t report or they report incomplete data. Waymo, by contrast, published everything I needed to analyze the data: crash statistics with miles driven that allow accurate comparison with human drivers in the same locations.
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Houston Chronicle – December 7, 2025
Another data center planned for white-hot Texas tech hub*
A filing with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation reveals CyrusOne is planning to build a 93,319-square-foot single-story data center at the intersection of FM56 and County Road 3610A in Whitney, a community about 35 miles north of Waco in Bosque County. The petition was filed Dec. 5, and the project is slated to begin around February 2026 with a close date of approximately April 30, 2027.
CyrusOne builds and operates data centers to boost AI capability and currently has facilities in nine states: Arizona, Illinois, Iowa, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Virginia and Washington. It operates eight data centers in Texas, including three facilities in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. Its DFW3-5 facility in the Dallas suburb of Allen is a 976,000-square-foot center that holds a capacity of 50 megawatts (MW). The planned data center in Whitney would be the smallest CyrusOne facility yet in Texas. CyrusOne is estimating the project would cost around $430 million.
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Reuters – December 5, 2025
EU plans strategic overhaul to fix energy grid bottlenecks, FT reports*
The EU will take a top-down approach to building a cross-border energy grid, as the bloc’s Energy Commissioner Dan Jorgensen warned of billions lost from bottlenecks and failures to match supply with demand, the Financial Times reported on Saturday. Brussels will develop a plan to identify where investment is needed and will find projects to fill those gaps to push EU countries to better co-ordinate energy infrastructure across borders and sectors, the report added.
Jorgensen told the Financial Times that the “biggest danger” to the bloc’s decarbonisation and energy security goals was the slow construction of its power grid.
Vocal.Media – December 3, 2025
United States Renewable Energy Market Size and Forecast 2025–2033
The United States is entering a defining era in its energy transformation. After years of steady but uneven progress, renewable power has officially shifted from an alternative option to a national priority—and a high-performing economic sector. According to Renub Research, the United States Renewable Energy Market is expected to reach 1,002.13 Gigawatt (GW) by 2033, up from 429.55 GW in 2024, growing at a CAGR of 3.64% between 2025 and 2033. From solar rooftops and offshore wind farms to hydropower modernization and utility-scale battery storage, the decade ahead is set to reshape the American energy landscape.
This momentum reflects a mix of policy support, technological advances, climate commitments, and a surge in corporate clean energy demand. As barriers around grid capacity, transmission, and permitting begin to loosen, industry experts view this period as the inflection point toward a cleaner and more resilient energy future.
Regulatory
November 10, 2025
On November 10, 2025, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a pre-publication copy of its proposed rule to significantly reduce the scope of PFAS reporting under Section 8(a)(7) of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). Significantly, EPA’s proposal would exempt imported articles from reporting. Once the proposed rule is published in the Federal Register, it will be subject to a 45-day comment period.
The TSCA PFAS reporting rule, originally finalized in October 2023, requires that manufacturers of PFAS and importers of PFAS and PFAS-containing products report extensive information to EPA about the products they manufacture and import going back to January 1, 2011 (See Hunton’s prior blog post about this rule). The rule does not include any of the exemptions that are traditionally part of TSCA reporting rules, which has caused widespread concern from regulated entities about the massive regulatory burdens created by the rule, particularly for importers of finished products containing any amount of PFAS.
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Texas Energy Report NewsClips
Friday December 5, 2025
Asterisk (*) denotes news stories that may be inaccessible because portions are behind a paywall
Good morning! Here are today’s Texas Energy Report NewsClips
WTI oil prices were poised for a weekly gain on Friday, supported by an expected Federal Reserve interest rate cut, escalating U.S.-Venezuela tensions and stalled peace talks in Moscow, though both oil benchmarks dipped from the previous day.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate dipped 10 cents, or 0.17%, to $59.57 a barrel, though it logged a gain of about 1.7% for the week, marking a second straight weekly increase.
Brent crude fell 3 cents, or 0.05%, to $63.23 per barrel by 0745 GMT. The contract was largely stable on the week.
Top Stories
US News – December 4, 2025
Chevron’s Gorgon LNG Project Secures $2 Billion Investment Nod
The Australian unit of U.S. oil giant Chevron said on Friday that the partners of the Gorgon Joint Venture have approved the A$3 billion ($1.98 billion) Gorgon Stage 3 development off Western Australia’s northwest coast. The development will be used as backfill for the existing LNG export concern and will link the offshore Geryon and Eurytion natural gas fields to Gorgon’s existing infrastructure on Barrow Island. Chevron said in Gorgon Stage 3, six wells will be drilled across two fields, part of a series of planned subsea tiebacks.
The project proposal was accepted in November by the offshore environmental regulator after being submitted for public comment by Chevron in August 2024. The Chevron-operated Gorgon Project is a joint venture among the Australian units of Chevron, Exxon Mobil, and Shell, which collectively own roughly 97.3%, with Japan’s Osaka Gas, JERA and U.S.-based firm MidOcean holding the remaining stake. In addition to LNG exports it will enable the long-term supply of domestic gas for Western Australia households and industry, Chevron Australia president Balaji Krishnamurthy said.
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Texas Monthly – November 27, 2025
What Does the Texas Railroad Commission Do? This Candidate Thinks It Fights “Radical Islamists”*
Now a prominent Republican wants to further expand the commission’s duties to include combatting the “Islamic invasion.” On November 12 Bo French, chairman of the Tarrant County Republican Party, abruptly resigned from his position to launch his 2026 election campaign for the only open seat on the three-member commission, vowing in a press release to protect Texas oil and gas from “Iran and radical Islamists attacking our allies in the Middle East,” the Chinese Communist Party, and “Green New Scam artists waging war on domestic energy production.” The position “will be the best way that I can defend Texas, stop the Islamic invasion, and defeat the left,” he said on social media. “Our birthright is being taken from us, but together we can stop it.”
If you are wondering what, exactly, regulating the energy sector has to do with Islam, then you are not alone—almost immediately, French’s announcement was met by a mix of bemusement and mockery, with even fellow Republicans condemning what they said was a naked attempt to gin up online, right-wing outrage ahead of his primary with Jim Wright, a Republican who chairs the commission. French is the latest in a long line of chronically online Republicans who believe, with some evidence, that they can whip digital anger into a viable political career, regardless of whether it has anything to do with the actual job they hold or seek. (Earlier this year, Christi Craddick, a member of the commission who is running for Texas Comptroller, the state’s chief financial officer, paid for an X advertisement in which she promised to “hold the line” against transgender athletes in girls’ sports—breaking from what has otherwise been a standard-fare, Republican campaign in order to play to a red-meat social issue that is irrelevant to her prospective job.) …
French, who did not respond to an interview request, has proven similarly adept at stoking the most reactionary corners of the GOP base, then framing himself as their lone hero, unafraid to stand up to “the swamp” or “uniparty,” which they blame for their many woes. Since taking the helm of the Tarrant County GOP after losing two Texas House races—and as he has increasingly hobnobbed with a prominent fascist sympathizer—the 55-year-old has been perhaps the most controversial figure in the sprawling, ever-controversial political network funded by West Texas oil billionaires Tim Dunn and Farris Wilks. French praises his allies as “based,” and calls his detractors “gay” or “retards.” He frequently accuses non-white, elected officials of being terrorists or communists. “There are just some things where you can’t trust women TBH,” he wrote in response to a Kamala Harris 2024 campaign advertisement. And last month, as millions of low-income Americans were set to lose food stamps, French posted about the coming “chimp out.”
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E&E News By Politico – December 4, 2025
The US power market is getting messy. Here’s why.
Electricity markets used to be predictable. In 2025, they’re anything but. Coal is enjoying a revival, natural gas generation is down, and renewables are forging ahead despite political headwinds. Some of that is driven by annual idiosyncrasies like weather, which increased electricity demand this year, and President Donald Trump’s dismantling of environmental regulations and the Inflation Reduction Act. But most of the market’s upheaval is due to wider economic trends that burst into full view this year — namely, the growth in U.S. exports of liquefied natural gas and rising electricity demand from data centers.
“I feel like we’re at the edge of the storm,” said Ric O’Connell, the executive director of the consulting firm GridLab. “The storm is the load growth that is showing up in the next couple of years. The IRA is going away, and gas prices are potentially going to spike. The next couple of years could be messy.” The trends mark a fundamental shift from the previous decade, which was defined by stagnant power demand, low natural gas prices, coal plant retirements and a wave of renewable installations.
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KFDM – December 4, 2025
New contracts advance Gulf Coast storm protection plan
An ambitious, multi-billion dollar plan is moving forward with new design contracts to protect the Texas Gulf Coast from catastrophic hurricanes and storms, according to the Texas General Land Office. The plan encompasses an area stretching from Galveston to Jefferson County and extending to Orange County. The GLO says the contracts mark a major milestone toward construction.
“Everything is bigger in Texas – including the Coastal Texas Project, which is the largest coastal resiliency undertaking in U.S. Army Corps of Engineers history that will feature the largest barrier gate system in the world. We can no longer wait to implement this long-term resiliency strategy, aimed at safeguarding the largest port and petrochemical complex in the nation,” said GLO Commissioner, Dawn Buckingham, M.D.
The Latest TERse Tips
Over 2,000 customers were without power on Thursday afternoon in East El Paso, but no cause was reported — KFOX
Fitch Ratings has assigned an expected rating of ‘BB (EXP)’ to $2.0 billion par amount of senior secured notes to be issued by Venture Global Plaquemines LNG, LLC — Fitch
Dallas could see a water shortage in 14 years but a new plan may prevent that — KERA
RWE Clean Energy has commissioned the Stoneridge Solar PV project in Texas, adding 200MW of solar PV and 100MW/200MWh BESS to its operational portfolio — the company is the US arm of German power firm RWE — Energy Storage
SmartestEnergy US, part of a global energy company helping businesses navigate the energy transition, has selected GridBeyond, a global smart energy company, as its technology partner to optimize battery energy storage systems (BESS) in the ERCOT market — the strategic partnership will leverage GridBeyond’s advanced price forecasting, bid optimization, and trading services for three BESS resources located in Texas — see the press release
Waymo’s Self-Driving Cars Are Suddenly Behaving Like New York Cabbies — autonomous vehicles are adopting humanlike qualities, making illegal U-turns and flooring it the second the light goes green — The Wall Street Journal*
DOGE employees who landed in environmental agencies in the early days of the Trump administration have departed from their government gigs as the bureaucracy-slashing operation has dwindled, according to Politico*
Russian officials have claimed that Moscow may deploy medium-range ballistic missiles and cruise missiles to Venezuela, potentially invoking Cold War–era escalation reminiscent of the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, according to Defense Express on November 4 — United24 Media
Oil & Gas Texas
Rigzone – December 4, 2025
Macquarie Places 20-Year Order from Texas LNG
Macquarie Energy LLC, part of trading and financial services multinational Macquarie Group Ltd, has signed a definitive agreement to buy 0.5 million metric tons per annum (MMtpa) of liquefied natural gas (LNG) for 20 years from Glenfarne Group LLC’s Texas LNG project.
“This agreement, along with the three previously announced Texas LNG offtake agreements, brings Texas LNG one step closer to a final investment decision”, said a joint statement Wednesday. Earlier this year Glenfarne secured a 20-year contract to supply 0.5 MMtpa of LNG to Gunvor Group Ltd from Texas LNG.
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E&E News By Politico – December 4, 2025
Greens want ESA to protect Permian Basin plant from oil and gas boom*
Environmentalists sought Endangered Species Act protections Thursday for a flowering plant found in the oil-rich Permian Basin. Citing energy development as an existential danger, the Center for Biological Diversity petitioned the Fish and Wildlife Service to list the Allred’s flax as threatened or endangered under the ESA.
“These beautiful orange flowers grow only on scattered gypsum outcrops in one of the most biodiverse deserts on Earth and they urgently need protection” said Krista Kemppinen, a senior scientist at the Center, in a statement, adding that “exploration and extraction of oil and gas resources could wipe these flowers out unless they’re protected under the Endangered Species Act.” According to the petition, much of the plant’s known and potential habitat across New Mexico and Texas overlaps with oil and gas leases that are being drilled or could be. Well digging, building construction and road dust related to energy development are all said to degrade or wipe out the habitat.
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KFOX – December 4, 2025
Cheaper gas might not be enough to drive consumer sentiment higher amid stubborn inflation
The national average for a gallon of gas has dipped below $3 for the first time in over four years, according to AAA. Prices at the pump remain well above that mark in some states. Gas is most expensive in California at $4.51 a gallon. But the national average has dropped to $2.99 from $3.03 a year ago.
President Donald Trump has touted lower gas prices while calling overall affordability concerns “a con job by the Democrats.” “As an example, energy, gasoline, we’re now at about $2.50 a gallon,” Trump said at this week’s Cabinet meeting. “We’re going to be, I think, at $2 a gallon. We could even crack that at some point. I’d love to do it.” … What will happen to gas prices the rest of this holiday season? “I think they’re expected to stay kind of in this narrow band,” said University of Houston energy economist Ed Hirs. “I don’t think they’re supposed to go lower. Nobody’s thinking that. And so, it’d be wrong to say that. Is it going to be a little less expensive to go to grandma’s house? Yes. That’s a good thing. But there’s so many bad things associated with this.”
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Reuters – December 4, 2025
Shell-led LNG Canada’s second processing unit still down, sources say*
Shell-led LNG Canada’s second processing unit, known as Train 2, remains down nearly a month after its initial start-up, two sources told Reuters. The company said on November 20 that a re-start had been scheduled for December 1 and would last about two weeks. A spokesperson for LNG Canada said on Thursday it expects to provide an update later this week. Located in Kitimat, British Columbia, the complex is the first major LNG export facility in Canada and the first on North America’s West Coast with direct access to Asia, the world’s largest market for the liquid fuel. When fully operational, LNG Canada is expected to export 14 million metric tonnes of LNG per year.
Since starting up in July, the plant has had challenges, with its first train experiencing technical issues involving a gas turbine and refrigerant production unit. The company on November 6 announced it had started production from its second train, but data from financial firm LSEG has not shown an increase in exports since then.
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New Orleans Times Picayune – December 4, 2025
Controversial plan to sell water to Texas from this popular Louisiana spot is dead for now*
A developing plan to ship Toledo Bend Reservoir water to Texas is “dead” for now, following months of local and legislative opposition, and won’t be back for discussion “any time soon,” state authority officials said. But the officials who considered that deal also didn’t rule out the possibility of water sales at some point in the future, even as one Vernon Parish legislator promised this week to try to block them with a bill next spring.
Under the now-sidelined concept, Toledo Bend Reservoir would have supplied 200,000 acre-feet per year from Louisiana’s share of water in the lake on the western edge of the state. A Dallas company had plans to pipe that water potentially hundreds of miles west to growing population centers in Texas, where state officials say 25% of the population could face municipal water shortages by 2070 due to rising demand and shrinking supplies.
Two officials with the Sabine River Authority of Louisiana, which oversees the Louisiana side of Toledo Bend, said the lack of support from their sister agency in Texas for an important engineering study, as well as opposition from key Louisiana legislators and local parishes, led to the end of talks last month with the company, Aqueduct Partners LP.
Oil & Gas National & International
Politico – December 4, 2025
DOE advisory panel issues report urging permit overhaul
A federal advisory committee of energy industry leaders presented two reports to Energy Secretary Chris Wright on Wednesday, recommending sweeping changes to permitting requirements and more integration between the electric and natural gas industries. The two reports arrived five months after Wright asked the National Petroleum Council in June to provide analyses of how the U.S. could boost oil and gas production to meet the Trump administration’s “energy dominance” goals.
The emphasis from industry executives on changing permitting laws coincides with a push in Congress to amend decades-old laws that many lawmakers say have slowed the build-out of all kinds of infrastructure. “It’s reached the point where the money that gets wasted in the permitting process would disgust every American,” said Alan Armstrong, chair of the National Petroleum Council and executive chair of the Williams Companies, to reporters after the meeting. At a hotel in Washington on Wednesday, Wright called energy the “most important industry in the world” and dismissed concerns about climate change as overhyped.
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Politico – December 4, 2025
Congress axes Biden ANWR drilling limits*
The Senate voted Thursday to undo Biden-era restrictions on oil and gas drilling in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The Congressional Review Act resolution, H.J. Res. 131, passed in the House last month and will now go to President Donald Trump’s desk for signature. Maine Sen. Susan Collins was the only Republican to vote against the legislation. No Democrats voted in favor. The final Senate tally was 49-45.
The legislation targets the Biden administration’s management plan for ANWR’s Coastal Plain. Alaska’s congressional delegation spent years fighting the Biden administration’s efforts to restrict drilling in the refuge after working even longer to open the area to development. Democratic lawmakers have argued that President Joe Biden’s drilling restrictions were necessary to protect wildlife, and they have condemned Trump’s recent moves to reopen the area for oil and gas leasing. But Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), speaking ahead of the vote Wednesday, said plans for ANWR drilling before Biden took office already restricted resource development to just a small section of the refuge and included significant environmental safeguards.
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Reuters – December 4, 2025
OPEC oil output slips in November despite agreed hike, survey finds*
OPEC’s oil output edged lower in November, despite an OPEC+ agreement to raise production for the month, due to outages in some members, a Reuters survey found on Thursday, bringing supply from the group further below its target. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries pumped 28.40 million barrels per day last month, down 30,000 bpd from October’s total, the survey showed, with Nigeria and Iraq recording the largest declines.
OPEC+, comprising OPEC and allies including Russia, has slowed the pace of its monthly output increases amid concerns of a supply glut. Many members are running close to capacity limits and some are tasked with extra cuts to compensate for earlier overproduction, limiting the impact of further increases. Under an agreement by eight OPEC+ members covering November output, the five of them that are OPEC members – Algeria, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the UAE – were to raise output by 85,000 bpd before the effect of compensation cuts totalling 140,000 bpd for Iraq
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Upstream – December 4, 2025
US LNG project inks partnership with South Korea company
South Korea’s POSCO International has agreed to a preliminary liquefied natural gas offtake deal with Alaska LNG and will invest in the US project, according to an announcement from developer Glenfarne Group. As part of their strategic partnership, POSCO has agreed to a 20-year heads of agreement (HOA) for 1 million tonnes per annum (tpa) of LNG from the planned Alaska development. Glenfarne said it was the first HOA for Alaska LNG.
POSCO will also provide a “capital investment” in Alaska LNG, according to Glenfarne. The company did not disclose how much POSCO will spend on the project. In addition, POSCO will supply a “significant portion” of the steel needed to build an 807-mile (1300-kilometre) pipeline for Alaska LNG, Glenfarne said.
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Reuters – December 4, 2025
How an oil pipeline battle shows the US gaining sway in Iraq*
Iranian drones swept through the mountain air of northern Iraq’s Kurdistan region in mid-July, homing in on their targets: oilfields run by Americans. Fired by an Iranian-backed militia group within Iraq, likely in retaliation for U.S. strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites weeks earlier, one struck the Sarsang field operated by HKN Energy, a company owned by the son of Texas billionaire Ross Perot. Another hit a nearby field run by Dallas-based Hunt Oil.
By the end of the four-day assault, which also disrupted operations at a local company and Norway’s DNO, nearly half of the Kurdistan region’s production had been halted. The direct attack on U.S. interests enraged Washington, which had long felt Iraq was not doing enough to tackle pro-Iranian militias, and spurred it to ramp up a pressure campaign on Baghdad, according to nine sources familiar with the matter. That campaign ultimately led to Iraq reopening a key export pipeline for Kurdistan’s oil – a major concession that points to a tilt in the balance of influence within Iraq away from Tehran and towards Washington.
Utilities, Electricity & Renewables
MSN – December 4, 2025
5 US regions where energy shortage fears are becoming real
The American power grid is facing a reckoning. After decades of relative stability, multiple regions across the United States are now confronting genuine concerns about whether they can keep the lights on during extreme weather. The threat is real, not theoretical. The US and Canada could face power shortages in 2024. What makes this particularly alarming is the combination of aging infrastructure, rapid retirements of traditional power plants, and increasingly unpredictable extreme weather patterns.
Texas is the only state to have its own power grid. It doesn’t have significant connections to the grids that serve the eastern and western halves of the United States. This isolation has become both a point of pride and a source of vulnerability. In the Electric Reliability Council of Texas footprint, “surging load growth is driving resource adequacy concerns as the share of dispatchable resources in the mix struggles to keep pace,” NERC said.
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S&P Global Platts – December 4, 2025
US adds 11.7 GW of clean energy capacity in Q3, long-term uncertainty remains
The US clean energy industry had a strong third quarter adding 11.695 GW of capacity, while the American Clean Power Association warns of lingering policy and regulatory uncertainty that put future growth at risk. The Q3 clean energy additions increased 14% year over year, according to a Dec. 4 ACP statement. Strong momentum and policy tailwinds have supported the industry over the last several years, ACP said.
“The third quarter’s record results mask an unstable policy environment that is threatening our ability to meet our future energy needs,” ACP CEO Jason Grumet said in a statement. “The policy chaos at the federal level has seeped into every part of project timelines, stalling growth precisely when we need to meet demand and keep energy prices affordable for American families and businesses.”
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December 4, 2025
Polar vortex and power failure will forever go together for many Texans. The first wave of cold weather always makes me wonder whether the Electric Reliability Council of Texas’s power grid is ready for a big freeze. Digging out my winter coat is a reminder to make a plan for when the power goes out again. ERCOT has bolstered the grid, but the nonprofit system operator will struggle to keep up with outside forces. Texas may be adding new generation faster than any other state, but electricity demand is growing even faster.
A severe storm this winter could trigger blackouts, the North American Electric Reliability Corp. warned, even if we have enough energy to cope with a typical winter. “Winter peak demands typically occur before sunrise and after sunset when solar generation is not available. Significant battery storage mitigates these risks,” the not-for-profit that oversees grid reliability and security determined. “Load shedding (a rolling blackout) is unlikely but may be needed under wide-area cold weather events.”
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Politico – December 2, 2025
Trump admin releases $3.7B of delayed household energy aid*
The Trump administration is releasing billions of dollars in federal funds to help struggling families pay electric and gas utility bills. The disbursement to states and tribes last week of more than $3.7 billion in Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, or LIHEAP, funds comes as the winter heating season bears down and utility bills skyrocket in many parts of the United States.
“This release of LIHEAP funding is essential and long overdue,” said Mark Wolfe, executive director of the National Energy Assistance Directors Association (NEADA), in a statement. “Families can finally begin receiving the support they need to keep the heat on as winter begins.” The record federal government shutdown in October and part of November delayed the release of the funds. LIHEAP, which is administered by the Department of Health and Human Services, is used to help low-income families pay utility bills. Electricity and natural gas prices are set to spike this winter, following months and years of rising rates. NEADA says U.S. residential electricity prices increased 10.5 percent between January and August alone.
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Reuters – December 2, 2025
The Trump administration has renamed one of the country’s energy laboratories to remove the word ‘renewable’ in the latest effort to downplay electricity sources such as solar and wind power in favor of fossil fuels. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory, based in Golden, Colorado, will now be known as the National Laboratory of the Rockies, the lab said on its website late on Monday. One of 17 Energy Department labs, it also pursues research in energy efficiency. It was set up by U.S. leaders including two of President Donald Trump’s fellow Republicans.
Former President Gerald Ford launched the Solar Energy Research Institute in the 1970s after the Arab oil embargo damaged the U.S. economy. Former President George H. W. Bush, a former Texas oilman, renamed the facility NREL, in 1991. The U.S. Energy Department said the name change reflects the administration’s broader vision for the lab’s applied energy research. The move aligns with other Trump actions on wind and solar power such as issuing stop-work orders on offshore wind farms and adding regulatory hurdles for wind and solar.
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Corpus Christi Caller-Times – November 26, 2025
Greening the Blockchain: How Bitcoin Mining Is Evolving Toward Sustainability
Across the globe, miners are rethinking how they power operations. Many are relocating to regions rich in renewable energy: hydropower in Canada, solar farms in Texas, and wind-powered grids in northern Europe. Geothermal energy from Iceland and El Salvador is helping to drive the transition. Some companies, like Crusoe Energy, have taken extra steps by capturing flare gas, or methane gas that would otherwise go to waste or be burned off. They convert this gas into electricity for mining. This method reduces emissions and transforms an environmental issue into a source of energy.
Mining companies that prioritize ESG, such as CleanSpark and Blockstream, are at the forefront of this movement. They attract investors who care about transparency and accountability regarding carbon emissions. These businesses show that Bitcoin mining can be both profitable and environmentally friendly. This opens the door to a new era of “green crypto.” People are now asking, “How quickly can Bitcoin become part of the clean energy transition?” instead of “Is Bitcoin bad for the planet?” And that is a question both investors and policymakers want answered.
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Utility Dive – December 4, 2025
US solicitor general tells Supreme Court to reject Duke Energy antitrust appeal
The U.S. solicitor general on Monday urged the U.S. Supreme Court to deny Duke Energy’s appeal challenging a lower court’s ruling in an antitrust lawsuit brought by independent power producer NTE Energy. In August 2024, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit properly ruled that NTE Carolina’s antitrust suit against Duke could move ahead after it was dismissed by a lower court, according to U.S. Solicitor General John Sauer.
“This appeal arises out of a campaign by an established monopolist to stop a more efficient rival from disturbing its long-dominant hold over a regional energy market,” Sauer said. “Without ever competing with [NTE] on the merits (i.e., offering a better service), [Duke] was able to prevent [NTE] from operating its superior [generating] facility.”
Regulatory
Politico – December 4, 2025
Fired EPA dissent letter signers file appeal*
EPA employees fired after publicly criticizing the Trump administration’s treatment of science and their colleagues are now pushing back. Six former EPA staffers who signed an open dissent letter this summer and were later terminated are filing an appeal with the Merit Systems Protection Board. Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, part of the legal team representing the employees, announced their appeal Wednesday.
The ex-EPA employees claim the agency fired them illegally for using their right to free speech to alert the public about their concerns. Their appeal to the board, which guards the civil service, is yet another chapter in the dissent letter saga at EPA, which has faced turbulent times under the Trump administration. In an interview with POLITICO’s E&E News, Joanna Citron Day, general counsel for PEER, said the firings were “totally and completely without merit” as the agency retaliated against public employees who were exercising their First Amendment rights.
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Politico – December 4, 2025
DOE axes ‘zero emissions’ building standard*
The Department of Energy is scrapping a Biden-era “zero emissions” building standard, adding to Trump administration efforts to reverse initiatives aiming to address climate change. In a Federal Register notice Wednesday, DOE said the definition is “not consistent with current administration priorities” and urged states, cities and organizations to no longer use it.
“The interaction of America’s 130 million buildings with our energy system should not be further complicated by arbitrary and imprecise federal guidance,” Lou Hrkman, principal deputy assistant secretary for critical minerals and energy innovation, said in a statement. DOE removed the definition from its website and said it would no longer provide technical assistance on the issue. The newly created Office of Critical Minerals and Energy Innovation said in a statement the decision would promote “freedom of choice” and “relieve developers, investors, and building owners of indirect pressure to account for federal guidelines that never had the force or effect of law.”
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Capital & Main – December 3, 2025
Trump’s Anti-Climate Policies Are Driving Up Insurance Costs for Homeowners, Say Experts
Property insurance rates have spiked since 2021 due to the increasing frequency of climate-related natural disasters, inflation in the cost of building materials and supply chain issues. The typical homeowner saw an average increase of $648 in their annual premium from 2021 to 2024. And those rates are expected to increase by an average of 8% nationwide this year — with homeowners in some states facing much higher increases, such as a projected 27% hike in Louisiana.
An increasing number of American homeowners are linking those increases to climate change. A majority of them (72%) say that natural disasters such as hurricanes, floods and wildfires exacerbated by climate change are somewhat or very responsible for the rise in homeowner insurance costs, according to a poll by Data For Progress.
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Politico – December 1, 2025
EPA pushes climate groups to close embattled grants*
EPA is pressing grant recipients of a Biden-era environmental justice program to take steps that would make the termination of their awards irrevocable — even as some of them are suing the agency to recover the funds. Earlier this year, the Trump administration told all 105 recipients of the Community Change Grant Program that their grants had been canceled because it was a “diversity, equity and inclusion” measure that contradicted the priorities of President Donald Trump.
The program, one of several environmental justice initiatives enacted under the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, offered $1.6 billion in grants to help communities cope with risks related to pollution and climate change. Other IRA programs, such as the $3 billion Environmental and Climate Justice Block Grants and clean energy initiatives like Solar for All, were also canceled over the course of the year. A slew of challenges filed by nonprofits and state and local governments are now winding their way through the courts.
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Politico – December 2, 2025
Rural areas are untapped climate saviors, report finds*
The fight against climate change is overlooking rural America as both a source and solution to rising greenhouse gas emissions, according to a new report. Rural areas contribute a disproportionate share of emissions tied to climate change — but also can play a bigger role in tackling the problem than their big-city neighbors, said the report from a funding collaborative called the Rural Climate Partnership.
The partnership published the report, called a “Rural Reality Check,” on Tuesday as an update to its first such report last year. The partnership is a project of the Heartland Fund, a nonprofit organization “building power toward a thriving democracy, healthy climate, and shared prosperity across diverse communities in rural areas and small cities,” according to its website.
According to the report, about 38 percent of U.S. carbon emissions come from rural areas, where just 19 percent of the population lives. And while transportation is the biggest single source of greenhouse gas emissions, rural areas play an outsize role in emissions tied to sources like energy production and industry as well as farming, the report said.
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Texas Energy Report NewsClips
Thursday December 4, 2025
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 firmed on Thursday after Ukrainian attacks on Russia’s oil infrastructure signalled potential supply constraints, and stalled peace talks tempered expectations of a deal restoring Russian oil flows to global markets, though weak fundamentals kept gains limited.
West Texas Intermediate rose 45 cents, or 0.76%, to $59.40.
Brent crude rose 41 cents, or 0.65%, to $63.08 at 0659 GMT.
Ukraine hit the Druzhba oil pipeline in Russia’s central Tambov region, a Ukrainian military intelligence source said on Wednesday, the fifth attack on the pipeline that sends Russian oil to Hungary and Slovakia. The pipeline operator and Hungary’s oil and gas company later said supplies were moving through the pipeline as normal.
“Ukraine’s drone campaign against Russian refining infrastructure has shifted into a more sustained and strategically coordinated phase,” consultancy Kpler said in a research report, adding that strikes now target refineries in repeated cycles, aiming to keep key assets from stabilising.
Top Stories
Reuters – December 4, 2025
Exxon to permanently shut one steam cracker in Singapore from March, sources say*
ExxonMobil plans to wind down from March operations at the older of its two steam crackers on Singapore’s Jurong Island, four sources familiar with the matter said, part of a global petrochemicals sector trend to reduce capacity amid industry losses. The shutdown of the plant, which opened in 2002, is expected to be complete by June, two of the sources said. The sources asked not to be identified because they were not authorised to speak to media.
The imminent shutdown of the U.S. major’s first cracker in the Asian oil trading hub comes as chemical producers grapple with losses from overcapacity led by China, the world’s largest consumer of petrochemicals used to make products ranging from plastics and clothes to shoes and cars. “As a matter of practice, we do not comment on market rumors or speculation,” an ExxonMobil spokesperson said in response to Reuters’ queries.
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KTRK – December 3, 2025
New report shows data centers could strain Texas’ grid this winter
A new report shows a growing industry in Texas could put a strain on the state’s power grid this winter. Winter power problems have been on Houston resident, Dolores Hidalgo’s mind ever since the winter storm in 2021. In February 2021, an University of Houston report shows more than two-thirds of all Texans lost power for nearly three days during a winter storm.
“I think about it every year,” Hidalgo said. “I get worried that we’re going to lose power and it’s going to be for weeks, and we’re going to be cold.” Five years later, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation has a new assessment on how prepared the state’s grid, ERCOT, is this winter. The report shows ERCOT could be strained this winter due to data centers. They’re facilities that house IT infrastructure systems.
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Reuters – December 3, 2025
Chevron to spend up to $19 billion next year in focus on US, Guyana oil production*
Chevron said on Wednesday that capital expenditure for 2026 will be between $18 billion and $19 billion as the oil major focuses on production in the U.S. and investments connected to a recently-acquired oil stake in Guyana. The range is at the low-end of previous guidance that put annual investment between $18 billion and $21 billion through 2030. The second-largest U.S. oil producer outlined a plan last month to cut costs, operate more efficiently and increase returns to investors through the end of the decade.
“Our 2026 capital program focuses on the highest-return opportunities while maintaining discipline and improving efficiency, enabling us to grow cash flow and earnings,” Chevron CEO Mike Wirth said in a statement. About $17 billion will be spent on upstream, roughly $9 billion of which is allocated to the United States. Chevron said it expects to spend $6 billion on American shale and plans to produce more than 2 million barrels of oil equivalent per day from the country next year. Spending on offshore production will total about $7 billion to support Guyana, projects in the Eastern Mediterranean and production from the U.S. Gulf of Mexico.
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Reuters – December 3, 2025
High and rising natural gas costs may spur fresh climb in US coal use: Gavin Maguire*
Once again, cold temperatures and record exports of liquefied natural gas are major drivers of the gas-to-coal switching, although increased backing of the coal sector in Washington, D.C. is also underpinning coal consumption. As coal-fired generation emits around 75% more carbon dioxide (CO2) per kilowatt hour (kWh) of electricity than gas-fired generation, per data from Ember, U.S. power sector emissions are bound to climb with rising coal output.
The Latest TERse Tips
President Trump on Wednesday pardoned Texas Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar and his wife Imelda, who had faced federal bribery, money laundering and foreign-agent charges — Cuellar, 70, was an outspoken critic of former President Joe Biden’s border policies before the couple was indicted last year for allegedly accepting $600,000 from Azerbaijan’s state-owned oil company and a Mexican bank — New York Post — Also see: Longtime Cuellar aide hopes Trump pardon will lead to dismissal of his conspiracy case — San Antonio Express-News*
Fitch Ratings has cut its 2025-2027 oil price assumptions, reflecting market oversupply — Fitch
A Texas district court was wrong to deny environmental groups the right to intervene in a case to defend an endangered bird after the Trump administration allowed a Biden-era rule over the species to be wiped out without proper review, an appellate brief said — “If this decision is allowed to stand, any federal rule could be challenged by an industry or advocacy group (of any ideological stripe) and be stripped from the books by judicial decree whenever a new administration decides to no longer defend it,” the Center for Biological Diversity and Texas Campaign for the Environment said — Bloomberg*
Citgo Petroleum has been carrying out startup work at the west plant of its 175,550 b/d Corpus Christi refinery over several days, the company said in a community alert that warned of potential flaring — Morningstar
Acting Texas Comptroller Kelly Hancock today released the results of a Comptroller’s office study examining the impact of the Port of Beaumont on the Texas economy — total trade through this port accounted for $23 billion in trade in 2024, an increase of 182 percent from 2015 levels — see the press release
Update: Judge approves sale of Houston-based Citgo to Amber Energy — J.P. Duffy is an international arbitration partner at the Houston-based law firm Bracewell. He said the Venezuelan government faced mounting debts, as the country grappled with falling oil prices and political instability — KUHF
Austin Energy unveils the first commercial Solar Standard Offer project, boosting the grid with local solar — see the press release
The University of Texas at Austin’s new Engineering Discovery Building will be named in honor of Autry C. Stephens, the oil and gas pioneer and UT alumnus whose contributions have shaped the energy industry in Texas — Virtual Builders Exchange
The Trump administration is floating the idea of using backup generators to add power to the electricity grid, in a bid to lower Americans’ utility bills — Energy Secretary Chris Wright asserted on Tuesday that the country’s backup generators could contribute roughly 35 gigawatts of electricity, or enough to power tens of millions of homes — Politico*
Oil & Gas Texas
Bloomberg – December 3, 2025
Chevron’s Capital Budget Lands on Low End in Push for Cash*
Chevron Corp. expects to spend less than previously planned next year as the Texas oil giant focuses on profits over production growth with crude prices near the lowest since 2021. Capital expenditure will be about $18.5 billion next year, with nearly a third to be spent on US shale operations in Texas, New Mexico, Colorado and North Dakota, the company said in a statement. The sum is at the low end of guidance published last month and less than the $19 billion to $22 billion range Chevron announced after buying Hess Corp. in July.
After completing several multi-year growth projects, Chief Executive Officer Mike Wirth has said Chevron can maintain its dividends and stock buybacks through the current period of low oil prices. By reining in spending on new projects, the company plans to harvest free cash flow, which it expects to increase 14% annually to more than $30 billion by 2030.
“Our 2026 capital program focuses on the highest-return opportunities while maintaining discipline and improving efficiency, enabling us to grow cash flow,” Wirth said in the statement. Earlier this year, Chevron said it was intentionally dialing back growth in the Permian to boost returns. Previously its biggest growth asset, the basin will “plateau” at about 1 million barrels of oil equivalent a day, Bruce Niemeyer, the company’s shale president said in an interview in July.
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Hydrocarbon Processing – December 3, 2025
Valero plans CDU upgrades at Port Arthur refinery in February
Valero Energy plans to perform upgrades to the large crude distillation unit (CDU) at its 380,000-bpd Port Arthur, Texas refinery in February, said people familiar with the plant’s operations. A Valero spokesperson did not reply on Tuesday to a request for comment about the refinery’s maintenance plans.
Valero plans to perform a series of upgrades to the AVU-146 CDU beginning in February aimed at boosting the unit’s capacity from an average of 235,000 bpd to 260,000 bpd, the sources said. Among the improvements will be upgrades to processing of bottoms – heavy, gunky residual crude oil that is usually sent to the coker or used in asphalt, the sources said. The refinery may be able to keep AVU-146 in operation while the upgrades are underway, the sources said.
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Politico – December 3, 2025
Documentary spotlights New Mexico oil pollution case*
A new documentary aims to shed light on alleged harms the oil and gas industry in New Mexico causes residents as a novel pollution case looms before the state’s Supreme Court. The film, called “The Land of Sacrifice,” focuses on the effects that emissions and other activities associated with oil and gas production have amid New Mexico’s fracking boom. It highlights plaintiffs in Atencio v. State, a lawsuit filed by a group of Native Americans, environmental groups and other residents who live near the state’s oil-producing regions. New Mexico, which includes part of the massive Permian Basin, is now the second-largest oil-producing state in the United States.
“We had a tsunami of oil and gas development,” Daniel Tso, a former Navajo Nation Council delegate and a plaintiff in the case, says in the film. “No place to run, no place to take shelter. It’s here.” The new film by Annie Ersinghaus was released this week and is available to watch for free online. Screenings are also planned at select cities in New Mexico. It was produced with funding from the New Mexico Documentary Incubator Grants program.
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Pipeline & Gas Journal – December 3, 2025
Esentia Energy to Boost Mexico Gas Pipeline Capacity 50% by 2030
Mexico’s Esentia Energy plans to expand its natural gas transportation capacity by 50% within five years, betting on rising demand as industrial use and U.S. imports increase, CEO Daniel Bustos said. The company, which raised $457 million in a late-November IPO, will use part of the proceeds to fund the expansion and reduce debt. Esentia plans to add 660 million cubic feet per day of capacity by the third phase of its development plan.
Esentia operates more than 2,000 kilometers (1,243 miles) of pipelines in its Waha or Wahalajara System, which delivers low-cost gas from Waha, Texas, to industrial hubs in central and western Mexico, including Guadalajara.
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Miami Herald – November 29, 2025
After Deepwater Horizon, some worry oil industry’s new tech could threaten Florida
Early one morning in March 2010, Captain Gary Jarvis cast a heavyweight line into the Gulf of Mexico from the deck of his 57 foot charter boat, Backdown 2. The sun hadn’t yet risen. But bright white spotlights from the 25-story oil rig nearby illuminated the dark waves and attracted the fisherman’s prize — yellowfin tuna. Jarvis and his two deckhands spent hours reeling in the high-dollar sportfish before turning the boat home toward Destin, Florida. It had been a good fishing day at the rig, and Jarvis assumed there would be many more. That oil rig was BP’s Deepwater Horizon. Less than a month later, the rig exploded and sank in the oil spill that would become known by the same name. The disaster killed 11 people and injured 17. Over 200 million gallons of Louisiana crude oil flowed uncontrolled into the Gulf for 87 days before the well was plugged. Oil slicks spread thousands of miles, fouling beaches in all five Gulf states in what remains the largest marine oil spill in American history.
Fifteen years later, Gulf communities have largely moved on. After a multi-billion dollar settlement from BP and regulatory reform, the nationwide outcry over industry recklessness quieted to a murmur. The white-sand beaches, now cleaned up, draw millions of tourists once again. But oil companies keep drilling — deeper than ever before—and they are also looking east. President Donald Trump’s “drill, baby, drill” philosophy now has some of the industry’s biggest players ready to bid on leases closer to Florida’s coast. The administration announced on Thursday it plans to open part of the Eastern Gulf, off limits for decades, to oil and gas exploration.
Oil & Gas National & International
The Wall Street Journal – December 3, 2025
Trump Administration Lowers Fuel-Economy Rules for Carmakers*
President Trump on Wednesday said he plans to roll back federal fuel-economy rules for passenger vehicles, his latest move to relieve the U.S. auto industry from mandates to build cleaner, more-fuel efficient cars. The administration’s move comes months after Congress and the Trump administration this summer essentially nullified the mandates—known as Corporate Average Fuel Economy rules, or CAFE—by eliminating fines for violating them.
Under the changes, the federal government would require an average of 34½ miles a gallon for vehicles by model year 2031, down from the 50.4 miles a gallon standard set by the Biden administration. It also does away with a system in which automakers can buy credits from competitors to offset fines, a setup that proved to be a boon for electric-vehicle maker Tesla. Lowering the standards would enshrine into federal law more lenient miles-per-gallon targets for automakers. It could make it harder to return to tougher standards since doing so would require more than simply reinstating penalties.
“We’re protecting our auto workers, and we’re making it easier for every family to afford high-quality cars,” Trump said in the Oval Office. “In other words, we’re bringing automobiles back and the manufacturing of automobiles back into this country.” The proposal must undergo an official rule-making process before being adopted. The changes would apply to all model-year passenger cars and light trucks from 2022 to 2031. It would reclassify small SUVs and so-called crossovers, which are SUVs built on car-like chassis, as passenger cars instead of light trucks.
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Pipeline & Gas Journal – December 3, 2025
Enbridge Projects 2026 Profit Growth on Strong Gas, Power Demand
Enbridge has forecast higher core profit for 2026, as the Canadian pipeline operator expects to benefit from strong demand and new projects entering service, the company said on Dec. 3. The company is pushing ahead with expanding its pipelines as U.S. power demand is expected to hit record highs this year and next, fueled by technology firms pouring billions to build data centers to tap the artificial intelligence boom.
“We have approximately C$8 billion of new projects entering service in 2026 across our franchises…,” CEO Gregory Ebel said in a statement. The Calgary-based company completed the acquisition of Dominion Energy utilities — East Ohio Gas, Questar Gas and Public Service Co of North Carolina — last year in a $14 billion deal, including debt.
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Bloomberg – December 3, 2025
Saudis Not Afraid to Cancel Costly Vision 2030 Projects*
Saudi Arabia is open to canceling some projects in its Vision 2030 program, the kingdom’s finance minister said, in some of the strongest public comments yet on the country’s willingness to backtrack on costly developments. “We have no ego — absolutely no ego,” Finance Minister Mohammed Al-Jadaan said in a briefing in Riyadh. “If we announce something and we need to adjust it, accelerate it and make it a priority more than others, or defer or cancel it, we will without blinking.”
Saudi officials have widely telegraphed an ongoing review of Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman’s multi-trillion dollar economic transformation plan that includes dozens of projects from desert ski slopes to gaming cities. But comments until now had mostly focused on delays or downsizing, rather than cancellation. The hardening in tone aligns with the newly-released Saudi 2026 budget statement, which puts emphasis on the push to spend more efficiently amid challenges stemming from low oil prices and persistent budget deficits. “Spending efficiency doesn’t mean cutting spending,” Al-Jadaan said. “It means decreasing spending on some items to increase on others.”
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The Hill – December 3, 2025
Why Big Oil is panicking over accountability: David Bookbinder, environmental attorney
American consumers shouldn’t have to pay twice for the damage done by multinational oil and gas companies — once through the harm their products cause to our health and our planet, and again when those same companies use lawsuits filed by local communities as an excuse to hike prices at the pump. That’s how these billion-dollar companies work — and the industry’s fake outrage over it says everything.
Recently, The Hill published an opinion piece from an industry-backed front group calling itself the “Consumer Choice Center,” claiming I support imposing a back-door “carbon tax” through climate liability lawsuits. That is not true. What I said is that the multinational oil companies, not the public, should be the ones to pay for the damage their products cause.
Another publication had to run a correction because they ran an op-ed from an energy industry advocate that falsely claimed I am currently representing Boulder County in their climate lawsuit against Suncor and ExxonMobil. They also implied that the Environmental Integrity Project is involved in climate liability litigation, which is not true. But the pattern is clear: industry-backed pundits have been misrepresenting my words, and their spin machine has gone into overdrive.
Utilities, Electricity & Renewables
KXAN – December 3, 2025
ERCOT proposing rule changes ahead of electricity demands
As energy demands skyrocket in Texas, it’s raising new concerns in reliability on the state’s power grid. According to a recent report from CNBC, Electric Reliability Council of Texas, or ERCOT, has received several requests of more than 220 gigawatts from “large electronic loads” back in November. That’s any load that’s above 75 megawatts where at least half of the power is used for computing essential data centers.
At least 73% of those requests come from projects connected to data centers. According to documents outlining a planned presentation to an ERCOT board meeting next week, these facilities went offline at least 26 times during normal voltage disturbances since 2023.
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Latitude Media – December 3, 2025
ERCOT’s large load queue has nearly quadrupled in a single year
Texas grid operator ERCOT has about 226 gigawatts of large load customers in its interconnection queue as of November. That’s nearly quadruple what it reported at the end of 2024, at 63 GW. About 77% of that load comes from large data centers aiming to connect to the power grid by 2030, ERCOT said in a filing ahead of its board meeting next week.
The interconnection requests far exceed the new power generation that ERCOT expects will come online in the coming years, fueling concerns about reliability. Between 2024 and 2025, about 23 GW of new generation capacity was added to the grid, ERCOT reported. Another nine GW is slated for early 2026.
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KVUE – December 3, 2025
Austin businesses boost power grid by selling rooftop solar to Austin Energy
Businesses in Austin are aiming to boost the power grid. A new program will allow commercial property owners with solar panels on their roofs to sell power to Austin Energy. On Wednesday, Austin leaders celebrated the first business that has taken advantage of the Solar Standard Offer project. So far, solar system owner Radial Power and contractor Axis Solar have installed a total of 812 solar panels on a warehouse rooftop.
Officials said the addition is good for the businesses and customers throughout the area. “The Solar Standard Offer is an industry leading program that Austin Energy launched this year,” Stuart Reilly, general manager of Austin Energy, said. “One of the most innovative aspects of the Solar Standard offer is its ability to drive local solar generation without increasing costs to our customers.”
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The Santa Rosa Press Democrat (CA) – December 3, 2025
Plans for huge new oceanfront battery storage plant are withdrawn following Moss Landing fire
The Texas company that owns the battery storage plant at Moss Landing that burned in a spectacular fire in January, raising questions nationwide about the safety of the fast-growing renewable energy technology, has withdrawn plans to build a similarly-sized battery storage plant in the adjacent county. Vistra, based in Dallas, has notified the California Energy Commission that it is dropping efforts to secure state permits to construct a 600-megawatt battery storage plant in Morro Bay, a coastal town in San Luis Obispo County.
The proposed plant would have been one of the largest in the United States with thousands of lithium-ion batteries capable of storing enough electricity for 450,000 homes. Vistra did not announce the decision to halt the project publicly or notify city leaders, despite having advocated for it over the past four years. The information became public in recent days when local media outlets in San Luis Obispo County confirmed with the energy commission that the company had withdrawn the project.
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Utility Dive – December 2, 2025
Americans lost more power last year than any year in previous decade: EIA
U.S. electricity customers experienced an average of 11 hours of power outages in 2024, nearly twice as many as the annual average across the previous decade, according to a new report from the Energy Information Administration. Hurricanes accounted for 80% of those lost hours, with most of last year’s outages resulting from major weather events like hurricanes Beryl, Helene and Milton, EIA said in the report released Monday.
“Interruptions attributed to major events averaged nearly nine hours in 2024, compared with an average of nearly four hours per year in 2014 through 2023,” EIA said. “Service interruptions that aren’t triggered by major events routinely average about two hours per year.”
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CNBC – December 3, 2025
How families could get stuck with higher electric bills if the AI data center boom goes bust
Data centers that haven’t been built yet are driving up electricity prices and could leave consumers on the hook for expensive power infrastructure if demand projections are wrong. The race to build facilities that provide artificial intelligence has fueled a boom in data centers that train and run large language models, like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Anthropic’s Claude. The boom has upended a utility industry that grew used to 20 years of no increase in electricity demand.
But now, some investors and energy market analysts are questioning whether the AI race has turned into a bubble, one that would prove expensive to unravel as new transmission lines and power plants are built to support those data centers. Consumers served by the largest electric grid in the U.S. will pay $16.6 billion to secure future power supplies just to meet demand from data centers from 2025 through 2027, according to a watchdog report published this month.
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Utility Dive – December 3, 2025
U.S. data center power demand could reach 106 GW by 2035: BloombergNEF
U.S. data center power demand could reach 106 GW in 2035, BloombergNEF said Monday in one of the more aggressive load growth estimates to date. The U.S. had about 25 GW of operating data centers in 2024, Bloom Energy said earlier this year. BloombergNEF’s latest forecast is 36% higher than its previous prediction, released in April. The jump is due in part to the higher average size of the 150 significant U.S. data center projects announced in the past year, over a quarter of which are larger than 500 MW, BNEF said.
The Energy Information Administration, which tracks demand for the federal government, generally only publishes detailed projections out two or three years, and few other analyses have attempted firm forecasts as far out as 2035.
Regulatory
The Wall Street Journal – December 3, 2025
Climate Change Study Predicting Dire Economic Damage Is Retracted*
A widely cited study on economic damage from climate change was retracted Wednesday following criticism from peers. The research, published last year in the prestigious journal Nature, projected that the world’s economic output would decline 62% by 2100 under a high-carbon emissions scenario. The estimate was much more severe than other forecasts, prompting scrutiny of the underlying data.
“We broadly agree with the issues raised, and have made corrections to the underlying economic data and to our methodology to address them,” said study author Leonie Wenz, from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany. “These changes are too substantial for a correction of the original article in Nature.” The study examined historical data from some 1,600 regions worldwide over the past four decades to project how changes in temperature and precipitation would affect economic growth, including factors like agricultural yields, labor productivity and infrastructure.
However, after the study was published, other researchers found that economic data from one country—Uzbekistan—during a short time from 1995 to 1999 had skewed the results. Without Uzbekistan, the 2100 damage forecast fell to 23%, not 62%. The researchers published their critique in Nature in August. Another researcher who wasn’t involved in the original work, Christof Schötz, said the results were more uncertain than the study suggested and published a separate critique in Nature in August.
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The Wall Street Journal – December 3, 2025
Climate Change Might Have Spared America From Hurricanes: Bjorn Lomborg*
The 2025 Atlantic hurricane season ended on Sunday, and not a single hurricane made landfall in the continental U.S. this year. This is the first such quiet year since 2015; an average of around two hurricanes strike the U.S. mainland annually. You’d think this would be cause for celebration—or at least curiosity about what role, if any, global warming played. Instead there has been resounding silence.
We heard plenty about Hurricane Melissa, the monster storm that hit Jamaica in late October with 185-mile-an-hour winds and flooding, causing roughly 100 deaths across the Caribbean. Headlines screamed that climate change was to blame. Attribution studies quickly followed, concluding that human-induced warming made Melissa more likely and worse.
These analyses typically run climate models simulating the world as it is today, with elevated sea-surface temperatures, and compare them with a hypothetical preindustrial world with cooler oceans. If a hurricane is more likely in the former scenario than in the latter, the conclusion is that climate change made the hurricane more likely. Generally, climate change increased the likelihood of about three-quarters of hurricanes, floods and droughts and other events studied worldwide.
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Politico – December 2, 2025
Data centers can bring down electricity prices, Wright says*
Energy Secretary Chris Wright made the case Tuesday that the data center surge widely blamed for raising electricity prices will ultimately do the opposite: lower Americans’ utility bills by spurring greater use of existing grid assets. “The faster we build data centers and we reshore manufacturing in the U.S., that’s actually going to be a force and will ultimately drive down average electricity prices,” Wright said at Energy Dialogues’ North American Gas Forum in Washington. “There’s a lot of people who are pissed at those data center guys — they should actually hug them and kiss them.”
Wright argued that data center demand, along with deregulatory actions taken by the Trump administration, will drive power producers to get more out of existing assets. Wright and other administration officials have blamed rising utility bills on Democratic policies encouraging new renewable generation, while Democrats point to Republicans’ clampdown on clean energy. “We’re going to build 30 gigawatts of new capacity, but we’re going to produce electricity as if we built 100 gigawatts of new capacity just by using our existing assets better,” Wright said.
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New York Post – December 2, 2025
It’s been one big, green goof. The Empire State’s green energy push has been a pie-in-the-sky bust as politicians hit the brakes on their alternate energy goals — and New Yorkers get sticker shock from ever-soaring utility bills, a scathing new report found. The analysis by the Democratic-leaning think tank the Progressive Policy Institute found a “clear and undeniable pattern of failure” across the most critical mandates of the 2019 Climate Leadership and Community Act.
“New York set bold climate targets, but ignored the economic and technical realities required to achieve them,” said PPI’s report author Neel Brown. “The result is an energy system that is less reliable, more expensive, and now politically unsustainable. Unless policymakers course correct, the state risks turning a climate leadership story into a cautionary tale,” he added.
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Texas Energy Report NewsClips
Wednesday December 3, 2025
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 slipped for a second consecutive session on Wednesday, as traders awaited the outcome of Russia-Ukraine peace talks that could boost supply, while concerns over a potential surplus grew amid rising inventories.
West Texas Intermediate rose 3 cents, or 0.05%, to $58.67.
Brent crude up 2 cents, or 0.03%, at $62.47 at 0427 GMT.
The analysts noted Brent was at its lowest level since October.
This “weakness comes despite continued Ukrainian attacks on Russian energy infrastructure. Also, Moscow warns that it might start striking ships of countries supporting Ukraine,” a note from ING analysts said on Wednesday.
Russia and the U.S. did not reach a compromise on a possible peace deal for Ukraine after a five-hour meeting between Russia President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump’s top envoys, the Russian government said on Wednesday.
Top Stories
S&P Global Platts – December 2, 2025
Texas power market adds almost 1.7 GW of capacity in November: report
The Electric Reliability Council of Texas approved almost 1.7 GW of generation capacity for commercial operation, led by solar and battery storage, and another 1.1 GW neared commercial operation status, the independent system operator’s latest Grid Interconnection Status Report showed. However, developers canceled 2.3 GW of capacity in November, and ERCOT deemed projects totaling another 2.3 GW of capacity inactive because they failed to meet certain milestones toward completion.
In all, ERCOT’s generation interconnection queue had more than 435 GW of capacity in various stages of completion, led by 174.4 GW of battery storage, 159.5 GW of solar, 52.7 GW of natural gas-fired generation and almost 44.8 GW of wind capacity, according to the report, released late Dec. 1.
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Forbes – November 20, 2025
Facing U.S. Electricity Shortfall, Utilities Prepare For Crisis Years: Llewellyn King
“Energy is everything” is a quote often attributed to Albert Einstein, but was said by someone else. It is as compelling today as ever, but as the nation moves into the age of electrification, it could be modified to “electricity is everything.” On Day One of President Trump’s second term, he declared an energy emergency. It has been followed by what amounts to a new energy policy, although it isn’t called that in a formal way.
This policy has been pursued with brio for coal, gas and oil, and has been accompanied by an aggressive jettisoning of environmental regulation deemed to be punitive. Equally it has deemphasized renewables, and Trump and Energy Secretary Chris Wright have castigated renewables, especially wind.
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Politico – November 26, 2025
One green group’s legal mess has other nonprofits worried*
One of the world’s best-known green groups is duking it out against a Texas energy company in a multi-pronged legal drama that has legal nerds, environmentalists and other companies watching closely. Both sides insist that the nearly decadelong court fight between Greenpeace and Energy Transfer is nowhere near over. The final outcome of the high-profile case — perhaps still years away — could have far-reaching legal implications in the United States and abroad for environmentalists and other activists.
“The way this thing keeps spinning out is utterly fascinating,” said Patrick Parenteau, an emeritus professor at Vermont Law School. For Greenpeace USA, the legal spat surrounding its role in 2016 and 2017 protests over the Dakota Access oil pipeline has become a fight for its life. Energy Transfer and its supporters accuse the green group of advancing an “extremist agenda” that went far outside the bounds of its legal right to protest. The sprawling and complicated battle could drag on for a while, with possible stops ahead in the North Dakota Supreme Court or even the U.S. Supreme Court. On a parallel track, a countersuit filed by Greenpeace International in the Netherlands poses the first-of-its-kind test of European rules aimed at protecting free speech.
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New York Post – November 21, 2025
Qatar has allegedly pumped more than $20 billion into American colleges and other top institutions as part of the Muslim Brotherhood’s decades-long plan to infiltrate the US and “destroy” democracy from within, a leading research institute warns — while adding that the nefarious funding could be staggeringly higher. The Qatar Foundation, which is bankrolled by the country’s ruling Al Thani royal family, has apparently been injecting tens of billions of dollars into institutions to help the Sunni Islamist group carve out toeholds in the educational system, according to a new report by the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy (ISGAP).
“The royal family of Qatar has a Bay’ah — a spiritual oath — to the Muslim Brotherhood, so they’re pumping in many, many billions of dollars into our universities, K-12 schools and cultural institutions, using influence and soft power to promote its ideology,” Dr. Charles Asher Small, executive director of ISGAP, claimed in an interview with The Post.
The Latest TERse Tips
Fitch Ratings has assigned a ‘BB-‘ rating with a Recovery Rating of ‘RR4’ to Crescent Energy Finance LLC’s proposed senior unsecured notes following the launch of an obligor exchange of Vital Energy’s 2029 and 2030 notes for Crescent notes — Fitch views Vital’s acreage as having weaker inventory quality in the Permian compared to peers. Vital has historically had an outsized exposure to wells with higher breakeven prices. Fitch believes Vital’s best locations were in Howard County, which have been largely drilled. Vital has recently been focused on other counties in the Delaware and Midland basins — Fitch
House lawmakers on the Energy and Commerce Committee will examine potential loopholes and vulnerabilities in the cybersecurity and physical protections of the U.S. power grid at a hearing this week — Politico*
Black Stone Minerals, L.P. says it has entered into a 220,000 gross acre development agreement with an affiliate of Caturus Energy, LLC within the Shelby Trough and Haynesville Expansion — see the press release
Enverus Intelligence® Research, a subsidiary of Enverus, is releasing a new report analyzing how utilities across the U.S. are responding to a surge in data center interconnection requests and the evolving rate structures designed to ensure reliable cost recovery — see the press release
Clean Energy Fuels Corp. says it has completed its renewable natural gas facility located at South Fork Dairy in Dimmitt, Texas — the facility is now producing pipeline-quality RNG and has begun injecting into the interstate natural gas pipeline — see the press release
U.S. LNG plants pull record amount of gas, LSEG data show — Bloomberg
Vistra Corp. Upgraded To ‘BBB-‘ From ‘BB+’ On Improved Business Risk Profile; Outlook Stable — S&P Global Platts
Rio Tinto last year bet big on lithium. Its new chief executive officer will next week set out whether the commodity has a prominent future at the world’s second-largest mining company — The Wall Street Journal*
Oil & Gas Texas
Politico – December 2, 2025
Exxon bid to dismiss Connecticut climate lawsuit fails*
A Connecticut court delivered a victory to local governments across the U.S. that are suing oil and gas companies for climate-related damages by rejecting Exxon Mobil’s bid to dismiss the state’s case. Superior Court Judge John Farley sided with the state in a decision issued last week declaring that federal law does not prevent Connecticut from suing the oil giant over misleading advertising. The “fundamental objective of the lawsuit,” Farley wrote, is “to remedy the defendant’s alleged unfair and deceptive marketing practices.”
Exxon had sought to dismiss the case on several grounds, including that federal common law prevents local governments from suing over greenhouse gas emissions. But Farley rejected the arguments, writing that although federal law governs emissions and the production, sale and use of fossil fuels, the state’s lawsuit “seeks to regulate only the defendant’s marketing conduct related to those products.”
Connecticut Attorney General William Tong (D) welcomed the ruling, noting that it follows other setbacks for the company. Exxon in 2023 lost a bid to move the case to federal court, and Farley last year pushed the case closer to trial when he ruled that by registering to do business in Connecticut, Exxon had “consented to jurisdiction” in the state.
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Hart Energy – December 1, 2025
The Barnett’s Revival and What it Means for Tier 1 Scarcity*
Operators are drilling beyond the Permian Basin’s main formations like the Spraberry and Wolfcamp, moving into deeper and older plays, notably the Barnett Shale. Companies are targeting the Barnett for its oil and gas potential, attracted by lower water production and cost efficiency, especially as core areas of the Permian become more developed. The Barnett, historically known for natural gas, is experiencing a resurgence as operators, such as BKV Corp, Occidental Petroleum, and Continental Resources, focus on its oil and gas resources.
This activity is occurring in deeper geological zones, with wells reaching depths of around 11,000 to 12,500 feet, particularly in areas like the Emma Barnett Field in Midland and Martin counties. This move indicates a broader trend of operators looking for new opportunities as the most productive, “Tier 1” zones of the Permian Basin become more consolidated and drilled-up.
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Santa Barbara Independent (CA) – December 2, 2025
Sable Offshore Looking for Way Around State Fire Marshal to Restart Oil Pipeline
Seeking its way to a speedy restart blocked by the Office of the State Fire Marshal, the Sable Offshore oil company is now claiming that federal pipeline regulators should have jurisdiction over whether the company’s pipelines should be allowed to restart and not the State Fire Marshal. At issue is the seemingly arcane question of whether the company’s pipelines qualify as “interstate” vessels, an intuitively obscure term of art meaning they carry oil from California into other states.
Sable is stating that they are and is asking the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) — presumably more friendly with the “energy dominance”–focused Donald Trump than state regulators — to make the same determination. Should PHMSA do so and that action withstand all the inevitable legal challenges that would ensue, it would mean PHMSA and not the State Fire Marshal would have the last word on whether the pipelines — shut down since 2015 when extensive corrosion problems gave rise to Santa Barbara’s worst oil spill since the 1969 disaster — can restart.
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World Oil – December 2, 2025
Halliburton appoints longtime shale executive Tim Leach to board
Halliburton has appointed veteran oil and gas executive Timothy A. Leach to its board of directors, effective Dec. 2, 2025, adding one of the U.S. shale sector’s most recognizable leaders to the company’s governance team. Leach will stand for election at Halliburton’s 2026 annual shareholders meeting.
Leach retired earlier this year after a 40-year career that included senior leadership roles at ConocoPhillips and, notably, his long tenure as chairman and CEO of Concho Resources, which he led from its formation in 2006 through its 2021 acquisition by ConocoPhillips. He later served as ConocoPhillips’ executive vice president for the Lower 48 before taking on an advisory role to the CEO.
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Environment America – December 2, 2025
The BP oil spill, 15 years later: How Texas is spending its $1 billion settlement
In 2010, BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded, pouring 134 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. The spill devastated Gulf ecosystems and marine life: up to hundreds of thousands of sea turtles were killed, along with 35,000 sea turtle hatchlings; in the years following the spill, bottlenose dolphins experienced a 35% increase in mortality rates and a 46% increase in failed pregnancies; an estimated 600,000 to 800,000 birds passed away as a result of the spill. Beyond the environmental catastrophe, tourism plummeted across the Gulf Coast, leaving communities–especially small businesses that depended on visitors–struggling to survive.
In 2016, BP reached a record-breaking $20.8 billion settlement–the largest ever environmental damage settlement in the history of the United States. The RESTORE Act, passed in response to the spill, directed 80% of the penalties under the Clean Water Act towards ecological and economic recovery as part of the Gulf Coast Restoration Trust Fund. A restoration plan was developed, allotting several billion dollars to state and regional organizations across Texas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi in order to restore destroyed ecosystems.
Oil & Gas National & International
Energy Law Blog – December 2, 2025
A newly filed class action in the Western District of Washington advances a novel theory of greenwashing liability by suggesting that rising homeowners-insurance premiums are tied to alleged decades of climate deception by major fossil-fuel companies. See Kennedy & Hazard v. Exxon Mobil Corp. et al., Case No. 2:25-cv-02378. According to the complaint, extreme weather events in the United States doubled in the 50 years between 1960 and 2010. In the first 3 quarters of 2024, these catastrophic events produced nearly $145 billion in total economic losses, with almost $80 billion covered by insurance, a trend the plaintiffs say has fueled a nationwide surge in premiums.
The plaintiffs, two Washington homeowners, contend their own premiums more than doubled in recent years and claim these increases allegedly stem from the deception of fossil fuel companies in their promotion of their products. Central to the lawsuit is the allegation that the defendants maintained internal knowledge for decades that continued use of fossil fuel would significantly warm the planet, increase catastrophic weather events, and harm the public. Despite that knowledge, plaintiffs claim the defendants engaged in coordinated efforts “deliberately misleading consumers” about the risks their products posed, thereby prolonging fossil-fuel dependence and “precipitating a homeowners insurance crisis.”
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Reuters – December 2, 2025
OPEC+ to spark spending race with new oil quota system: Ron Bousso*
Changes OPEC+ is making to its oil production quota system will likely spark a wave of upstream investments among members, particularly in low-cost Gulf producers, diminishing concerns of long-term supply shortages. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and other major producing nations, including Russia and Kazakhstan, collectively known as OPEC+, approved on Sunday a new mechanism to assess members’ maximum production capacity, which will be used to set output baselines from 2027. This may seem a highly technical matter.
But it could, in theory, mark a welcome change from recent years’ turmoil that saw some members flagrantly exceed production quotas as OPEC de facto leader Saudi Arabia struggled to impose discipline, confounding the oil market. Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said on Monday the new mechanism will help to stabilise markets and reward those who invest in production. OPEC+ accounts for nearly half of the world’s oil supply of 106 million barrels per day in 2025, according to the International Energy Agency. The capacity assessment will be done between January and September using a reputable U.S. auditor for 19 out of the 22 group members. It will involve a review of each country’s oilfields and infrastructure to assess how much oil it can bring on stream within 90 days and maintain for one year.
Utilities, Electricity & Renewables
Houston Chronicle – December 2, 2025
Cold front knocks out power for tens of thousands across Houston suburbs*
More than 30,000 customers of CenterPoint Energy were without power early Tuesday across the Houston area—many in the northern suburbs—on one of the chilliest mornings of the season so far. According to CenterPoint’s outage reports, the hardest-hit areas were in northern Harris County, including the suburbs of Spring, Klein and Tomball. In Harris County alone, outage maps initially showed roughly 28,600 affected customers, with smaller pockets in Fort Bend, Chambers and Montgomery Counties.
Power crews, however, worked swiftly to restore service; by about 8:30 a.m., the number of customers still without power had fallen to around 4,000—while CenterPoint estimated full restoration by roughly 11 a.m. The outages coincided with temperatures dipping into the upper 30s and low 40s, bringing a brisk start to the morning commute, according to Space City Weather. While a ridge of high pressure is forecast to build later in the day, helping skies clear and temperatures rise into the low 50s, the brief blackout underscored just how fragile electric service can be during sudden cold snaps. For residents whose power returned quickly—including some in Tomball, where a local high school canceled classes as a precaution—the fast turnaround was a relief.
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Yahoo! News – December 2, 2025
Energy giant hits roadblock in plans for controversial US nuclear facility: ‘Dangerous dump’
Holtec International has suspended its plans to build a nuclear waste storage facility in New Mexico. The nuclear power company was tasked with providing used fuel storage for plants across the country, according to the Cherry Hill Courier-Post. The storage facility in New Mexico was licensed to hold 500 sealed canisters of waste for up to 40 years. Despite Holtec acquiring the license in 2023, opponents vowed to fight against the opening of the facility. The project became “untenable” for the company to pursue.
Beyond Nuclear, an antinuclear energy nonprofit, called the plan a “dangerous dump,” the Courier-Post reported. The group also suggested it would open the door to “many thousands of ‘mobile Chernobyl’ radioactive waste shipments.”
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KDBC – December 2, 2025
El Paso City Council rejects gas rate settlement, decision moves to state commission
The El Paso City Council has rejected a settlement proposal that would have capped a Texas Gas rate increase at 10%, leaving the final decision to the Texas Railroad Commission. The council’s decision follows Texas Gas’ initial proposal for a 27% rate hike, which the council unanimously rejected at their last meeting.
The settlement offer, which would have limited the increase to roughly $3 more per month, was turned down in a narrow 5-4 vote, with Mayor Renard Johnson casting the tie-breaking vote. “It was a very close decision, and I think a lot of the council seemed to be very torn on how to vote here, because again the Railroad Commission of Texas is historically very favorable to the utility companies,” said City Rep. Chris Canales.
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Capital & Main – December 2, 2025
Utility Asks New Mexico for ‘Zero Emission’ Status for Gas-Fired Power Plant
The Southwestern Public Service Company has asked the state of New Mexico to grant exceptions to the state’s Energy Transition Act for two proposed gas-fired power plants, including one exception that would see approximately one-third of the energy produced at one plant qualify as a “zero-carbon resource” like solar panels or wind turbines. A second exception would exempt both plants from the act’s zero-carbon requirement, “to preserve system reliability and protect customers from unreasonable bill impacts.”
The two proposed plants would be in Texas, with the larger of the two — called Gaines County Power Plant — to be built just across the border from Hobbs, New Mexico. Even though the two wouldn’t be in the state, New Mexico’s Energy Transition Act requires that all energy sold in the state by investor-owned utilities be from zero-carbon-emission sources by 2045, no matter where it is generated. The act was an early environmental win for Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham.
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Reuters – December 2, 2025
The U.S. Department of Energy said on Tuesday it will provide up to $800 million to support development of small modular reactors by the Tennessee Valley Authority and private company Holtec. The Trump administration and nuclear companies believe SMRs will help supply electricity to the U.S. where power demand is rising for the first time in two decades on artificial intelligence, cryptocurrency mining and electric vehicles. Backers say SMRs could save costs because they are expected to be built in factories. But no such reactors are under construction in the United States and questions exist about whether they can provide power as cheaply as today’s larger reactors. Nuclear power also creates long-lasting radioactive waste for which there is no permanent repository.
TVA, a U.S.-owned power utility, will receive up to $400 million in federal cost-shared funding for development of a GE Vernova Hitachi BWRX-300 at the Clinch River site in Tennessee and other projects, the Energy Department said. Holtec, which will also receive up to $400 million, plans to build two SMRs at its Palisades, Michigan, site. Holtec is hoping to reopen the 800-megawatt Palisades conventional reactor this year, which shut in 2022 after operating for more than 50 years.
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Utility Dive – December 2, 2025
MISO begins reviewing 6.1 GW — 70% of it gas — in fast-track interconnection study
About 6.1 GW of potential projects have entered into the Midcontinent Independent System Operator’s fast-track interconnection review process’ second cycle, bringing the total capacity under review to about 11.2 GW, the grid operator said Monday.
Gas-fired generation in the Expedited Resource Addition Study’s second study cycle totals 4.3 GW, or 70% of the total capacity in the cycle, according to a summary of the pending ERAS projects. Battery projects totaled 800 MW in network interconnection capacity, followed by wind projects at 580 MW and solar at 475 MW.
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Bloomberg – December 2, 2025
US Eyes Diesel Generators to Meet Growing AI Power Demand*
The US is looking to tap the nation’s network of large industrial diesel generators used at data centers, big box stores and elsewhere to help curb rising electricity costs and support the surge in power demand from artificial intelligence, according to Energy Secretary Chris Wright. Such a move could add the equivalent of roughly 35 traditional nuclear power plants worth of electricity and negate the need to build scores of power plants that could cost tens of billions of dollars, Wright said Tuesday at the North American Gas Forum in Washington.
Shares of Generac Holdings Inc., the nation’s leading maker of stationary backup generators, turned positive, rising as much as 1.4%, after Wright made his remarks. “We’re going to unleash that 35 gigawatts of capacity that sits there today,” Wright said, adding pollution rules have limited their use. “The massive data center build out over the next few years — most of it we can meet with generators.” Wright, in an interview, added generators already exist at data centers and retail locations such as Walmart Inc., though he mentioned the administration was still studying “the right way to do it.” “They’re all around the country,” Wright said. “It’s going to start with communication to everyone that these assets exist.”
Regulatory
The Wall Street Journal – December 2, 2025
Europe’s Green Energy Rush Slashed Emissions—and Crippled the Economy*
European politicians pitched the continent’s green transition to voters as a win-win: Citizens would benefit from green jobs and cheap, abundant solar and wind energy alongside a sharp reduction in carbon emissions. Nearly two decades on, the promise has largely proved costly for consumers and damaging for the economy. Europe has succeeded in slashing carbon emissions more than any other region—by 30% from 2005 levels, compared with a 17% drop for the U.S. But along the way, the rush to renewables has helped drive up electricity prices in much of the continent.
Germany now has the highest domestic electricity prices in the developed world, while the U.K. has the highest industrial electricity rates, according to a basket of 28 major economies analyzed by the International Energy Agency. Italy isn’t far behind. Average electricity prices for heavy industries in the European Union remain roughly twice those in the U.S. and 50% above China. Energy prices have also grown more volatile as the share of renewables increased. It is crippling industry and hobbling Europe’s ability to attract key economic drivers like artificial intelligence, which requires cheap and abundant electricity. The shift is also adding to a cost-of-living shock for consumers that is fueling support for antiestablishment parties, which portray the green transition as an elite project that harms workers, most consumers and regions.
Energy analysts say it makes strategic sense for a continent that lacks the abundant oil and gas riches enjoyed by the U.S. and some other regions to diversify its energy sources. In some cases like Spain, blessed with lots of sunshine, or Nordic countries, with abundant hydro power to provide energy when its wind farms fall silent, the transition looks promising. France’s reliance on nuclear energy is helping it keep costs down.
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Politico – December 2, 2025
Trump’s anti-climate regulatory spree splits GOP, industry*
President Donald Trump is going scorched-earth on climate change regulations in his second term with the support of GOP lawmakers — despite industry concerns about the consequences. For many companies, the rollbacks of an array of greenhouse gas rules and the policy decisions underpinning them risk closing off business opportunities and making it harder to sell their products in foreign markets. Even the sharp swings in federal policy undermine the regulatory certainty that some of the biggest U.S. industries need to make investments.
“The auto industry is one, the oil and gas is another, where we’ve seen companies weighing in to say that a stable regulatory environment, a predictable environment, a rational environment that allows us to make investments is really critical for business growth and for our global competitiveness,” said Peter Zalzal, lead attorney at Environmental Defense Fund. While those sectors wanted to see changes to ease Biden-era rules limiting emissions, the Trump administration’s efforts to end regulatory limits altogether and undo widely accepted bedrock regulations like the endangerment finding and industrial emissions reporting represent a sharp policy U-turn — one that could end up driving major sectors headlong into a brick wall.
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Politico – December 1, 2025
Takeaways from the Senate Energy-Water spending bill*
Congressional appropriators will have to negotiate bipartisan funding levels for the Department of Energy, the Army Corps of Engineers and other agencies using House and Senate spending bills that lack Democratic support. The Senate Appropriations Committee last week released its fiscal 2026 Energy-Water bill, unveiling legislation written by Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), the chair of that subcommittee, without the final approval of Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), the panel’s ranking member.
The partisan proposal — which would bolster water infrastructure projects and fossil energy while slashing funding for renewables — came after a weekslong impasse over the overall top line and more than two months after House Republicans passed their own version of the Energy-Water bill along party lines. It is one of the only Senate appropriations bills this cycle that would reduce spending relative to current levels and one of the only fiscal 2026 Senate bills released without Democratic sign-off. It’s not clear whether the panel will hold a markup for the legislation. Congressional appropriators may try to reconcile the bill with the House’s version as part of an effort to pass a number of compromise spending bills before Jan. 30.
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Texas Energy Report NewsClips
Tuesday December 2, 2025
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 held firm in early trading on Tuesday as market participants assessed risks stemming from Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian energy sites, mounting U.S.-Venezuela tensions and mixed expectations for U.S. fuel inventories.
West Texas Intermediate crude gained 10 cents, or 0.2%, to $59.42 a barrel.
Brent crude futures rose 7 cents, or 0.1%, to $63.24 a barrel at 0427 GMT.
Both benchmarks advanced more than 1% on Monday, while WTI was near a two-week high.
“Oil held gains as traders awaited President Trump’s moves on Venezuela and assessed Black Sea terminal damage,” Saxo analysts said in a note to clients.
On Monday, the Caspian Pipeline Consortium said it had resumed oil shipments from one mooring point at its Black Sea terminal following a major Ukrainian drone attack on November 29. Russia’s Kommersant newspaper, citing unnamed sources, on Monday said that oil loadings had resumed via the single point mooring 1 (SPM 1), while SPM 2 was damaged.
Top Stories
Bloomberg – December 1, 2025
A new wave of early-stage data center projects is reshaping US electricity demand – and it’s doing it quickly. Data-center power demand hits 106 gigawatts (GW) by 2035 in BloombergNEF’s newest forecast – a 36% jump from the previous outlook, published just seven months ago. The massive growth rate in data center power demand reflects more than a surge in the number of data centers in the pipeline; it also highlights the new centers’ size. Of the nearly 150 new data center projects BNEF added to its tracker in the last year, nearly a quarter exceed 500 megawatts. That’s more than double last year’s share.
This boom in data center demand is colliding with grid realities. In PJM, BNEF forecasts data center capacity could 31GW by 2030, nearly matching the 28.7GW of new generation the Energy Information Administration expects over the same period. In the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, reserve margins could fall into risky territory after 2028, a sign that short-term growth can be absorbed, but longer-term supply will lag.
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The Wall Street Journal – December 1, 2025
Targa Resources to Acquire Stakeholder Midstream for $1.25 Billion*
Targa Resources agreed to acquire Stakeholder Midstream, which provides natural gas gathering and processing services in the Permian Basin, for $1.25 billion in cash. Targa said the acquisition will grow its sour gas treating capabilities and expand its gathering and processing footprint in the Permian Basin.
Targa said it expects Stakeholder to “generate unlevered adjusted free cash flow of approximately $200 million annually with minimal capital needs, very low integration costs and attractive acreage with a stable volume profile.” Targa will fund the acquisition using cash on hand and its existing $3.5 billion revolving credit facility. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2026.
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Dallas Morning News – December 1, 2025
OPEC+ turns to Dallas firm to decide how much oil members can pump*
OPEC+ set out its methodology for a sweeping review of how much oil members will be capable of pumping in the years ahead, turning to a Dallas-based consultant for help. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its partners launched the latest audit in May, in an effort to align output quotas more closely with members’ actual abilities. The updates would take effect in 2027. They will use Dallas-based DeGolyer and MacNaughton Corp. for the majority of the work.
The question of “maximum sustainable capacity” is a delicate one for the alliance, as some countries — like the United Arab Emirates and Iraq — have expanded their production capacity, while others are struggling to stop their capacity from declining. It’s also an increasingly pressing one. Global oil markets are shifting into an oversupply that threatens further downward pressure on prices, and could compel OPEC+ to make new production cutbacks next year. More realistic quotas would make such curbs more credible.
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Houston Chronicle – November 27, 2025
Patrick calls for Texas Senate to probe solar companies over alleged ties to China*
A pair of solar companies with footprints in Texas are in the spotlight after Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick announced that lawmakers would investigate their financial ties to China. Executives from Ontario-based Canadian Solar and Austin-based T1 Energy, which have both invested in Texas-based solar manufacturing facilities and infrastructure, will be asked to testify before the Texas Senate in early 2026, Patrick said. He cited a Fox News report published Tuesday that detailed alleged ties between the two companies and larger Chinese-backed corporations.
“Based on a new report, it appears China may have a major stake in 2 solar companies in Texas,” Patrick wrote on social media Saturday. The companies’ leaders will be called early next year for a hearing before the Senate Committee on Business and Commerce, Patrick said. Charles Schwertner, R-Georgetown, has been the chamber’s leading lawmaker on energy issues and chairs the committee that will hold the hearings. The Republican-led state Legislature in recent sessions has ratcheted up efforts to counter Chinese influence in the state, including passing new laws in 2023 and 2025 that Republicans said would limit foreign interference on the Texas power grid. Patrick also backed a ban, passed this year, on Chinese nationals and businesses from buying Texas land.
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The New York Times – December 1, 2025
‘The New Price of Eggs.’ The Political Shocks of Data Centers and Electric Bills*
Related: As Democrats prepare to take full control of Virginia’s government, lawmakers file bills to lower costs by requiring utilities to make energy improvements and to create a task force to study barriers to efficiency programs, Canary Media summarizes the Virginian Pilot
As loyal Republicans, Reece Payton said that he and his family of cattle ranchers in Hogansville, Ga., had one thing on their minds when they cast their ballots in November for the state’s utility board — “to make a statement.” They were already irked by their escalating electric bills, not to mention an extra $50 a month levied by their local utility to cover a new nuclear power plant more than 200 miles away. But after they heard a data center might be built next to their Logos Ranch, about 60 miles southwest of Atlanta, they had enough of Republicans who seemed far too receptive to the interests of the booming artificial intelligence industry. “That’s the first time I ever voted Democrat,” Mr. Payton, 58, said.
Message sent. In some of Georgia’s reddest and most rural counties, Republicans crossed party lines this month and helped propel two Democrats, Peter Hubbard and Alicia Johnson, to landslide upsets, ousting the incumbent candidates on the Georgia Public Service Commission. No Democrat has served on the five-person commission, which regulates utilities and helps set climate and energy policy, since 2007. Across the country, Democrats have seized on rising anxiety over electricity costs and data centers in what could be a template for the 2026 midterm elections.
In Virginia, Governor-elect Abigail Spanberger pledged during her campaign to lower energy bills and make data centers pay more. In the House of Delegates, one Democratic challenger unseated a Republican incumbent by focusing on curbing the proliferation of data centers in Loudoun County and the exurbs of the nation’s capital. In New Jersey, Governor-elect Mikie Sherrill promised to declare a state of emergency on utility costs and freeze rates. And in Memphis, State Representative Justin J. Pearson, who is challenging Representative Steve Cohen in a high-profile Democratic primary next year, has vowed to fight a supercomputer by Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company, xAI, that would be located in a predominantly Black neighborhood.
The Latest TERse Tips
The national average has reached the $3 mark for a gallon of regular for the first time since May 12, 2021 — AAA
November Comptroller’s Office of Texas tax income statement December 1 shows oil down 15% at $413 million, natural gas for November up 7% at $169 million — see the press release
S&P Global Ratings today assigned its ‘BBB-‘ issue-level rating to Texas-based Western Midstream Operating L.P.’s proposed senior unsecured notes — S&P Global Platts
Fermi America, partnering with Texas Tech University System, says it’s signed a non-binding Memorandum of Understanding with MVM EGI Zrt., one of the world’s leading hybrid dry–wet cooling innovators, to engineer and develop a next-generation cooling system for Fermi’s 11-gigawatt private energy grid campus — see the press release
Nearly two dozen Nueces Electric Cooperative employees recently completed a three-week mission to bring electricity to 152 homes across two remote villages in Guatemala — KRIS
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum signed a directive Tuesday that could allow local irrigation districts and other Bureau of Reclamation customers more say in managing their federally funded projects — citing the Trump administration’s focus on “unleashing American infrastructure” and “cutting unnecessary red tape,” Burgum asserted his Secretarial Order 3446 could benefit water and power users throughout the 17 Western states served by the bureau — Politico*
Oil & Gas Texas
The Wall Street Journal – December 1, 2025
TotalEnergies to Sell Stake in Nigeria Projects to Chevron*
Star Deep Water Petroleum, a Chevron subsidiary, will take a 40% stake in the PPL 2000 and 2001 licences located in the West Delta basin, which were awarded to a consortium of TotalEnergies and Nigeria’s South Atlantic Petroleum, the French energy major said Monday. TotalEnergies will retain a 40% stake in the licenses and remain as operator of them, it said. The sale follows a deal between the two companies inked earlier this year, under which TotalEnergies bought a 25% share in several exploration sites operated by Chevron offshore U.S.
“After launching our joint venture in U.S. offshore exploration in June, we’re delighted to now expand our collaboration to Nigeria to unlock new resources in the West Delta basin,” Nicola Mavilla, TotalEnergies’ senior vice-president of exploration, said. The farm-out is subject to regulatory approvals, TotalEnergies said. The company didn’t set out any financial details of the deal.
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Forbes Africa – December 1, 2025
Why Africa Needs Its Own Texas Moment: The Art Of Going Downstream
The continent’s favorable climate could provide the power needed to leapfrog an entire chapter in energy distribution. FORBES AFRICA sits down with Mark Eramo, Co-President of S&P Global Commodity Insights, to unpack its potential and areas of opportunity.
Mark Eramo happens to live in West Texas, where, he says, energy facilities–primarily solar and wind farms–stretch continuously for hundreds of miles along the Gulf Coast. For a state that was once at the heart of the oil and gas boom, pivots don’t get much greater. It’s now a green energy haven, reportedly leading the United States (U.S.) in renewable energy and battery capacity–and it’s not even close. Texas houses nearly 80% more combined solar, wind, and battery capacity than the next-best state: California.
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Inside Climate News – November 30, 2025
Petrochemical Expansion in Texas Will Fall Heavily on Communities of Color, Study Finds
Researchers at Texas Southern University in Houston have analyzed demographic data around the locations of almost 100 industrial facilities proposed statewide and found that about 90 percent are located in counties with higher concentrations of people of color and families in poverty than statewide averages.
In a report released this month, the Bullard Center for Environmental and Climate Justice at Texas Southern also found that nearly half of those proposed industrial sites—petrochemicals plants for manufacturing plastics, coastal export terminals, refineries and other facilities—were already above the 90th percentile for pollution exposure under the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Toxics Release Inventory, a measurement of harmful industrial emissions.
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Mexico Business – November 28, 2025
US Natural Gas Exports to Mexico Hit Record in May 2025
US natural gas pipeline exports to Mexico reached a record high in May 2025, averaging 7.5Bcf/d, driven by growing demand for natural gas in Mexico’s electric power sector, according to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA). Overall, pipeline exports from the US to Mexico averaged 6.4Bcf/d in 2024, a 25% increase compared with 2019 and the highest annual average since records began in 1975.
According to the EIA, most of the supply arrives through four major corridors: South Texas, West Texas, Arizona and California, which in 2024 had a combined capacity of about 14.8Bcf/d. The South Texas route, via the Agua Dulce Hub, serves Northeastern Mexico, while West Texas supply from the Permian Basin primarily feeds northwestern, central and southwestern regions.
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Dallas Morning News – November 29, 2025
The Texans mixing far-right politics with a fringe religious movement: Glenn Rogers*
Tim Dunn, Midland megadonor and dominionist pastor, once described his mission from God and the necessity of going into dark places such as politics. Over a decade ago, Dunn told then Republican Speaker of the Texas House Joe Straus, who is Jewish, that only Christians should hold leadership positions in the House.
Now these spaces are even darker. Dunn exerts immense control over both the Texas House and Senate and one of his political action committees notably donated $3 million to Lt. Governor Dan Patrick right before he was to preside over Attorney General Ken Paxton’s impeachment trial. Dunn’s groups have offered an outpouring of support for Paxton over the years, never mind his moral shortcomings. And Dunn-backed policies have found increasing success in Texas.
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The Chosun Daily – November 22, 2025
Chinese Loans Flood U.S., EU Critical Infrastructure
Chosen Daily News is a Korean newspaper based in the Atlanta area
Related: A Capitol Hill push by GOP China hawks to impose new restrictions on Shenzhen-based aerial drone maker DJI is facing resistance from Republicans who warn the company’s products have become critical tools for U.S. farming and energy firm — Politico*
China has been found to be encroaching on the core economic and security foundations of advanced economies, including the U.S. and Europe, by flooding them with large-scale loans. Analysis suggests that Beijing is expanding its influence not only in Asia and Africa’s impoverished and developing nations but also among advanced economies through massive capital investments.
According to a report published on the 18th by the College of William & Mary-affiliated AidData Research Lab, China provided a total of 2.2 trillion dollars (approximately 3,228 trillion Korean won) in loans and grants to 200 countries over 24 years from 2000 to 2024. This figure is up to four times larger than previous estimates by academia or international institutions.
The U.S. was the largest recipient of Chinese loans. Chinese capital exceeding 200 billion dollars (approximately 293 trillion Korean won) was invested in approximately 2,500 critical infrastructure projects across the U.S. Chinese state-owned institutions were found to have funded projects such as New York’s JFK International Airport, Los Angeles International Airport terminals, liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities in Texas and Louisiana, and data center construction in Virginia.
Oil & Gas National & International
Reuters – December 1, 2025
OPEC+ sticks to its ‘all is fine in oil’ mantra, but uncertainty rises*
At first glance the decision by OPEC+ to leave oil output levels unchanged for the first quarter of next year could be viewed as confirmation the exporter group is concerned about a looming crude supply glut. It was widely expected that the eight members of OPEC+ undertaking voluntary oil output cuts would stick to their plan of leaving production levels unchanged for the first three months of next year.
It was also no surprise that the group reiterated their commitment to market stability amid a “steady global economic outlook and current healthy oil market fundamentals as reflected in low inventories.” The language used in the brief statement after the meeting on Sunday was familiar, but so are the issues around OPEC+’s view that the oil market is in a good place. The market consensus is that the global oil market is facing a series of issues, some of which are pulling prices in different directions.
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The Wall Street Journal – December 1, 2025
Founder of Oil-Trading Firm That the U.S. Called ‘Kremlin’s Puppet’ Quits*
Gunvor said billionaire founder Torbjörn Törnqvist would leave the commodities-trading company and sell his stake to employees, less than a month after the Trump administration pilloried the firm over its alleged ties to Moscow. The Geneva-based company said Monday that the 72-year-old Swede would sell his 86.1% stake to approximately 60 employees, and that neither Törnqvist nor any of his family or representatives would have any continued involvement with the firm.
Gunvor also named Gary Pedersen, a U.S. citizen who currently runs the company’s Americas business [in Houston], as its new chief executive. The changes come after a period of renewed scrutiny of Gunvor’s rich history in post-Soviet Russia. About a month ago the company said it had agreed to buy the international assets of Lukoil, shortly after the Russian oil producer was hit by U.S. sanctions. However, the deal soon collapsed after the U.S. Treasury Department blocked the transaction, describing Gunvor as “the Kremlin’s puppet.” Gunvor disputed that claim, saying it was “fundamentally misinformed and false.”
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Utilities, Electricity & Renewables
KSAT – December 1, 2025
CPS Energy outlines winter readiness, maintenance as San Antonio braces for cooler weather
CPS Energy officials discussed their winter readiness efforts on Monday morning as cooler temperatures crept into the San Antonio area. Several officials from the utility joined President and Chief Executive Officer Rudy D. Garza to discuss plans to ensure its level of preparedness. Garza said maintenance of the utility’s power plants was on schedule and its crews were ready.
Readiness and compliance efforts for the winter season were submitted to the Public Utility Commission of Texas and the Railroad Commission of Texas. Tree trimming is a practice frequently used during freezing and wet weather. This year alone, Garza said the utility is on track to inspect and trim almost 1,000 miles of vegetation.
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With federal climate incentives and renewable energy programs facing unprecedented rollbacks, state legislatures have become the last line of defense for clean energy deployment. Surging load growth and the cost of electricity is rising faster than the rate of inflation, and state policy must be laser focused on reducing barriers to deployment and driving down permitting costs.
Right now, several states are considering automated permitting bills that could either accelerate the clean energy transition or lock in years of bureaucratic gridlock and stifled innovation. These bills need to pass, but only if they’re designed correctly. The difference between success and failure hinges on a single critical design choice: whether states mandate specific technology platforms or establish technology-agnostic standards that foster competition and innovation.
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San Antonio Express-News – November 25, 2025
With California electric rates stuck at nearly the highest in the nation, the state’s utility regulator is poised to lower the payout shareholders can receive from California’s three large investor-owned power companies. In a proposed decision, the California Public Utilities Commission recommended dropping the “return on equity” by 0.35% each for Pacific Gas & Electric, Southern California Edison and San Diego Gas & Electric. If approved, shareholders of all three companies would see a potential return next year of just under 10%. Such returns for PG&E and Edison haven’t dipped below double digits in at least 20 years.
Utilities said the decline would affect their ability to bring in needed investment for their work. Critics of the decision said that the decline is too small to meaningfully impact ratepayers’ bills, even if it’s a step in the right direction. “California and other (public utility commissions) authorize rates of return that are far in excess of the statutory requirement,” said Mark Ellis, former chief economist at Sempra, which owns San Diego Gas & Electric. The California Public Utility Commission is expected to vote on the decision in December.
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CryptoSlate – November 28, 2025
For two centuries, factories chased cheap hands and dense ports. Today, miners roll into windy plateaus and hydro spillways, asking a simpler question: where are the cheapest wasted watts? When computing can move to energy rather than energy to people, the map tilts. Heavy industry has always chased cheap energy, but it still needed bodies and ships. The novelty with Bitcoin (BTC) is how completely labor, logistics, and physical product have dropped out of the siting equation.
A mining plant can be one warehouse, a dozen staff, a stack of ASICs, and a fiber line. Its output is pure block rewards, not a bulky commodity that must be shipped. That lets miners plug into genuinely stranded or curtailed energy that no conventional factory would bother to reach, and to rush when policy or prices change.
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Power Magazine – December 1, 2025
Finding a Longer-Duration Alternative to Battery Storage
The energy storage market is booming internationally. According to Jon Moore, CEO of BloombergNEF, an analyst firm with a focus on low-carbon markets, energy storage investment increased globally by 36% in 2024. Drivers include the price of battery energy storage systems (BESS) dropping by about 20% in one year. The trajectory of energy storage over the past decade has been nothing short of spectacular. “In 2014, the energy storage market was worth about $0.6 billion worldwide and reached $4.7 billion by 2020, and $53.9 in 2024,” said Moore. “Utility-scale projects in energy storage made up 58% of the market.”
U.S. investment has largely focused on lithium-ion BESS. From 1 GW of BESS in 2020, a steady stream of new projects took the total to about 20 GW at the end of 2024. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has funded dozens more projects around the nation. The vision behind this investment is for excess solar and wind to be stored in batteries for use when the sun doesn’t shine or the wind isn’t blowing. That’s good for the short term—BESS offers up to four hours of storage—but not for longer periods.
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Canary Media – December 1, 2025
Trump & Co Cannot Stop the War on Coal: Michael Grunwald
Ten years ago, I embedded in the war on coal. I spent a month inside the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal campaign, watching an organization renowned for tree-hugging, grassroots activism use boring legal and economic strategies to shut down coal-fired power plants in red and blue states. In the Politico Magazine article I subsequently wrote, I called the effort “the most extensive, expensive and effective campaign in the club’s 123-year history, and maybe the history of the environmental movement.”
Its litigators and organizers had quietly helped retire one-third of America’s coal fleet in five years — 190 plants in all, about one every 10 days — driving some of the first significant emissions reductions on Earth. The main point of “Inside the War on Coal,” and the key insight of the campaign, was that coal power, historically dirty but cheap, was no longer cheap. In fact, merely operating most existing coal plants had become more expensive than building new clean wind and solar farms as well as less-dirty natural gas plants.
Regulatory
S&P Global Platts – December 1, 2025
US EPA extends deadline for oil producers on methane flaring, emission reporting
The US Environmental Protection Agency is providing upstream oil and gas operators more time to comply with regulations on methane flaring and combustion devices, extending a deadline 180 days from what was set in a July 2025 interim final rule.
The new final rule largely keeps intact other compliance deadlines that were set in the interim final rule, providing 360 days from the effective date for producers to submit annual reports on methane emissions. The new rule, issued Nov. 26, takes effect upon publication in the Federal Register, meaning the reporting compliance deadline is pushed out from August 2025 to November 2026.
Politico – December 1, 2025
Lawmakers challenge Trump changes to rural energy grants*
The Trump administration wants to keep climate change out of the Agriculture Department’s rural energy grant program. Rep. David Valadao, a California Republican from a swing district, is trying to put it back in. Valadao, a dairy farmer from the Central Valley, has teamed up with a Virginia Democrat to reintroduce legislation requiring USDA to favor small rural energy projects that cut greenhouse gas emissions — just the type of project the Trump administration halted earlier this year.
Valadao’s bill with Rep. Eugene Vindman (D-Va.) would make a handful of changes to the Rural Energy for America Program, including boosting the federal government’s matching funds for projects and allowing more agriculture producer cooperatives to participate. Program supporters, including the Environmental Law & Policy Center and farmer-owned cooperatives, support the legislation while acknowledging it may face long odds in the current political environment. REAP provides grants and loan guarantees for energy efficiency projects, which can reduce farmers’ expenses and — at least on a small scale — provide off-farm electricity for rural areas.
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Texas Energy Report NewsClips
Monday December 1, 2025
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 rose on Monday after OPEC+ members reaffirmed a plan to hold output steady, as the Caspian Pipeline Consortium halted exports after a major drone attack and U.S.-Venezuela tensions raised concerns about supply.
West Texas Intermediate crude gained $1, or 1.71%, to $59.55.
Brent crude futures advanced $1.01, or 1.62%, to $63.39 a barrel at 0401 GMT.
Both contracts settled down on Friday for the fourth straight month, their longest losing streak since 2023, as expectations for higher global supply weighed on prices.
Top Stories
Reuters – November 28, 2025
Saudi Arabia may reduce January oil prices to Asia to five-year low*
Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil exporter, is expected to lower its January crude price for Asian buyers for a second month to its lowest level for five years, tracking the decline in spot benchmark prices, sources said on Friday. The January official selling price for flagship Arab Light crude will likely decline by 30-40 cents a barrel to a premium between 60 cents and 70 cents to the average of Oman/Dubai quotes, five Asia-based refining sources said in a Reuters survey.
That would mark a second monthly decline and the lowest since January 2021, Reuters data showed. The January OSPs for other crude grades – Arab Extra Light, Arab Medium and Arab Heavy – could fall by 30-50 cents a barrel from December, the sources said. The forecasts mirrored a downward trend in cash Dubai’s premium to swaps, which have averaged 90 cents per barrel so far this month, down 32 cents from October. The pressure came from ample supplies and a surplus outlook as the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries plus Russia and other allies, know as OPEC+, lift output and demand growth slows.
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Reuters – November 29, 2025
US judge authorizes sale of Citgo parent’s shares to Elliott affiliate*
A U.S. judge on Saturday authorized the sale of shares in the Venezuela-owned parent of Citgo Petroleum to an affiliate of Elliott Investment Management, following his approval earlier this week of a $5.9 billion bid from the company in a court-organized auction to pay Venezuela-linked creditors. The sale order is the last major legal step to wrap a two-year auction aimed at paying up to 15 creditors for debt defaults and expropriations in the South American country. In a case first introduced by miner Crystallex against Venezuela in 2017, the Delaware court found Citgo’s parent PDV Holding liable for the OPEC country’s debt, opening the door for over a dozen additional creditors to join the auction.
The bid from Elliott’s Amber Energy, which includes a key agreement to pay $2.1 billion to the holders of a defaulted Venezuelan bond, had been recommended earlier this year by a court officer overseeing the auction, in a switch from his previous recommendation of an offer from rival bidder Gold Reserve. The change triggered a flurry of objections and challenges to Amber’s bid, which were overruled by Delaware Judge Leonard Stark. But parties in the case including Venezuela have said they will appeal Stark’s confirmation of Amber’s bid.
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Energies Media – November 28, 2025
The Permian basin in the United States has long been the foundation of the American energy sector and boasts several huge international companies with substantial operations. Recently, Targa Resources outlined its plans to develop a 500-mile “Speedway” NGL pipeline that will link the Permian to Mont Belvieu, Texas. The company has been contemplating measures to increase its foothold in the Permian and now has plans to construct the astonishingly long NGL pipeline, along with several other projects.
The reality of the impact of sanctions on Russian energy has led the US to become the top destination for the world’s gas and NGL buyers, all frantically searching for a non-Russian energy supplier. The new “cold war” of energy resources between the US and Russia has led many nations that formerly did business with Moscow to enter into purchasing agreements with the US to buy their substantial gas supply.
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The New York Times – November 29, 2025
Electricity is the new oil as Texas power deals top $100 billion so far this year*
It’s no secret that energy, particularly in the form of electricity, has become the foundation of dealmaking in anticipation of the need for hyperscale computing and data storage. But the demand for power and utility deals, large and small, would be hard to overstate. In the first three quarters of 2025, Texas lawyers handled more M&A transactions involving power and utility projects than in any full year since 2018. Not only are there more deals, but they are larger. Far larger. In the first three quarters of 2025, Texas-related deals in the power and utilities sector hit $106.5 billion. By comparison, the record-setting M&A year of 2021 saw eight P&U transactions totaling $3.7 billion.
If that comparison doesn’t project the sheer scale of the power grid M&A explosion this year, let’s try another. In the second quarter of 2025, power and utilities deals totaled $31.4 billion. That’s more than the $31.3 billion reported for the sector in 2023 and 2024 combined. Moreover, consider that the second quarter is the lowest quarter in the power sector thus far in 2025. The first quarter was higher at $33.2 billion and the third, at $41.9 billion, ranks highest thus far.
This comes as no particular surprise to Ahmed Sidik, a partner at Kirkland & Ellis in Houston, who’s been handling PE investments across a wide range of power sectors. “There’s demand for anything that touches on digital infrastructure and artificial intelligence,” says Sidik. And the deals are reaching beyond simple investments in existing power grids and their infrastructure.
Beyond the competition for resources like oil and natural gas comes the demand for the parts, the construction capacity and organizational expertise to plan, build and run increasingly complex power projects to provide the consistency, continuity and massive output required for hyperscale computing and data storage.
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US Rep. Troy Nehls won’t seek reelection, becoming the sixth Texas Republican to announce exit from Congress — but his brother will run in his place — Texas Tribune
Fort Bend County conservative Rebecca Clark announced Saturday her candidacy for Congress in Texas’ 22nd Congressional District, the same day US Rep. Troy Nehls said he will not seek reelection — Covering Katy News
What to know as US inches closer to direct attacks on Venezuela — Trump’s social media post says airspace around the South American country should be considered closed. Venezuela condemned the comments as a “colonialist threat” incompatible with international law — USA Today
As US military activity ramps up in the Caribbean and the Pacific, Colombia’s president alleged the Trump administration’s pressure campaign on Venezuela is more about accessing the South American country’s oil than fighting drug trafficking — CNN
Ukraine’s security service claimed strikes on two ocean-going tankers sanctioned for carrying Russian oil, which were hit by blasts off Turkey’s Black Sea coast over the past day — Bloomberg*
Attorney General Ken Paxton Launches Investigation into Use of Chinese Communist Party-Aligned Tech Products in Critical State Infrastructure — the AG sites a power storage station currently under construction near Mabank — see the press release
El Paso Electric is again seeking regulatory approval for its New Mexico renewable energy plan after resolving tariff-related cost uncertainty of a solar-plus-storage procurement proposed in the plan – RTO Insider*
EOG Resources is testing the Pearsall Formation in South Texas, while Formentera Resources is leading the play’s development with a majority of the permits and recent successful well results — the two companies are drilling near each other in Frio County, targeting an “oily window” of the Pearsall Formation that was previously abandoned for being “gassy” — Hart Energy*
Alaska regulators have assessed a $695,900 fine against Hilcorp for violations at two wells in a North Slope oil field that is a satellite of the giant Prudhoe Bay field — Politico*
Equinix Inc. has outlined details of a project in two filings with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation last week for a four-story, 372,517-square-foot data center as well as fixtures, mechanical and electrical equipment at 1550 W. Mockingbird Lane near Love Field — Dallas Morning News*
Oil & Gas Texas
Oil Price – November 26, 2025
US Rig Count Falls Off a Cliff In Thanksgiving Week
The total number of active drilling rigs for oil and gas in the United States fell sharply this week, according to new data that Baker Hughes published on Wednesday ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday. The total rig count in the US fell by 10 to 544 this week, according to Baker Hughes, down 38 from this same time last year.The number of active oil rigs saw a big dip in the reporting period, according to the data, falling by 12 rigs and reaching 407. Year over year, this represents a 70-rig decline. The number of gas rigs rose by 3 to 130, which is 30 more than this time last year. The miscellaneous rig count dipped by 1 to 7.
The latest EIA data showed that weekly U.S. crude oil production fell for the second week in a row in the week ending November 21 to 13.814 million bpd on average, 48,000 bpd under the all-time high. Primary Vision’s Frac Spread Count, an estimate of the number of crews completing wells, rose for the second week in a row in the week ending November 21, gaining 4 to reach 179. This is down from 201 at the beginning of the year.
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LNG Prime – November 27, 2025
Delfin secures new DOE extension*
Delfin Midstream has received extensions from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for its Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) export project, with the DOE granting an extension to June 1, 2029 and the FERC extending its construction deadline to September 28, 2027. The company is working to reach a final investment decision (FID) for the project, which is expected to be a significant deepwater port facility.
- DOE Export Permit: The DOE granted an extension to June 1, 2029, allowing the project more time to begin exporting LNG to countries that do not have a Free Trade Agreement with the USA.
- FERC Construction Permit: FERC granted a four-year extension to September 28, 2027, for the construction of the project’s onshore facilities
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MSN – November 28, 2025
America’s great shale revolution rumbles on
Never bet against America’s oil and natural gas engineers. About two decades ago, these engineers delivered the shale oil and natural gas revolution. After many years of trying to figure out how to extract the oil and natural gas trapped in shale rock formations, America’s petroleum engineers developed horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing, commonly called fracking. Water laced with sand was injected into the shale deposits. This technology unlocked billions of barrels of crude oil previously trapped deep underground in the shale oil deposits of America’s Permian Basin, located in Western Texas and Eastern New Mexico.
With fracking, oil companies were able to crack shale rock apart. They accessed tiny deposits of oil. Using this technology, America’s oil companies increased domestic oil production from about 6 million barrels a day in 2006, to over 22 million barrels of daily production today. With fracking technology, the U.S. is the world’s leading producer of oil. Using similar technology, the U.S. is now a major producer and exporter of natural gas. Fracking transformed the U.S. from being a large importer of oil to a major exporter of oil. It thus also ended American dependence on oil imported from the Middle East.
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Oil Price – November 24, 2025
New Monster Gas Wells Are Outperforming Legacy Haynesville Deposits
With the US in the midst of a gas demand boom driven by liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects and surge in electricity demand amid the steady buildout of data centers, the Western Haynesville has increasingly garnered attention as a promising source of future supply. The area, located roughly 150 miles north of Houston, Texas, in the Robertson, Freestone and Leon counties, has seen 60 wells drilled over the past four years. The wells are twice as productive as the median legacy Haynesville wells, but are as much as triple the drilling and completion (D&C) cost. The eventual success will come down to whether operators can continue to drive down costs in the region while replicating (or improving) the productivity of the initial wells.
After garnering much attention when the first ‘monster’ well was completed in 2022, the area has recently come back to prominence as Comstock Resources shifts capital expenditure (capex) toward the play, and as new operators such as Japan’s Mitsui, private E&P Hilcorp and North America’s largest natural gas producer Expand Energy have entered. The high costs and high productivity of the play stem from its geology, as the far western stretches of the Haynesville and Bossier shales are found at true vertical depths of about 17,000 feet (5,180 meters) or deeper and contain overpressured reservoirs and extremely high bottomhole temperatures.
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Upstream – November 28, 2025
Diamondback Energy aims to be ‘last consolidator’ standing in the Permian*
Diamondback Energy aims to be the “last consolidator” in the Permian Basin by acquiring smaller companies to expand its size and efficiency, which it believes will give it a competitive edge in a slowing market. The company’s strategy is supported by its recent large-scale acquisitions, including the $26 billion merger with Endeavor Energy, and its focus on operating with lower costs and a superior development strategy. Diamondback aims to be the consolidator of choice until other companies can prove they can operate more effectively.
Diamondback is positioned to be a leader in Permian consolidation, following a recent $26 billion merger with Endeavor Energy and a $4.08 billion acquisition of Double Eagle. The company’s strategy is based on the belief that shale activity is slowing, and that a stronger company with lower operating costs and efficient development will be more successful.
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The Wall Street Journal – November 27, 2025
The Texas Oil Mogul at War With California Over an Offshore Bounty
Oil giants have fled California, but James Flores is desperate to get in, even if it means crossing swords with the state. His company, Houston-based Sable Offshore, wants to reboot dormant oil platforms it bought from Exxon Mobil in federal waters near Santa Barbara. Flores, Sable’s chief executive, wagered that he could patch a leaky pipeline that once caused a disastrous oil spill, ship tens of thousands of barrels of crude to California’s refineries—and earn a windfall. He faces an uphill battle.
Although California has wrestled with high fuel prices and recently encouraged inland drilling in the state, its newfound goodwill hasn’t extended to Sable. Officials have blasted the company as a fly-by-night outfit that poses an environmental risk to sensitive coastal areas. Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed a bill that seeks to stonewall the project. Investors have grown skeptical of Sable, whose entire business hinges on the California bet. Its market capitalization has melted from about $3.2 billion in July to about $600 million.
But Flores, who is known in the industry as a hard-charging CEO, is digging in. Sable has turned to President Trump’s administration for help financing and permitting an expensive pivot to load crude onto tankers in the middle of the ocean—a bid to sidestep the need for a pipeline that California would have to approve. Flores has pitched Sable as a solution to California’s energy woes and echoed the administration’s criticism of the state’s climate-focused policies. The administration just announced plans to open waters off California’s coast to drilling, which Newsom called “dead on arrival.”
Oil & Gas National & International
Offshore Engineer – November 3, 2025
EIA data show that US oil production reached a record high in September.
The Energy Information Administration (EIA), which released data on Friday, showed that U.S. crude oil production reached a new record in September, despite concerns about oversupply. Oil production in the U.S. continues to reach record levels despite weak prices, which further weighs on global oil prices. Benchmark Brent crude traded just below $64, about 14% lower than the same time last.
According to EIA, the U.S. crude output increased by 44,000 barrels a day in January to a new record of 13.84 million barrels bpd. The oil output of New Mexico, which is the second largest state in terms of production, reached a record-breaking 2.351 millions bpd. Meanwhile, output from the federal offshore Gulf region increased to 1.983million bpd during September, marking the highest level since February 2020.
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Reuters – November 30, 2025
Gunvor weighs US energy push that could bolster Washington ties, sources say*
Commodity trader Gunvor has held active talks to invest in U.S. oil- and gas-producing assets, which could smooth over ties with the Trump administration after fallout from Gunvor’s bid to buy sanctioned Russian major Lukoil’s foreign assets, two sources familiar with the matter said. Gunvor dropped its bid to buy Lukoil’s assets after the U.S. Treasury expressed strong opposition to the move, calling the trading firm “Kremlin’s puppet.”
While Gunvor had been interested in increasing its U.S. investments even before the failed Lukoil bid, such a move could now help it to improve relations with the administration of President Donald Trump, which has made it a top priority to attract more investments in the country’s energy industry, the sources said. Gunvor’s Americas unit, led by Gary Pedersen, has considered backing newly formed private oil and gas companies in buying assets on its behalf, and has held talks to provide financial backing for existing producers to expand their footprint, the sources said. The sources, who requested anonymity to discuss confidential information, cautioned that a deal was not certain.
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Bloomberg – November 27, 2025
US LNG Exports at Record High Just in Time for Winter Demand*
US liquefied natural gas exports are set to hit a record high this month, helping to tame prices in Asia and Europe as winter begins. The US is expected to ship 10.7 million tons in November, according to predictive ship-tracking data from Kpler. That’s up roughly 40% from the same month last year, the data showed. The additional supply could push gas prices in Europe and Asia lower over the next few months, even though colder weather will boost consumption of the heating fuel. European gas futures fell to the lowest level in more than a year on Thursday, while prices in Asia, home to the largest importers, are at the lowest level in about a month.
New projects are set to keep lifting US LNG exports for years, with output poised to double by the end of the decade. The Plaquemines facility is currently ramping-up output, while Golden Pass could send its first shipment before the end of winter.
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The New York Times – November 26, 2025
Trump Vowed Fewer Regulations and Lots More Oil. He’s Delivered on One.*
Never before has a president swept into the White House pledging such a rapid expansion of oil and gas drilling in the United States as Donald Trump. But nearly a year since Mr. Trump ordered his administration to unearth the nation’s vast reserves of petroleum — or, as he called it, the “liquid gold under our feet” — analysts said fossil fuel production wasn’t much higher than the record levels that existed during the Biden administration. The price of a barrel of oil has tumbled from roughly $75 when Mr. Trump took office to below $60. His tariffs have raised the cost of steel and other commodities that oil companies require for wells and other equipment. Oil production is up, but largely because of improved efficiency, and it has not translated into more jobs for either the industry or the overall economy.
Prices at the pump dipped briefly earlier this year but nowhere near by half, as Mr. Trump repeatedly promised on the campaign trail. And the administration has taken other actions, like ordering that expensive coal-burning power plants remain open, canceling permits for offshore wind projects and encouraging exports of natural gas overseas, that in combination may have helped to raise electricity and natural gas prices for American consumers. “The ‘Drill, baby, drill’ agenda has not materialized,” said Kenneth B. Medlock, an energy economist at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy in Houston. And yet the uncertain investment climate for fossil fuels comes as the industry’s political influence has soared this year.
Utilities, Electricity & Renewables
KEYE – November 29, 20254
Fact Check Team: Exploring AI data centers’ impact on U.S. resources
As the U.S. races to stay competitive in the global AI boom, data centers are multiplying at a record pace. But a new analysis from the Pew Research Center shows that behind the innovation is a massive, and growing, strain on the country’s energy and water systems. And for everyday Americans, that could mean higher bills and new long-term environmental challenges. Pew’s review of federal and international data shows U.S. data centers used 183 terawatt-hours of electricity in 2024, about 4% of all electricity used nationwide, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). That’s roughly equal to the entire annual electricity use of Pakistan.
The biggest driver? Hyperscale facilities built specifically for AI models. According to Pew and the IEA, a typical AI-optimized hyperscale center uses as much electricity as 100,000 homes a year. Newer mega-facilities could use 20 times more once they go online. In major hubs, especially Northern Virginia, clusters of these centers now consume more than a quarter of the state’s total electricity supply, the Electric Power Research Institute reports.
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Power Magazine – November 26, 2025
NERC: Winter Grid Reliability at Risk Amid Soaring Demand, Fuel Supply Gaps
In its recently released Winter Reliability Assessment, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) found that while resources are adequate for normal winter peak demand, large swaths of North America face an elevated risk of electricity shortfalls during prolonged, wide-area cold snaps. Noting that four severe Arctic storms have swept across much of the continent since 2021, NERC warns that extreme conditions spanning a wide area could result in electricity supply shortfalls this winter.
While power supply is expected to be adequate under normal conditions, NERC in its Nov. 18 assessment found that rising electricity demand is significantly outpacing new resource additions—a trend reversal that exposes the grid to elevated risk during extreme winter weather. After several years of flat or low (~1%) peak demand growth, aggregate peak demand for all NERC assessment areas has risen by 20.2 GW (2.5%) since last winter—significantly faster than the addition of 9.4 GW in total resources.
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Oil Price – November 28, 2025
America’s Fragile Grid Faces a Perfect Storm Ahead of Winter
The energy infrastructure in the United States has failed repeatedly in instances of severe weather, due to years of underinvestment and the failure of utilities to work together to strengthen larger networks. During winter storms and wildfires, a wide range of energy infrastructure has been known to fail due to the lack of preparedness by utilities and state governments. Going into the winter months, there are fears over more potential network failures across various parts of the U.S.
Texas, California, and several other states face annual power outages due to severe weather events, from winter storms to heatwaves. In February 2021, Storm Uri brought plunging temperatures to the state of Texas and left millions of people without electricity, heat, or running water, as much of the infrastructure froze. These outages turned off electricity in various parts of Texas, including parts of the natural gas network that are electrically operated, such as pumps and antifreeze injection systems. This led to the shutdown of several power plants.
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Politico – November 26, 2025
Climate fight lingers for rural energy grants*
The Trump administration wants to keep climate change out of the Agriculture Department’s rural energy grant program. Rep. David Valadao, a California Republican from a swing district, is trying to put it back in. Valadao, a dairy farmer from the Central Valley, has teamed up with a Virginia Democrat to reintroduce legislation requiring the USDA to favor small rural energy projects that cut greenhouse gas emissions — just the type of project the Trump administration halted earlier this year.
Valadao’s bill with Rep. Eugene Vindman (D-Va.) would make a handful of changes to the Rural Energy for America Program, including boosting the federal government’s matching funds for projects and allowing more agriculture producer cooperatives to participate. Program supporters, including the Environmental Law and Policy Center and farmer-owned cooperatives, support the legislation while acknowledging it may face long odds in the current political environment. The REAP program provides grants and loan guarantees for energy efficiency projects, which can reduce farmers’ expenses and — at least on a small scale — provide off-farm electricity for rural areas.
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Recharge News – November 26, 2025
Texas battery boom backfires as revenues collapse*
A recent Enverus report indicates that Texas’s battery energy storage boom has backfired, with revenues dropping nearly 90% over two years due to market saturation. This has shifted revenue sources away from ancillary services, which previously made up the majority of profits, and towards energy arbitrage, as the increased competition has driven down prices for stability services. As a result, the profitability of battery projects has collapsed, forcing operators to find new strategies to remain viable.
Average annual revenue for battery energy storage systems (BESS) in Texas has fallen from approximately $149/kWh in 2023 to a projected $17/kWh for 2025, a decrease of nearly 90%. The rapid growth in battery projects, fueled by Texas’s solar boom, has led to market saturation. This has increased competition for providing grid stability services (ancillary services), driving down the prices for those services.
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Bloomberg – November 25, 2025
The Electric Door Tesla Made Famous Is Now a Danger in Other Cars*
Elon Musk wanted Tesla Inc.’s electric door handles to embody the future — sleek, seamless and emblematic of the cool he envisioned plug-in cars would come to personify. He succeeded: In just over a decade, handles that function at a touch have become hallmarks of modern automotive design, replicated from Detroit to Shenzhen as automakers raced to borrow Tesla’s aesthetic.
Now some drivers and industry analysts say this much-imitated style is proving to be a safety hazard. Electric doors are locking people out of their cars or — even worse — making it harder for them to exit, even after a crash. In some cases, the outcome has been deadly. Complaints to the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) about the doors — across all car models — jumped 65% in 2024 from the prior year. Among 520 complaints about electric handles and doors that were filed with federal regulators over the last decade, there were numerous allegations of pets and kids being trapped inside a car after a loss of power.
Tesla has drawn the most complaints, and the automaker is now the subject of a US safety investigation into the dangers associated with its doors. Regulators announced the probe in September, shortly after a Bloomberg News investigation into fatal incidents involving Tesla’s doors. But drivers have complained to the government about other carmakers as well.
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Politico – November 25, 2025
EPA to scrap lifesaving soot pollution limit*
The Trump administration has crossed a key threshold in its campaign to toss a stricter air pollution standard for soot, in a move that threatens to erase one of the Biden administration’s core public health accomplishments. In a motion filed Monday evening, EPA attorneys asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to vacate the standard, which is predicted to save thousands of lives by tightening the exposure limit to a pollutant tied to a higher risk of strokes, lung cancer and other cardiovascular and respiratory diseases.
The case could provide a landmark test of the agency’s ability under President Donald Trump to successfully pull off an industry-friendly agenda of regulatory rollbacks. In the newly filed motion, EPA echoed the arguments of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other business advocates in faulting the Biden administration for allegedly taking a “regulatory shortcut” by adopting the stricter annual standard for the fine particles often dubbed soot without first conducting the “thorough review” required by the Clean Air Act.
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Regulatory
The Wall Street Journal – November 28, 2025
The Left’s Climate Dreams Hit Energy Reality*
The politically-driven effort to force a transition from traditional power to wind, solar and battery has produced an energy crisis in blue America. Progressive-led states are beset by increasing electricity rates and declining reliability. Although their leaders uniformly blame President Trump, the costs have become so high that some on the left are finally scaling back these destructive policies. But it’s no guarantee sobriety will win the day.
New leftwing awareness of energy realities is apparent coast to coast. Former New Jersey Rep. Mikie Sherrill won the state’s governorship this month in part by pledging to deal with high electricity costs. As a member of Congress Ms. Sherrill reliably voted for the energy-transition agenda, although on the campaign trail she blamed Trump policies for her state’s problems. Out West, California Gov. Gavin Newsom is moderating some of his positions in anticipation of a 2028 presidential run from a state with the nation’s highest electricity rates. Mr. Newsom recently signed legislation returning billions to the state’s beleaguered rate-payers. As he slowed some of the “climate” regulations that he previously helped accelerate, Mr. Newsom deflected responsibility to subsidy reductions in President Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” that have yet to take effect.
Yet recent infighting over detransitioning in Massachusetts indicates that holdouts remain, opposing even the most sensible adjustments. In late October, the organization tasked with ensuring the reliability of New England’s grid warned of power shortages as soon as this winter, emphasizing the need to obtain dependable energy production. The gist: Solar and wind will not deliver sufficient, constant, reliable power.
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Politico – November 24, 2025
The Senate last Monday unveiled its bill to fund the Department of Energy, the Army Corps of Engineers and other agencies, proposing some cuts to clean energy. The upper chamber’s version of the fiscal 2026 Energy-Water bill will have to be reconciled with the House’s version. Congressional appropriators are hoping to pass a number of compromise spending bills bill before Jan. 30.
The Senate’s legislation reflects the priorities of Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), chair of the Senate’s Energy-Water Appropriations Subcommittee, who said he wanted to cut funding for renewable energy in order to shore up nuclear weapons programs and the Army Corps of Engineers. It was released without the blessing of ranking member Patty Murray (D-Wash.). “While I am disappointed that Senate Republicans released a partisan bill instead of working with Senate Democrats — and I am especially disappointed by the cuts to critical clean energy programs — there are some important priorities I strongly advocated for that are addressed by the bill released today,” said Murray.