Texas Energy Report NewsClips
Monday December 15, 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 climbed on Monday as supply disruptions linked to escalating U.S.-Venezuela tensions outweighed oversupply worries and the impact of a potential Russia-Ukraine peace deal.
West Texas Intermediate crude was at $57.75 a barrel, up 31 cents, or 0.54%.
Brent crude futures were up 33 cents, or 0.54%, at $61.45 a barrel, as of 0429 GMT
Both contracts slid more than 4% in the prior week, weighed down by expectations of a surplus in 2026.
Top Stories
The New York Times – December 12, 2025
The Oilman Who Pushed Trump to Go All In on Fossil Fuels*
The executives dining at the White House to celebrate President Trump’s $300 million ballroom — and their role in financing it — were a who’s who of American industry. Many hailed from companies that are household names, like Microsoft, OpenAI and Comcast. Seated among them was Harold G. Hamm, the 13th child of Oklahoma sharecroppers and founder of an oil company, Continental Resources, that is little known outside of energy circles.
Mr. Hamm is a wildcatter, an oil prospector who drills wells in unproven areas, taking big bets that can turn into black gold or financial ruin. Not long ago, it seemed as if Mr. Hamm and his allies in the oil industry were losing. They were deeply out of favor in Washington — and on Wall Street — shunned for contributing to climate change and failing to deliver the returns investors wanted. But with Mr. Trump back in power, Mr. Hamm is, too.
The alliance between the two — a soft-spoken oilman with no college degree and a onetime New York real estate developer — is now playing a big role in American energy. Together, they have remade federal policy to benefit oil and gas companies, including Mr. Hamm’s Continental, and put off the transition to greener alternatives like solar power and batteries. Mr. Hamm was among Mr. Trump’s earliest oil industry backers, and that loyalty — paired with more than $2 million in campaign contributions — has earned him outsize influence.
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Politico – December 11, 2025
Data center boom creates political conundrum for the GOP*
Republicans on Capitol Hill who have championed Big Tech’s race to dominate artificial intelligence are now confronting a growing political obstacle: voters angry over the soaring energy demands and utility costs tied to the data centers. The politics of data centers are still very much in flux, but GOP politicians may be particularly vulnerable to a voter backlash because of their pro-development views and President Donald Trump’s all-in support for AI — including blocking states from setting their own rules.
Some are starting to seek distance from the White House. Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis floated new limits on data centers as part of an “AI bill of rights.” Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley have also questioned Trump’s state preemption drive. Increasingly, congressional lawmakers from states at the center of the data center boom — Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia — are feeling the heat and looking to adjust.
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The Conversation – December 12, 2025
Data centers need electricity fast, but utilities need years to build power plants – who should pay?
The amount of electricity data centers use in the U.S. in the coming years is expected to be significant. But regular reports of proposals for new ones and cancellations of planned ones mean that it’s difficult to know exactly how many data centers will actually be built and how much electricity might be required to run them. As a researcher of energy policy who has studied the cost challenges associated with new utility infrastructure, I know that uncertainty comes with a cost.
In the electricity sector, it is the challenge of state utility regulators to decide who pays what shares of the costs associated with generating and serving these types of operations, sometimes broadly called “large load centers.” States are exploring different approaches, each with strengths, weaknesses and potential drawbacks.
The Latest TERse Tips
Update: Houston’s oil giants came out on top during the first sale of oil and gas drilling rights in the Gulf of Mexico since 2023, offering a sneak peak into how the industry views offshore opportunities under the new administration — Houston Chronicle*
INNIO Group, a leading energy solution and service provider, is collaborating with the US power utility Greenville Electric Utility System on a landmark 104-megawatt power plant — see the press release
A large-scale data center project in Lacy Lakeview near Waco, Texas, has received approval from city council members — the campus in question is being proposed by InfraKey Capital, and seeks to develop up to six data centers with 1GW of capacity in total — Data Center Dynamics
Vital Energy, Inc. said Friday that, at a special meeting of Vital Energy stockholders, the stockholders of the company approved the previously announced merger between Vital Energy and Crescent Energy Company — see the press release
Oilman’s sprawling ranch in West Texas’ Big Bend region hits market at $46.5M — the ranch’s story starts in the early 1960s, when Midland oil-and-gas executive W.B. “Dub” Yarborough and his wife, Kay, bought the first 3,520 acres — Houston Chronicle*
The Department of Energy will regulate a nuclear fuel producer in a first-of-a-kind agreement announced Thursday that aims to boost the fuel supply chain but poses novel legal questions — under the deal, Standard Nuclear will move operations of its Tennessee and Idaho facilities to DOE oversight — Politico*
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Oil & Gas Texas
Oil Price – December 12, 2025
US Drillers Add Oil Rigs As Analysts Warn of Incoming Glut
The total number of active drilling rigs for oil and gas in the United States fell by 1 this week, according to new data that Baker Hughes published on Friday, bringing the total rig count in the US to 548 this week, according to Baker Hughes, down 41 from this same time last year.
The number of active oil rigs rose by 1 in the reporting period, according to the data, after US drillers added 6 rigs in the week prior. Oil rigs are now at 414, which is 68 below this same time last year. The number of gas rigs fell by 2 to 127, which is 24 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 by 38,000 bpd in the week ending December 5 to 13.853 million bpd on average, just 9 million bpd under the all-time high.
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Argus Media – December 12, 2025
Seized oil tanker likely heading to Houston
Related: A U.S. move this week to seize an oil tanker out of Venezuela is poised to make a bad situation worse for a crisis-stricken Cuba already struggling to source enough oil to power its ailing economy and electrical grid — MSN
Related;: Seized oil tanker Skipper only the tip of the clandestine iceberg — with only two of the oil tankers ever seized, then most of the ghost fleet has been allowed to operate without any concrete threat to their operations — Asian Times
Related: Port officials say they haven’t been told that the tanker seized off Venezuela is headed to Galveston as of December 13th — Houston Chronicle*
The US-seized oil tanker Skipper, carrying Venezuelan oil, is en route to Houston, Texas, according to data from oil analytics firm Vortexa. If Houston is the very-large crude carrier’s final destination, it will likely discharge the 1.9mn bls of Merey crude it is carrying via lightering offshore since Houston-area ports are too shallow to allow such a large ship dock to offload at an onshore terminal.
The US seized the falsely-flagged Skipper on 10 December for its alleged involvement in smuggling Iranian oil to support Lebanon-based Hezbollah and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard. But the seizure is widely seen as an extension of ongoing efforts by the US to pressure the Venezuelan government over the flow of drugs from the country. The US said it intends to seize other tankers on existing sanctions lists that are carrying Venezuelan crude. The US has stationed a large naval force in the waters near Venezuela since September as part of an effort ostensibly aimed at stopping waterborne drug shipments.
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The New York Times – December 12, 2025
Seizures of more tankers could put a stranglehold on Venezuela’s economy, which is exceptionally dependent on oil to keep the government running and pay for basic necessities.
The U.S. seizure of an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela laid bare a crucial factor in the standoff between Caracas and Washington: Oil remains the lifeblood of Venezuela’s fragile economy. Venezuela relies on oil and oil-related products for nearly all its export revenues. Officials use the income from the oil industry to keep the government functioning, maintain weapons systems and import necessities, like food. More tanker seizures would restrict this revenue stream, according to economists. Each seized cargo amounts to a loss in income and Venezuela could be forced to sell its oil at a steep discount to traders still willing to risk dealing with the country.
Venezuela boasts reserves of rare earth minerals, vast tracts of arable land and glistening Caribbean beaches, which could lure foreign tourists. But oil is still the driving force of the economy, as it has been for much of the past century. Venezuela is afflicted by what economists call “Dutch disease,” in which a government develops an unhealthy dependence on natural resource exports to the detriment of other sectors. The concept, initially applied to the Netherlands when natural gas deposits were found in the North Sea, involves a currency appreciation from natural resource exports, making other exports less competitive. … “A continued policy of seizures would cause a steep decline in Venezuela’s import capacity, plunging the country into a new recession,” said Francisco Rodríguez, a Venezuelan economist at the University of Denver.
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Beaumont Enterprise – December 12, 2025
TCEQ to asses penalties after unauthorized emissions at Groves facility*
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality will soon assess administrative penalties to the TotalEnergies refinery in Port Arthur on Dec. 17 after a number of emission violations. According to the commission, the results from investigations dating back to March 30, 2022 are the agency’s reason for charging TotalEnergies with eight compliance violations for exceeding the maximum amount of hazardous emissions facilities in the state are allowed.
TotalEnergies denies TCEQ’s allegations, reaching a settling of 111,175 in penalties. TotalEnergies will pay $55,588 to the agency and the other $55,587 in penalties by sending it to Southeast Texas Regional Planning Commission’s Lighthouse Program Project. It’s a program that provides upgrades to low-income homes and brings them to current energy efficiency standards.
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Houston Chronicle – December 12, 2025
Houston’s oil sector to shed thousands of jobs in 2026 as crude prices drop*
Houston’s oil and gas sector is expected to shed thousands of jobs next year as falling crude prices slow drilling activity, marking one of the sharpest pullbacks for the industry in recent years, according to a new Greater Houston Partnership forecast. The Partnership projects that upstream oil and gas will lose about 3,200 jobs in 2026, driven by lower expected West Texas Intermediate (WTI) prices that are likely to squeeze producers’ margins and prompt new cost-cutting across the sector.
Industries tied to energy could feel even larger ripple effects: manufacturing is forecast to lose 3,400 jobs, and administrative support services—many connected to oil field operations—may shed about 7,500 positions in the industry. The contraction stands in sharp contrast to the rest of Houston’s labor market. Despite the losses, the region is still expected to add 30,900 jobs in 2026, reaching a record 3.5 million by year’s end, the GHP report notes. Nearly half of all new positions—roughly 14,000 jobs—are projected to come from health care and social assistance, fueled by strong population gains, more insured residents and aging demographics. Construction, public education, public administration and professional and technical services are also expected to expand. But the oil-sector decline marks a notable shift for a region where energy has long been the prime engine of job growth.
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Midland Reporter-Telegram – December 13, 2025
Shale operators brace for next consolidation wave in M&A*
Small- and medium-sized shale operators are bracing for the next wave of consolidation, largely driven by an appetite for scale in a merger and acquisition (M&A) environment that is getting increasingly competitive. Those small and mid-cap firms find themselves in a more difficult position, Matthew Bernstein, vice president of North America oil and gas at Rystad Energy, told the Reporter-Telegram.
“Just because they are ‘next on the block’ in terms of scale does not mean that it is necessarily attractive scale. Some of the deals we have seen this year involving mergers of public SMID-caps have seen low multiples and negative market reactions,” he said. To build scale and survive another consolidation wave, the smaller E&Ps have limited choices: either buy assets that larger players are looking to get rid of or acquire privately owned E&Ps, Rystad reports.
While absolute scale is an important aspect of value proposition, especially when reducing activity levels at the same time, larger firms will be unlikely to seek scale alone and acquire SMID-caps that lack their same quality of remaining locations, Bernstein said. “Instead, we see mergers of equals as likely to continue, with the added rationale of bringing down operational costs. In the current commodity price environment, longer-term concerns over inventory are important alongside the need to enhance efficiencies and push down operational and overhead costs in order to help lower corporate breakevens while defending output and payouts. Here, companies will likely benefit from acquiring assets with contiguous or nearby acreage positions,” he said.
Oil & Gas National & International
Bloomberg – December 12, 2025
EU Offers Easier Path for US LNG Exporters to Meet Methane Rules*
The European Union plans to simplify ways for US exporters of liquefied natural gas to comply with methane emission requirements that have drawn ire from the Trump administration. The EU regulation on methane aims to curb emissions of the powerful greenhouse gas embedded in domestic consumption of fossil fuels and requires foreign LNG producers to gradually comply or risk losing market share. The US has criticized the rules for hampering trade at a time when the EU is seeking more American imports to replace supplies from Russia.
The European Commission wants to propose a “simple and pragmatic implementation” at a meeting of EU energy ministers on Dec. 15 in Brussels, according to a document seen by Bloomberg. It would address concerns from US companies that say complying with the regulations and tracking supply is impossible because American gas is produced across multiple states that have varying emissions rules. In such cases, options to comply would include either a certification method or a “trace-and-claim” process, the EU’s regulatory arm said in the document. The commission also invited member states to comment on the proposal in a signal that could provide some assurance to the market.
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Financial Post – December 14, 2025
Tokyo Gas to Invest in US Downstream Assets to Drive Growth
Tokyo Gas Co., Japan’s biggest distributor of the fuel, plans to invest in US downstream assets to lift earnings and reinforce the last leg of its energy supply chain. The company is looking to deploy capital in assets like liquefaction plants, export terminals and the energy services sector, said Tokyo Gas President Shinichi Sasayama. “We’ve already made investments in midstream, downstream areas such as marketing and trading, and we intend to raise profitability,” he said in an interview. …
Tokyo Gas has allocated 350 billion yen ($2.2 billion) for overseas investments for the next three years starting from fiscal 2026, according to a strategy document released in October. However, a spokesperson declined to say on Friday how much the company has earmarked for downstream expansion in the US.
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Reuters – December 12, 2025
Trump administration unlikely to finalize 2026 biofuel quotas this year, sources say*
The Trump administration is not expected to finalize 2026 biofuel-blending quotas before the end of this year, according to three sources familiar with the situation, extending uncertainty over a policy closely watched by the rival oil and agricultural sectors. The slowdown would throw one of the administration’s most consequential energy policy choices into next year and folds the highly anticipated quotas into a growing cluster of interlocking decisions the White House is weighing on biofuels policy.
Together, the moves have raised expectations the administration may look to strike a broader – albeit elusive – agreement between rival oil and agricultural interests. The Environmental Protection Agency, which administers biofuels policy, has scheduled meetings with stakeholders on the quota rule early next, two sources told Reuters, a sign that the issue will be pushed into next year. A third source also said the EPA’s decision was unlikely by the end of this year. The sources spoke about the matter on condition of anonymity.
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Business Times – December 9, 2025
Chinese LNG demand looks set to disappoint for yet another year
Chinese liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports are at risk of another weak year as disappointing industrial demand and persistently high global prices look set to reduce purchases. Imports will fall about 5 per cent to 73 million tonnes this year, meaning China may lose its position as the world’s biggest buyer of the super-chilled fuel to Japan, according to BloombergNEF (BNEF). The outlook for 2026 is also not encouraging: Overall gas demand is set to slump, suggesting it has decoupled with GDP growth, BNEF analysts said at a summit this week.
China was the fastest-growing LNG market before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 triggered a surge in spot prices. Back then, Asia’s largest economy had been expected by BNEF to get to 100 million tonnes of imports by this year, but analysts have been forced to repeatedly downgrade their outlooks on persistently weaker-than-expected demand.
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Associated Press/ABC News – December 4, 2025
Turkey’s energy minister warns of threat to oil and gas supplies after tankers targeted
Turkey’s energy minister issued a call for the supply of oil and gas in the Black Sea to be protected after three Russian tankers were targeted off the Turkish coast. Alparslan Bayraktar said Turkey was concerned not just by the threat to shipping but also to two undersea pipelines, Blue Stream and Turk Stream, that carry natural gas from Russia to Turkey.
Referring to the 2022 sabotage of the Nord Stream pipeline between Russia and Germany, Bayraktar pointed out Turkey’s reliance on imported gas. “We call on all parties to keep the energy infrastructure out of this war because it’s part of people’s daily lives,” he said during a news conference Wednesday. “We need to keep the energy flows uninterrupted in the Black Sea and the (Bosphorus and Dardanelles) straits.”
Utilities, Electricity & Renewables
Inside Climate News – December 10, 2025
ERCOT’s Market is Transitioning Toward Storage and Solar
Battery storage facilities and solar farms powered virtually all capacity growth in Texas’ electric grid throughout 2025, as the home of the nation’s oil and gas industry created almost twice as much new solar power as California. More than 5,200 megawatts, or approximately 10,500 megawatt hours, of new battery storage made up the largest share of the more than 11,000 megawatts of new capacity, according to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), operator of Texas’ electric grid. Solar power accounted for the second-largest capacity addition, with more than 4,500 megawatts installed.
Pablo Vegas, ERCOT’s president and CEO, said during a board of directors meeting Tuesday that the new solar power represented “high” growth in intermittent power, while he characterized the new battery storage as “very rapid growth” of short-duration power supply.
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El Paso Matters – December 14, 2025
Judges in El Paso Electric rate case recommend smaller rate increase, less profit for utility
The proposed bill increase by El Paso Electric that could take effect next year may be decreased after a panel of judges overseeing the utility’s rate case sided with customers and suggested moderating it. A final decision on the rate increase by the state’s Public Utility Commission likely won’t come until February. But the judges on Dec. 7 issued a proposal for decision – a recommendation for the state’s public utility commissioners – that argued El Paso Electric is asking to make too much profit off customers.
Instead of authorizing the requested shareholder profit margin of 10.7%, the PUC should approve an allowed return of 9.4% that’s close to the utility’s current authorized profit margin. El Paso Electric is evaluating the panel’s recommendation, the utility said in a statement.
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Bloomberg/Business Download – December 12, 2025
Blue Energy Plans Data Center Plant Powered by Gas Then Nuke
Blue Energy Global Inc., a nuclear startup, is planning a power plant in Texas that will supply as much as 1.5 gigawatts of electricity to a new data center, initially using natural gas systems and eventually shifting to small reactors. The campus in Port of Victoria, southwest of Houston, is expected to begin delivering electricity to Crusoe Inc.’s data center as soon as 2028, with the reactor going into service by 2031, according to a statement Thursday from Blue Energy.
The schedule and the strategy of using different generating systems reflects the challenges of supplying power-hungry data centers. Big technology companies are clamoring for electricity as soon as possible to run artificial intelligence systems, but the nuclear industry is unlikely to deliver any new reactors for years.
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CBS News – December 12, 2025
Power line project looms over world-famous dinosaur tracks in Texas state park
Dinosaur Valley State Park draws thousands of visitors each year to Glen Rose, southwest of Fort Worth, to see some of the best-preserved dinosaur tracks in the world. But some locals fear that view could soon include something far more modern: towering high-voltage power lines. At the park, the ancient tracks are embedded in limestone along the Paluxy River, footprints millions of years old that leaders say define the town. …
But a proposed Oncor project could one day bring 200-foot transmission towers into view near the park. “And I try to tell people, visualize as you’re driving to the park, these 200-foot towers on both sides of the road,” Boles said during a tour. The power lines are part of the large Dinosaur–Longshore Project, a plan to run 765-kilovolt transmission lines from Somervell County more than 200 miles west to Howard County, to meet new state power demands. Three possible routes are under consideration, including one that would pass just south of the state park.
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December 12, 2025
Texas electricity providers draw on variety of sources: Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas*
Q to Jim Burke, president and chief executive officer of Vistra Corp.: How has the Texas grid changed since the February 2021 statewide freeze?
I should start by acknowledging that the event was devastating for Texans. We can’t go through that again. As a state, the loss of life is unacceptable. The disruption for the state was also very costly. The Legislature went to work very quickly to look at what happened. It passed Senate Bill 3 during the legislative session in 2021 to make sure that winterization activities were top of mind. [Senate Bill 3 requires utilities to develop emergency preparedness plans.]
The Public Utility Commission of Texas has jurisdiction over the electric grid, and it also oversees ERCOT [the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, which manages the market]. Activities regarding winterization and inspections and communications have all improved. The Railroad Commission of Texas oversees the oil and natural gas industries. A critical part of the value chain for powering the electric grid is natural-gas-fired generation, [accounting for] about 50 percent of the electric grid. They’ve been working on winterization activities as well. And it’s critical that they continue to do so. I’m confident we’re in a better place as a state if a similar storm were to occur. But I will tell you, no two storms are alike. We’ve got to remain vigilant.
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Politico – December 12, 2025
Central US grid operator approves $12B transmission build-out*
The electric power industry has for decades defined its mission in three words: Safe, affordable and reliable. Now, a fourth term — one not typically associated with utility planning and regulation — is creeping its way into the lexicon: fast. The latest example of how the quest for speed is playing out in the power sector came Thursday. The grid operator for the central U.S. gave the go-ahead for high-voltage transmission projects totaling $12.3 billion across its 14-state footprint — projects considered necessary to reliably meet growing electricity demand.
Of the 432 individual power lines representing almost 2,000 miles of high-voltage power lines approved by the board of the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO), 49 were projects totaling $5 billion of investment through “expedited” requests. The urgency tracks utility efforts to get power plants and transmission lines built as quickly as possible for new hyperscale data centers, as well as the Trump administration’s “Speed to Power” initiative announced in September to support artificial intelligence data center and industrial growth.
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Politico – December 12, 2025
FERC to take up co-location of power plants for data centers*
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is planning to take up a high-profile co-location proceeding for the PJM Interconnection at next week’s open meeting. This long-anticipated proceeding comes as the energy regulator is facing pressure from the Trump administration to speed the rollout of power-hungry data centers to support artificial intelligence development. Utilities, data center developers, state entities and consumer advocacy groups are watching FERC’s response, with co-location — or the linking of a data center to a nearby power plant — emerging as a key issue.
At issue is how the PJM Interconnection will address the transmission links to the broader electrical grid for those power plants that are co-located to a data center. Advisory firm Capstone projects that FERC will issue an order paving the way for behind-the-meter load arrangements, handing a win to nuclear and natural gas plants seeking contracts to deliver power to data centers. The last time FERC addressed the issue was in February, when it ordered PJM to explain how it would protect consumers from the financial costs and potential grid issues associated with data centers. This happened in the wake of a contentious 2024 order when the energy regulator rejected PJM’s request to raise the co-located load at Talen Energy’s Susquehanna nuclear plant to power an Amazon Web Services data center.
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Regulatory
Fort Worth Report – December 12, 2025
Worst air pollution in North Texas? Fort Worth among top cities this year
Fort Worth was one of two cities across several North Texas counties with the worst air quality this year, according to preliminary data. The 2025 design value — the average of the fourth-worst ozone day from each year in a three-year period — of Fort Worth’s ozone was recorded at 83 parts per billion, according to data collected by the North Central Texas Council of Governments. Frisco also hit that value, according to the data, which has not been verified by the Environmental Protection Agency yet.
Ozone or levels of smog tend to peak in Texas between March through November. Eagle Mountain Lake and Keller came just under at 82 and 81 parts per billion, respectively, for the season, the data shows.
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Politico – December 12, 2025
DOE and Standard Nuclear strike deal to boost reactor fuel*
The Department of Energy will regulate a nuclear fuel producer in a first-of-a-kind agreement announced Thursday that aims to boost the fuel supply chain but poses novel legal questions. Under the deal, Standard Nuclear will move operations of its Tennessee and Idaho facilities to DOE oversight. The Oak Ridge, Tennessee-based startup called the agreement a breakthrough for its nuclear fuel business.
“This is a great thing. They’re bridging this gap until [uranium] enrichment comes up,” said Kurt Terrani, CEO of Standard Nuclear. “The government is not picking winners. They’re just saying, ‘We regulate you.’” The Trump administration pledged to quadruple nuclear energy by 2050. President Donald Trump issued four executive orders in May aimed at speeding up advanced reactor testing, reforming the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and bolstering the nuclear power supply chain. This has included requiring the NRC to review reactor applications under an 18-month deadline and giving DOE a greater role in licensing commercial nuclear facilities.