2-3-26

Texas Energy Report NewsClips

Tuesday February 3, 2026

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

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

Oil prices fell on Tuesday, easing for a second day, as market participants weighed the possibility of a de-escalation in U.S.-Iran tensions, while a firmer dollar placed greater downside pressure on prices.

West Texas Intermediate crude was at $61.83 per barrel, down 31 cents, or 0.5%.

Brent crude futures fell 39 cents, or 0.5%, at $65.91 per barrel at 0330 GMT.

Oil prices fell more than 4% on Monday after U.S. President Donald Trump said Iran was “seriously talking” with Washington, signaling a de-escalation of tensions with the OPEC member.

Iran and the U.S. are expected to resume nuclear talks on Friday in Turkey, officials from both sides told Reuters on Monday, and Trump warned that with big U.S. warships heading to Iran, bad things could happen if a deal was not reached.

Top Stories

Yahoo! News – February 2, 2026

Devon Agrees to Buy US Shale Rival Coterra for $21.4 Billion

Devon Energy Corp. agreed to acquire Coterra Energy Inc. for about $21.4 billion in stock to create one of the world’s biggest shale companies as dwindling drilling sites spur producers to consolidate.

The deal calls for Coterra stockholders to receive 0.7 Devon shares for each share they own, according to a statement Monday. It amounts to a roughly 12% premium for Coterra investors based on the stock value in mid-January before news broke that the companies were in talks, but it’s a slight discount to Friday’s closing price, according to energy data platform Enverus.

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Fortune – February 2, 2026

It took the U.S. decades to respond to the 1970s energy shock with a strategic oil reserve, now it’s rerunning that playbook with rare earths

Buried in large, underground salt caverns along Texas and Louisiana’s coast, the world’s largest supply of emergency crude oil has been an invaluable resource for the U.S. For five decades, the Strategic Petroleum Reserve has helped the U.S. government conduct foreign policy and calm markets and prices at the pump in the event of supply disruption. Such is the SPR’s importance that the Trump administration is set to build another reserve of that ilk, this time to stockpile a resource some analysts and politicians have referred to as the new oil and gas: rare earths.

President Donald Trump is planning a critical minerals stockpile known as Project Vault, Bloomberg reported on Monday, citing senior administration officials. The plan will combine a $10 billion loan from the U.S. Import-Export Bank with $1.67 billion in private capital, according to the report. A White House spokesperson confirmed to Fortune that the plan existed. A stockpile is only the latest step Trump has taken to keep critical minerals flowing for American industries, as the administration has made the secure supply of critical minerals a core component of its manufacturing and foreign policy strategy. …

In the same way that a small club of petroleum-producing states triggered an oil supply crisis in the 1970s, analysts have worried that the supply chain around critical minerals is making the U.S. similarly vulnerable in the 2020s, given that China controls the vast majority of both production and processing capacity that underlies these materials. Critical minerals refer to a wide range of raw materials including cobalt, lithium, and gallium, as well as so-called rare earth metals that generally appear in low concentrations and can be complex to mine. These minerals are essential to building advanced electronics and fundamental to modern industries such as carmaking, computing, and energy. The stockpile will store minerals for U.S. automakers and tech companies, according to Bloomberg’s report, which mentions several large U.S. firms that have signed on to participate, including Google, General Motors, and Boeing.

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KUHF (NPR Houston) – February 2, 2026

The Trump Administration exempts new nuclear reactors from environmental review

The Trump Administration has created an exclusion for new experimental reactors being built at sites around the U.S. from a major environmental law. The law would have required them to disclose how their construction and operation might harm the environment, and it also typically required a written, public assessment of the possible consequences of a nuclear accident. The exclusion announcement comes just days after NPR revealed officials at the Department of Energy had secretly rewritten environmental, safety and security rules to make it easier for the reactors to be built.

The Department of Energy announced the change Monday in a notice in the Federal Register. It said the department would begin excluding advanced nuclear reactors from major requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The act calls on federal agencies to consider the environment when undertaking new projects and programs.

The Latest TERse Tips

Texas land commissioner primary: Who is running and what you need to know — KPRC

The Bureau of Land Management has opened a 30-day public comment period to receive public input on plans to include 74 oil and gas parcels totaling 33,530 acres in New Me

Platts, part of S&P Global Energy, has launched a daily North American series of Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) price assessments, effective Feb. 2, 2026 — S&P Global Platts

Construction sites across Bryan and College Station are facing a growing threat as thieves target electrical breakers, leaving contractors worried and projects at risk, driven by the price of silver — KXXV

Fitch Ratings has affirmed nine North American electric transmission and distribution companies’ ratings. These actions follow the update of Fitch’s “Corporate Rating Criteria” and the “Sector Navigators Addendum to the Corporate Rating Criteria” on Jan. 9, 2026 — Fitch

Future of $2 trillion megacity The Line hangs by thread as Saudi rulers scale back plans for scandal-hit vanity project — The US Sun

A Republican donor and Texas oil executive is lobbying against bipartisan legislation imposing sanctions on pro-Russian, anti-democratic officials in the country of Georgia, according to a letter obtained by The Hill — Steve Nicandros, chairman and CEO of a Houston-based energy company claiming more than half a billion dollars of investments in Georgia, sent a letter to at least one Republican House member this month calling for opposition to the MEGOBARI Act

Oil & Gas Texas

Bloomberg – February 2, 2026

Before the Crash, Oil and Gas Drillers Pounced on Price Rise*

Shale drillers engaged in record hedging amid soaring energy prices in the days and weeks preceding the worldwide commodities crash. AEGIS Hedging Solutions LLC, which conducts trades that cover about one-fourth of US oil and natural gas production, saw its busiest week for gas as the polar vortex sent demand and prices for the fuel sky high. As for crude, AEGIS clocked its biggest month since mid-2025, during the height of the Iran-Israel conflict, according to Jay Stevens, director of market analytics at the firm.

The decision to hedge couldn’t have been more prescient. When markets opened Monday, European and US traders were greeted by screens of red as a general collapse in commodities that kicked off in Asia swirled around the globe. Oil futures nosedived in London and New York as geopolitical tensions between the US and Iran appeared to ease. European gas plunged as much as 14% while US futures fell the most since 1995. Metals and some agricultural markets also dropped. Energy companies, brokers, manufacturers and speculators employ hedging instruments such as swaps, options and futures to lock in profits or shield future supplies from potential losses.

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Fox News – February 2, 2026

Chevron CEO details strategy to shield consumers from soaring AI power costs

He said the company is leveraging the “tremendous resource” of U.S. natural gas to generate power directly for hyperscale data centers, bypassing the traditional electric grid and insulating the public from higher electricity costs. “This is another advantage where you can convert energy into intelligence, and the abundance of energy that this country has can translate not only into energy dominance but into AI dominance,” Wirth told Maria Bartiromo.

Chevron revealed plans in 2025 to develop an off-grid natural gas facility in West Texas designed to generate electricity for large-scale data centers without relying on the traditional power grid. The company previously announced a partnership with activist investment firm Engine No. 1 and GE Vernova to explore natural gas-powered solutions aimed at supporting the rapid expansion of AI and data center infrastructure in the United States.

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Reuters – January 30, 2026

Exxon CEO says first LNG at Golden Pass expected in March

“That venture has done a really good job of recovering from the bankruptcy,” Woods said during Exxon’s fourth-quarter earnings call with analysts. “My expectation is we will see first LNG produced in very early March.”

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Texas Border Business –  January 30, 2026

Texas Upstream Sector Adds 2,000 Jobs to Close Out 2025

Citing the latest Current Employment Statistics (CES) report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the Texas Independent Producers and Royalty Owners Association (TIPRO) highlighted new employment figures for the Texas oil and natural gas industry. According to TIPRO, employment in the Texas upstream sector increased between November and December 2025, with oil and natural gas extraction jobs rising by 500 to 70,200 (+0.7 percent m/m), while support activities employment grew by 1,500 to 133,200 (+1.1 percent m/m). Combined upstream employment increased by 2,000 jobs to 203,400 (+1.0 percent m/m), reported TIPRO.

From January to December 2025, employment in the Texas upstream sector showed early gains followed by later fluctuations, noted TIPRO. Oil and Gas Extraction added a net 2,000 jobs (+2.9 percent), reaching a peak of 70,200 in June, July, and December, driven by robust Permian production despite market pressures.

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The Wall Street Journal – January 30, 2026

Chevron CEO Says It’s Too Early to Determine Venezuela Outlook*

Chief Executive Mike Wirth said Friday that it is too early to determine the company’s long-term outlook on Venezuela, in some of his first public comments since the U.S. incursion that culminated in the capture of strongman Nicolás Maduro. President Trump is pressing Chevron (the only major U.S. oil company currently active in the country), Exxon and other companies to pump $100 billion into oil projects in Venezuela to rebuild its shattered infrastructure. Most companies don’t want to rush into the country before the Trump administration and the Latin American country’s current government offer security guarantees and create a workable financial and legal framework for new projects.

Chevron is looking to see stability in the country and favorable fiscal terms, among other conditions, before laying the groundwork for sizable new investments there, Wirth said during Friday’s earnings call. “There’ll be a number of signposts that we’ll be watching,” he added. “It’ll have to compete in our portfolio versus attractive investments in many other parts of the world. With the right changes, we certainly could see our operations in the footprint expand in Venezuela.” Chevron and Exxon on Friday both reported their smallest annual profits since 2021, pressured by a growing glut of crude that has weighed on prices.  Oil prices began sinking shortly after Trump returned to office and urged the Saudi Arabia-led Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries to boost oil production in an already well-supplied global oil market. U.S. oil prices ended 2025 down 20% at $57.42 a barrel and have since climbed back near $64.  Trump has suggested that he wants to drive oil prices down to $50 a barrel. Some in his administration saw opportunity in Venezuela: If large oil companies revitalized the country’s dilapidated oil industry, additional production could help bring oil prices down further.

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The New Yorker – January 21, 2026

The Battle for One of the Richest and Smallest Counties in Texas*

Loving County, in northwest Texas, may have the highest trouble-to-resident ratio in the United States. With sixty-four inhabitants, as of the 2020 census, the county is the least populated in the country. Control of its top elected positions—sheriff, judge, constable, county clerk—can be swung by a handful of votes. Many of those vying for power are related to, and estranged from, their opponents. Election results are regularly challenged by the losing candidate, sometimes repeatedly; this past November, Loving County reran three races from its 2022 elections.

Driving the long, empty roads that lead to the county seat, Mentone, an outsider might wonder what all the fighting is for. This part of the state is mostly scrubland, alternately windswept and sunbaked. Roy Orbison spent part of his childhood in Wink, a city close by, and got out as quickly as he could. “There was a lot of loneliness in West Texas where I grew up,” Orbison told an interviewer. “We used to say it was the center of everything, five hundred miles from anything.” He once said, “It was tough as could be, but no illusions, you know? No mysteries in Wink.” The area is known for brutal heat with little relief; a town just up the road is called, aptly, Notrees. But Mentone is situated near the center of the Permian Basin, the nation’s most productive oil-and-gas field. As many as fifteen thousand oil-and-gas workers pass through the county daily, and the industry has made Loving County one of Texas’s richest jurisdictions per capita, thanks in part to the fracking boom. Tax revenue amounts to roughly a million dollars per resident, and the county budget has more than doubled since 2020. Many county jobs, including paramedic, maintenance technician, and clerk, come with six-figure salaries.

Yet Mentone has no church, grocery store, cemetery, or school. What it does have is a legacy of enmity stretching back decades. In the twentieth century, several families—the Hoppers, the Creagers, the Joneses—competed for control of the town. When Pamela Colloff surveyed the county’s “spiteful, tribal politics” for Texas Monthly, in the mid-nineties, she found elections that were “knock-down-drag-out fights” animated by “the tangled web of family rivalries, personal vendettas, and enduring grudges among locals.” Some of those clans have since dwindled or decamped for more populated areas. But the habit of feuding remains, though these days it’s largely confined to infighting between factions of the Jones family. “If we had a movie theatre, or a mall, or five thousand people, or even one thousand people, things would be radically different,” Steve Simonsen, the county attorney, told me. “There’s not anything else to occupy people.”

Oil & Gas National & International

Reuters – February 2, 2026

US extends protection of Venezuela-owned Citgo from creditors*

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Energy Now – January 23, 2026

Mexico Weighs Stopping Oil Shipments to Cuba Amid Concerns of Trump Retaliation

The Mexican government is reviewing whether to keep sending oil to Cuba amid growing fears within President Claudia Sheinbaum’s administration that Mexico could face reprisals from the United States over the policy, which is a vital lifeline for the Communist-run Caribbean island, according to three sources familiar with the discussions.

A U.S. blockade of oil tankers in Venezuela in December and the dramatic capture of President Nicolas Maduro this month have halted Venezuelan oil shipments to Cuba, leaving Mexico as the single-largest supplier to the island that suffers from energy shortages and mass blackouts. Mexico’s pivotal role in sending oil to Cuba has also put the U.S.’ southern neighbor in Washington’s crosshairs.

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Yahoo! News – January 26, 2026

The Looming LNG Glut and What It Means for Global Energy Prices

As several countries invest in expanding their liquid natural gas (LNG) production and export capacity, and significant quantities of the gas are expected to come online in 2026 after a record 2025, supply could soon outpace demand. This begs the question: just how much LNG is needed to “fill the gap” as the world develops its renewable energy capacity? Last year was a record year for LNG trade, as exports exceeded the quantities predicted in several industry forecasts.

The expansion of the world’s LNG trade has been led by the United States, which exported over 100 million metric tonnes of LNG in 2025. This was driven by several new plants coming online across the country. The U.S. exported an estimated 111 million metric tonnes (mmt) of LNG in 2025, 23 mmt more than the previous year and far higher than Qatar’s 20 mmt, the world’s second-largest exporter, according to the data analysis firm LSEG.

Utilities, Electricity & Renewables

Utility Dive – February 2, 2026

Gas, electricity prices spiked year over year in November: EIA

The average residential price of electricity rose 5.5% in November, to 17.78 cents/kWh, compared with the same month the prior year, while the price of gas at the Henry Hub rose 88.5%, to $3.79 per million British thermal units, in the same period, according to a monthly update from the Energy Information Administration. Coal consumption also rose 17.9% in November year over year, EIA said, and total net generation rose 3.9%, to 334,779 thousand MWh.

Per kilowatt-hour, 46 states and the District of Columbia saw higher rates in November, EIA said. On a national basis, electricity rates rose 6.8% year over year. In D.C. they rose the most, increasing 25.9%, followed by Pennsylvania and Ohio, where they rose 20.3% and 18.6%, respectively.

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Houston Chronicle – February 2, 2026

‘A vast improvement’: Houstonians weigh in on CenterPoint’s performance in the recent freeze*

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The Hill – February 2, 2026

Courts allow all five offshore wind projects blocked by Trump to resume construction

A federal court on Monday halted the last of five stop work orders issued by the Trump administration in December to block major offshore wind farms, giving the wind energy industry five legal wins in a row over the government. Reagan appointee Royce Lamberth granted an injunction against the administration’s stop work order against Sunrise Wind, a project that would provide power to New York.

In recent weeks, courts have issued similar injunctions against stop work orders the administration issued to four other projects. Monday’s ruling means that all of the orders issued by the administration in December have been halted and all of the wind farms it aimed to block can keep building. “With this decision, courts have now consistently rejected the government’s abrupt attempt to halt construction on these fully permitted projects,” said Hillary Bright, executive director of pro-wind group Turn Forward, in a written statement.

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The New York Times – February 2, 2026

Fear and Anger Grow as Thousands Remain Without Power in the South*

The flurries, for a brief time, fell again on Sunday. The snow landed on piles of jagged branches and sawed stumps, tangled power lines and the tens of thousands of people who have now gone a week without power or heat after a widespread ice storm knocked out power lines across the region. By Sunday, the weeklong paralysis from the storm across Tennessee, Mississippi and Louisiana had given way to weariness, anger and fear about how much longer thousands would be struggling to stay warm and fed without power. At least three dozen people have died across the three states in connection with the storm, officials have said.

Hurricanes and tornadoes, particularly in the South, often cause prolonged power outages, and residents are accustomed to going days without electricity. But it is rare to experience a loss of power during a sustained stretch of ice and freezing temperatures, with cold so fierce that it has left hundreds of workers struggling to navigate icy roads as they try to fix the electrical system. Anger was continuing to boil over toward the leadership of the Nashville Electric Service. The utility has struggled for days not only to restore power across the city and surrounding county, but also to accurately communicate to customers the scope of the repairs and the timeline needed to complete them.

Nashville accounts for a majority of the power outages in Tennessee, with about 33,000 customers still without power as of early Sunday afternoon. On Saturday, the agency acknowledged that it may take at least another week for some neighborhoods to return to full power, with at least one ZIP code predicted not to see full service restored until Feb. 11. “Nashvillians are justifiably angry,” Mayor Freddie O’Connell of Nashville, a Democrat, said in a statement. “It is critical to the life, safety and well-being of our residents that N.E.S. use every tool at their disposal to increase the pace, improve communication and get Nashvillians’ power back on.”

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The Wall Street Journal – February 2, 2026

U.S. Cold Snap Kills Dozens and Leaves Thousands Without Power*

Dozens of people have died and thousands of customers are still without power nearly a week after a sprawling winter storm blanketed much of the U.S. with extreme cold, ice and snow. The storm, known as a “bomb cyclone,” has been blamed for dozens of deaths. Southern states have struggled to recover from the paralyzing storm, with power outages still affecting more than 115,000 customers. At least 60 million people were under National Weather Service warnings Monday, covering extreme cold and winter weather conditions.

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Reuters – January 28, 2026

Regulatory

JD Rupra – December 10, 2025

Texas takes the reins on Class VI carbon sequestration wells: McGinnis Lochridge

The EPA’s November 2025 approval granting Texas primary enforcement authority over Class VI injection wells fundamentally changes who controls permitting of carbon capture and sequestration projects across the nation’s largest oil and gas state. For the 64 pending permit applications now transferring from federal to state oversight, this should improve permitting timeliness and accelerate projects tied to 45Q tax credits.

Texas became the sixth state to secure Class VI primacy, joining North Dakota, Wyoming, Louisiana, West Virginia, and Arizona. The Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC) assumes authority on December 15, 2025.