Texas Energy Report NewsClips
Friday March 27, 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 Friday after President Donald Trump said Iran had allowed 10 oil tankers to pass through the Strait of Hormuz this week as a “present” to the United States, signaling a tentative easing of tensions in the critical shipping chokepoint.
International benchmark Brent crude futures declined 0.6% to $107.36 per barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures slipped 0.8% to $93.72 per barrel.
Speaking during a Cabinet meeting on Thursday, Trump described the development as a goodwill gesture from Tehran amid what he characterized as ongoing diplomatic engagement.
“They said, ‘To show you the fact that we’re real and solid and we’re there, we’re going to let you have eight boats of oil … and they’ll sail up tomorrow,’” Trump said, referring to Iran.
Top Stories
Houston Chronicle – March 26, 2026
Oxy CEO Vicki Hollub, first woman to lead a major U.S. oil company, reportedly stepping down*
Vicki Hollub, CEO of Houston oil giant Occidental Petroleum, plans to retire and is making succession plans, Reuters reported Thursday. Hollub was the first woman to lead a major American oil company when she took the role in 2016. She is among the 100 most powerful women in the world, according to Forbes, which last year named her one of two Houstonians on the list. The other was Beyoncé Knowles-Carter. Hollub has led one of Houston’s largest oil companies for more than a decade, making a name for herself as she steered the company in ways that set it apart from male-run peers.
Hollub plans to make a formal announcement about her exit later this year, according to Reuters, which cited anonymous sources in a Thursday report. The Houston Chronicle has not been able to independently verify the information. Company representatives were not immediately available for comment. Hollub laid out ambitious plans for Oxy to play a leading role in the energy transition. In 2020, it became the first major oil company to announce a net-zero greenhouse gas emissions strategy, with an emphasis on carbon capture and storage. She led Oxy’s $38 billion acquisition of Anadarko Petroleum in 2019. Oxy won the right to acquire Anadarko by outbidding the much larger Chevron. Anadarko originally agreed to be bought by Chevron, but backed out when Oxy sweetened its offer. Chevron received a $1 billion termination fee.
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Associated Press – March 26, 2026
Trump administration seeks Endangered Species Act exemption for oil, gas projects in Gulf
As the Trump administration wages war on Iran, it’s citing national security to seek an exemption from the Endangered Species Act for expanded oil and gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico — a move alarming environmental groups who say it could set a dangerous precedent for future fossil fuel projects. Environmentalists argue the government hasn’t followed proper procedure and they’re seeking to block the move before Interior Secretary Doug Burgum convenes the Endangered Species Committee on Tuesday. The committee, nicknamed the “God Squad” by groups who say it can determine the fate of a species, is comprised of six high-ranking federal officials plus a representative for states involved.
The administration’s exact plans for the Gulf aren’t clear, but experts say the administration must specify the military need that would endanger a specific species to make a case for the national security exemption. The environmental groups worry that a blanket exemption would open the way for the administration to proceed with oil and gas projects without regard for several species including the Rice’s whale, of which only about 50 remain in the Gulf.
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The Wall Street Journal – March 26, 2026
Wealthy Investors Are Targeting Foes of Clean Energy, and They Want Revenge*
President Trump’s sweeping tax law last year eliminated most federal support for wind and solar energy, electric vehicles and other clean technologies. Now, a group of wealthy investors is coming after its architects, trying to prove that green energy knows how to play hardball politics. Their first target is Chip Roy, a Republican representative from Texas who led the push to kill subsidies for clean tech in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. The investors, who include Chris Larsen, the billionaire co-founder of the cryptocurrency platform Ripple, are pouring money into defeating Mr. Roy’s campaign for attorney general in Texas.
Clean energy backers have already bought $650,000 of TV ads bashing Roy, which helped force him into a primary runoff this month. They plan to announce this week that they’ll put another $500,000 into the runoff and develop a list of other races they’ll engage with this fall, too. Mr. Roy’s top Republican campaign rival, Mayes Middleton, is no friend to renewables: A Texas state senator, he has introduced bills to restrict wind and solar power. But the clean tech executives said they weren’t worried that they might help elect someone equally antagonistic.
They’re aiming for payback. “You’ve got to have some fear that if you vote against the clean energy industry, you may pay a political price,” said Michael Brune, a former head of the Sierra Club who now serves as chief executive of the Clean Break Fund, a climate investment group backed by Mr. Larsen, who has contributed $500,000 to the effort. Mr. Roy acknowledged in a telephone interview that the clean energy spending had an impact in the primary. But he said he took their opposition as a “badge of honor” and promised to try to hurt the industry even more. “You want to come after me? Then I’m taking two of your guys,” Mr. Roy said. “We got a good chunk of your subsidies removed last year. Just wait until the next go-round.”
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Center Square – March 26, 2026
Texas Republicans at odds with Trump AI expansion goals into rural areas
Texas Republicans are expressing growing opposition to a Trump administration plan to expand artificial intelligence, and data centers to support it, in rural communities. Data centers require large acreage, a large volume of water and electricity. Last year, President Donald Trump issued an executive order to expand AI and data centers, which is already being implemented. Trade deals have been struck requiring energy facilities and data centers to power AI, including in rural east Texas.
The executive order says advancing AI “will promote United States national and economic security and dominance across many domains.” The order also revokes the Biden administration’s “attempt to paralyze this industry,” it says.
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The Wall Street Journal – March 26, 2026
Trump Says the Energy Shock Will Be Short-Lived. CEOs Paint a Scarier Picture.*
Standing in front of a crowd of oil-and-gas executives this week, Energy Secretary Chris Wright reiterated that the chaos in global energy markets birthed by the U.S.-Iran war would be “short term.” But on the stage and sidelines of a global energy conference in Houston, chief executives painted a much bleaker picture: Financial markets aren’t accurately reflecting the gravity of the crisis, the war is crippling the world’s fuel supplies, and the industry’s Middle East operations are at risk, they said. Wright, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and Jarrod Agen, executive director of the National Energy Dominance Council, fielded questions about the timeline for winding down the conflict in private exchanges Tuesday with oil-and-gas CEOs, according to people familiar with the matter. Weeks, not months, has been their response at recent meetings.
Among those in attendance were Toby Rice of natural gas producer EQT, Jack Fusco of LNG exporter Cheniere Energy and Venture Global’s Michael Sabel. A White House official said the meetings focused primarily on long-term domestic issues including permitting reform. Some executives are privately expressing frustration with the administration’s optimistic messaging and say officials have shared no coherent plan for withdrawing the U.S. from a deepening crisis. They say price gyrations and the uncertainty hanging over the conflict make it all but impossible to plan investments—and that the disruption is already far-reaching.
“What they fail to understand is that daily tweets driving volatility in both the commodity market and the equity market isn’t good for anybody,” said Mark Viviano, a managing partner at energy investment firm Kimmeridge. “It’s just really difficult to make any kind of intelligent decisions in that environment.” Wright delved into the subject of the war about nine minutes into his public remarks at the S&P Global’s CERAWeek energy conference in downtown Houston. He said consumers haven’t meaningfully trimmed purchases of fuel to cope with rising prices; when asked how markets were handling the disruption, he responded that “markets do what markets do.”
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International Business Times – March 26, 2026
IEA Reveals 10-Point Plan to Ease Oil Costs Amid Middle East Supply Crisis
The International Energy Agency (IEA) has published a 10-point emergency plan tellinggovernments, businesses, and households how to cut oil demand as the Middle East conflict chokes off one-fifth of global supply. The report, titled ‘Sheltering From Oil Shocks’ and released on 20 March, arrives as crude oil prices have surged above $100 (£74.84) a barrel following the near-total closure of the Strait of Hormuz. Refined products like diesel, jet fuel, and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) are climbing even faster.
The IEA said all 10 measures can be put into action within weeks and could together reduce global oil demand by 2.7 million barrels per day. The agency called the current disruption ‘the largest supply disruption in the history of the global oil market.’ Around 20 million barrels per day of crude and refined products normally pass through the Strait of Hormuz. Those flows have slowed to what the IEA described as ‘a trickle’, forcing Gulf producers to cut output by at least 10 million barrels per day as onshore storage fills up.
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Politico – March 26, 2026
Schumer rolls out Democrats’ midterm energy pitch
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer rolled out an energy and climate change agenda Wednesday as a preview of what Democrats have in store if they take the chamber’s majority in November’s elections. Schumer’s five-point plan seeks to ride the national momentum on affordability, framing Democrats as the party not just of clean energy and fighting climate change, but of lower electricity bills and more jobs.
It touches on some longtime Democratic priorities — like bringing back the Inflation Reduction Act clean energy tax incentives that President Donald Trump and Republicans rolled back last year — and easing permitting hurdles for wind, solar and other zero-emissions energy sources. “We can bring new voters and allies into the fight for a cleaner environment by showing how clean energy is affordable energy,” Schumer said.
The Latest TERse Tips
Oil prices have been gripped by volatility since the U.S.-Iran war began nearly four weeks ago, but analysts say the market has now entered a state of “backwardation,” with some suggesting a risk premium has been baked into energy prices despite traders anticipating a swift resolution to the conflict — CNBC
Employees at the Grayson Collin Electric Cooperative are set to vote on unionizing with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, seeking better working conditions — KTEN
A federal appeals court in Washington appears unlikely to block federal authorizations to construct and operate a massive liquefied natural gas terminal in southwestern Louisiana — during oral arguments Tuesday, one judge in particular was critical of arguments by advocacy groups that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission should do more review of the CP2 LNG export project, which is currently under construction — E&E News By Politico*
Update: Texas may overhaul power market to handle data center boom — Politico
SWEPCO plans to relocate aging transmission line in Southeast Upshur County — Gilmer Mirror
Gulf of Mexico oil spill spread hundreds of miles, killed wildlife and polluted Mexican reserves — Mexican authorities say a March oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico spread more than 600 kilometers and reached protected areas — KVUE
Constellation exec says grid operator told company Three Mile Island can’t connect until 2031 — Reuters*
The Trans Mountain oil pipeline system is expected to operate at full capacity in April and into May as a result of energy disruptions caused by the war in the Middle East — the pipelines transport oil from Edmonton to a terminal in Burnaby, B.C. — CBC
Arizona is chasing California and Texas on grid batteries — Canary Media
‘Landman’ TV show inspires new class at TCU, teaching students the ‘real world thing’ — Dubuque Telegraph Herald
In oil-rich West Texas, a town of 1,355 is building a $21M sports complex — Houston Chronicle*
Oil & Gas Texas
Albuquerque Journal – March 26, 2026
Oil execs say war is ‘wreaking havoc’ on commodities markets
In a Dallas Federal Reserve energy survey released Wednesday, one oil and gas company executive expressed guilt for profiting off oil prices driven up by the latest Middle Eastern war. Another called volatility in commodities markets “insane” and said the U.S.-Israel conflict against Iran makes planning difficult. “It feels as though we’ve lost control of the Iran war,” said another executive. “If the (Strait of Hormuz) doesn’t open in the next two weeks, we think you’re looking at $170 per barrel and basically guaranteed recession.”
Business activity in the first quarter of this year was up in the Texas-New Mexico oil fields from the end of 2025, the Fed’s report said. The bank reported that its business activity index — a broad measure of the conditions energy firms face in the region — “turned positive,” indicating expansion. The index increased from -6.2 in the fourth quarter of 2025 to 21.0 in the first quarter of 2026. While the pumpjacks keep churning in the Permian Basin, executives expressed broad uncertainty about how the Iran war — and not to mention other conflicts like the Russia-Ukraine war — will impact the global economy.
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Reuters – March 25, 2026
CERAWEEK Freeport CEO says Iran war energy disruptions could delay new US LNG projects*
Supply disruptions linked to the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran could delay construction of liquefied natural gas projects slated for development in the U.S., Freeport LNG CEO Michael Smith said on Wednesday at the CERAWeek energy conference in Houston. The U.S. is the world’s largest LNG exporter and has more new capacity under construction than any other country. Smith said the conflict’s impact could extend beyond oil and gas supply chains, affecting key materials such as steel and components used in manufacturing equipment needed to build LNG plants.
American LNG developers were already facing inflationary pressures before the disruptions, driven in part by labor shortages and rising construction costs, Smith added. The Middle East conflict has shuttered about 20% of global LNG supply after Iran effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz to export traffic. With costs escalating, Smith said Freeport LNG would not proceed with its proposed fourth liquefaction train unless it can secure liquefaction fees of $3 per million British thermal units (mmBtu). Liquefaction fees are charged by LNG developers to convert natural gas into a liquid for export.
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Midland Reporter-Telegram – March 26, 2026
Midland Sen. Kevin Sparks named chair of Texas Natural Resources committee*
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has released committee assignments, naming State Sen. Kevin Sparks chair of the Committee on Natural Resources. “It’s an honor to chair any committee, but especially the Natural Resources committee, coming from the Permian Basin, it’s especially appropriate,” said Sparks, a Republican from Midland. Speaking by phone with the Reporter-Telegram, Sparks said he had spoken with his predecessor, state Sen. Brian Birdwell, “to get his take on issues as he had chaired the committee for several sessions. I feel I’m already ready to take over.”
Even within oil and gas, he said there are issues to address, pointing to oilfield theft, for example. Another is managing old wells, including plugging wells and orphaned wells. He is a veteran of the oil and gas industry through his career with Discovery Operating. “Even in my career, I’ve seen how innovation has reenergized a 100-year-old industry,” he said. As part of his chairmanship, Sparks said he will oversee wildfire response and prevention efforts. Wildlife conservation and waste recycling will also be topics for the committee, including programs to reclaim and recycle produced water.
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San Antonio Current – March 26, 2026
San Antonio-based Valero Energy hit with lawsuit over Port Arthur refinery explosion
A worker purportedly injured in Valero Energy’s Monday-night refinery explosion in Port Arthur has sued the San San Antonio-based oil-and-gas company, alleging it failed to properly maintain its equipment, Reuters reports. The claim, filed in Jefferson County District Court in East Texas, seeks more than $1 million in damages, according to Reuters. Plaintiff Jonathan Jaimes said in the filing that he received injuries to his back, neck and spine in the blast and now suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder.
Valero officials had no comment to Reuters on the suit. However, in an earlier statement to Reuters it said all employees had been accounted for following the explosion. Jaimes was inside the Port Arthur refinery when a diesel hydrotreater blew up, shaking homes as far as 11 miles from the facility, one of 14 refinery operations Valero runs in North America and the UK.
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Oil Price – March 26, 2026
Woodside Takes Control of Texas Ammonia Plant in U.S. Expansion Push
Woodside Energy has officially taken over operations of its Beaumont New Ammonia (BNA) facility in southeast Texas, completing the final stage of its acquisition of OCI’s clean ammonia business and advancing its push into lower-carbon fuels. The Australian energy company confirmed it assumed control following the successful completion of performance testing and handover from OCI Global.
The BNA facility has a nameplate capacity of up to 1.1 million tonnes per year and is expected to significantly expand U.S. ammonia export capacity – potentially doubling current levels, according to company estimates. The milestone represents a critical component of Woodside’s broader strategy to diversify beyond LNG and oil into new energy products, particularly ammonia, which is increasingly viewed as a key hydrogen carrier and decarbonization fuel.
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Reuters – March 16, 2026
Private firms spearhead global shale push as US public operators stay home*
Private energy companies and their backers are emerging as leaders in the next phase of global shale development, taking early positions in overseas basins while publicly listed U.S. producers focus on capital discipline and their core domestic acreage. The pattern echoes the early years of the U.S. shale revolution, when independent wildcatters took the initial risks to prove drilling and completion techniques before larger, more established energy players moved in at scale.
The shale boom helped the U.S. become the world’s largest crude producer and industry analysts strongly believe many other places around the world have similar shale-oil potential. Energy consultancy Wood Mackenzie forecast in late 2024 that non-U.S. shale output by 2030 would be in the range of 5-6 million barrels of oil equivalent per day, close to the 6.6 million boepd currently produced in America’s Permian basin heartland. In the international market, private operators are again showing a greater willingness to move first. Continental Resources, the Harold Hamm-headed producer which helped pioneer fracking in the Bakken basin of North Dakota in the 1990s, has signed agreements in the last year to develop nascent shale plays in Turkey and Argentina. Formentera Partners, a private equity firm co-founded by former Parsley Energy head Bryan Sheffield, has amassed a position in the Beetaloo basin of northern Australia.
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Texas Tribune – March 26, 2026
Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows directed lawmakers to study the secession of New Mexico counties to Texas, the development of data centers in the state, property tax relief and more in a list of his priorities for next year’s legislative session released Thursday.
The Lubbock Republican’s interim charges overlap with Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick’s initial to-do list in their shared focuses on reducing property taxes, securing Texas from potential foreign threats and homing in on potential fraud and abuse in government spending. But Burrows’ priorities cover a broader range of policy issues for House committees to tackle in preparation for the 2027 legislative session. Burrows also created three new committees on governmental oversight, health care affordability and general aviation.
Oil & Gas National & International
The Wall Street Journal – March 26, 2026
Energy-Price Shock Hits a World Already Buried in Debt*
Bond markets have become jittery about government spending that adds to deficits. U.S. bond yields have risen sharply as investors fret over the potential for both higher inflation and spending. In Europe, hard hit by the energy crunch, borrowing costs for the U.K., France and Germany have leapt to their highest in more than a decade. Europe’s last foray into energy-price interventions, during the 2022 crisis sparked by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, cost the continent roughly half a trillion dollars and compounded postpandemic debt problems. The European Central Bank’s Christine Lagarde has urged governments to avoid blanket policies that could strain finances and stoke demand.
But some, like Isabella Weber, a German economist who helped design the country’s price cap during the Russian energy crisis, are nonetheless pushing for aggressive action to stop the crisis from causing longer-term economic damage. The energy price surge is already starting to hurt global activity, data showed this week. “Even if the war was to stop tomorrow, it’s absolutely important to step in as soon as possible,” said Weber, an associate professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. “The fiscal concern shouldn’t be the main concern right now. Preventing inflation and [economic] output losses should be the absolute priority.”
Some countries have turned to direct price controls, which limit how much energy companies—like refiners, gas stations or utilities—can charge. But in many cases, governments end up footing the bill. “Experience after experience throughout history has shown us [capping prices] is a bad idea,” said Ricardo Reis, a professor at the London School of Economics. “It creates an ever-growing hole in the government’s budget.” China this week capped a rise in retail fuel prices at 10% instead of a planned 20% increase, with state-owned refiners expected to absorb the cost through lower margins.
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Bloomberg – March 26, 2026
‘Insane’ Volatility Hurts Energy Production Planning, Fed Survey Shows*
Volatility in energy commodity prices driven by the ongoing war in the Middle East is confounding firms trying to make decisions about production in coming months. “The volatility across all the commodities is just insane and makes planning very difficult,” one anonymous respondent said in the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas’ quarterly energy survey, released Wednesday. Higher oil prices due to the war are driving some optimism about increased production among US oil and gas companies, but uncertainty is weighing heavily on many firms.
“In the quarter ahead, all pricing is uncertain until safe navigation through the Strait of Hormuz can be achieved,” another respondent said. Half of the surveyed exploration and production companies don’t expect to increase the number of wells drilled this year, while 47% said they will drill slightly or significantly more wells. Energy company officials expect the price of West Texas Intermediate crude oil to end 2026 at $74 a barrel, according to the survey. That’s up from an estimate of $62 in December.
The survey was conducted March 11–19, after the start of the Iran conflict caused oil prices to surge. WTI at around $89 a barrel Wednesday. “Volatility has increased due to geopolitical events,” said another respondent. “The second- and third-order effects of this volatility and the commodity supply and price shock have yet to be determined, but the focus on energy security over the coming years should position US producers well on the global stage.”
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Oil Price – March 26, 2026
Second Tanker Hit in Weeks as Black Sea Drone Strikes Russian Oil Cargo
A tanker carrying Russian oil was hit on Thursday by an unmanned marine vehicle in the Black Sea near Istanbul, Turkish authorities said. The Altura crude oil tanker, which is sanctioned by the EU and the UK, was hit by what Turkey believes is an unmanned vehicle, Turkish Transport and Infrastructure Minister Abdulkadir Uraloglu said. The tanker, flying the flag of Sierra Leone and operated by a Turkish firm, had loaded crude oil from the Russian Black Sea port of Novorossiysk, tanker-tracking data on MarineTraffic shows.
The Altura was fully laden with about 1 million barrels of Russia’s flagship crude Urals, according to tanker-tracking data. “We believe it was not a drone attack, but an unmanned underwater vehicle,” Uraloglu told Turkish media on Thursday.
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S&P Global Platts – March 26, 2026
Venture Global-Vitol LNG deal targets upside in 2026-27 spot prices
Venture Global’s latest US LNG deal with Vitol, which Atlantic Basin traders say is priced at 119% of Henry Hub plus $2.80-$3.20/million British thermal unit, is attractive for at least the first years of the five-year term, the traders have told Platts. The LNG deal is driven by expectations of elevated spot prices and favorable spreads versus Northeast Asia and Europe.
On March 23, Venture Global announced the binding free-on-board LNG sales agreement with energy trader Vitol for about 1.5 million metric tons/year, beginning in 2026. “Quite a good deal for Vitol, in the money in the front,” a trader said.
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Reuters – March 26, 2026
Asia looks to COVID-era playbook to tackle fuel crisis*
Countries across Asia are weighing up work-from-home policies and stimulus measures enforced during the COVID pandemic, as they scramble to respond to global fuel shortages triggered by the Iran war. Asia is at the frontline of the fuel crisis, buying more than 80% of the crude that transits the Strait of Hormuz, which has been almost totally blocked by Iran since the war broke out on February 28. No country in the region has enforced work-from-home measures yet, but some have said they are on the table.
“I think it is a good idea,” South Korean Energy Minister Kim Sung-whan said on Tuesday when asked about an International Energy Agency recommendation for people to work from home. The IEA, which agreed a record release of around 400 million barrels of oil from strategic stockpiles to deal with the crisis, has outlined proposals to ease oil price pressures such as working from home and avoiding air travel.
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Houston Chronicle – March 26, 2026
Energy executives tend to be engineers, and engineers like math and models. The easiest and cheapest wells to drill are for shale oil in West Texas, and even then, it takes about 18 months to get the oil to market. We’d better hope prices aren’t still high in the summer of 2027. Ryan Lance, CEO of Houston-based ConocoPhillips, said U.S. companies have already committed to their 2026 drilling programs. “We planned for a modest amount of growth, but not a lot,” he told the conference.
Lance was more worried about Iran’s attacks on his company’s natural gas operations in Qatar and called on Trump for more protection. By Tuesday afternoon, reports emerged that the Pentagon was deploying several thousand soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division to the Persian Gulf. Coincidentally, Trump reiterated his claims about peace talks. Compared to the cacophony coming from the Trump administration, the Big Oil CEOs’ calm and measured pitches were soothing, if you look past the total disregard for the climate or the environment. They were cautiously pessimistic. Many executives said there had been billions of dollars in damage that would require years to rebuild.
“Even if the Strait opens at some point, it will take time to rebuild inventories of the right grades and move the right types of products around the world to meet demand,” Chevron CEO Mike Wirth explained. “Some of those facilities have suffered damage and in some cases, reportedly, pretty significant damage. How quickly that production can actually come back to life is an uncertainty.” The world was awash with oil before the conflict, and perhaps that is why Trump gambled on a short war with Iran. But the Iranians did not fold and played their trump card by closing the Strait of Hormuz.
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Alaska’s moment is here: Let’s finish the LNG pipeline: Mike Dunleavy, Mark Begich
In 2014, the Alaska Legislature passed a bill granting authority to the Alaska Gasline Development Corp. to secure a deal with a private developer to advance the project, recognizing it is too large and complex for the state to manage alone. That is why we have partnered with Glenfarne.
Under this agreement, Alaska maintains a 25% ownership stake, as it did when the project was being developed by producers. However, there is one significant improvement: There is no financial risk to the state. Alaska has no liability, no project costs and no obligation to provide cash or take on debt to reach a final investment decision. In addition, state entities and other in-state investors will have the option to invest directly in the project’s three core components — the liquefaction plant, gas treatment plant and the pipeline. Those investment decisions will ultimately rest with the Legislature.
The project has received its Federal Energy Regulatory Commission certificate and Department of Energy license. The necessary engineering is complete. Permits are in hand. Litigation has concluded. The right of way is secured. The gas is available. And the markets are there — Japan, South Korea and other Pacific partners have made clear they want a reliable North American supplier rather than relying on unstable regions elsewhere.
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Edmonton Journal – March 25, 2026
New pipelines needed ‘without delay’: Premier Smith makes her case in Texas as oil prices rise
Premier Danielle Smith and her entourage have gone south to Texas with a simple message — if you can help bring Alberta oil to market, we’re open for business. “Alberta’s message at CERAWeek is clear: We want to build new pipelines east, west, north, and south — without delay, without hesitation — to supply Asian, European, and American markets with safe, reliable, and responsibly produced energy products,” Smith posted on social media from Houston, where the world’s top energy conference is being held this year.
Smith’s comments came after Israel and Iran renewed hostilities following a brief respite in the Middle East conflict that briefly eased oil prices earlier this week. As missiles hit Tel Aviv and Tehran, the price of West Texas Intermediate crude rose to nearly US$92 a barrel Tuesday. “The demand for Alberta oil has never been higher,” read a statement issued Tuesday by Energy and Minerals Minister Brian Jean’s office. “The world is looking for reliable and secure energy in this ever-changing geopolitical environment. Alberta has some of the largest reserves in the world and we have the most responsibly produced oil on the planet.
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Kuwait Times – March 26, 2026
Europe scales back climate goals to ease energy shock
The European Union may be forced to scale back its flagship climate policies and geopolitical aims as the Iran war drives up energy prices – with lasting consequences for the bloc’s energy strategy. The energy crunch sparked by the conflict, now in its fourth week, has rattled Europe, which is heavily dependent on imported oil and gas.
Around 8 percent of its liquefied natural gas (LNG) comes from the Middle East through the all-important Strait of Hormuz, which remains mostly blocked. European benchmark gas prices have jumped more than 60 percent since the conflict began, to above 50 euros per megawatt hour. That is still far below the eye-watering peak of nearly 300 euros per MWh seen after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, when pipeline gas supplies collapsed.
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CNBC – March 25, 2026
Oil giants raise the alarm over energy shortages as Iran war drags on
A trio of European energy CEOs has sounded a warning over energy supplies, amid the ongoing conflict in Iran and restricted access through the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz. Amid volatile trade, crude prices have surged around 40% in recent weeks, at one point approaching $120 a barrel as investors raised concerns over a potential lack of supply.
Those concerns have been felt particularly in Asian countries so far, with the Philippines announcing an energy emergency, while South Korea says it is preparing for “worst-case scenarios.” Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has asked the International Energy Agency to consider an additional release from global crude stockpiles, with the global energy watchdog having already coordinated the release of 400 million barrels of oil amongst member countries.
Utilities, Electricity & Renewables
KCEN – March 26, 2026
Oncor and LCRA seek approval for major 765kV transmission project
Related: Oncor Electric Delivery is buying land in Ellis County, Texas on Farrar Road in support of Oncor’s development of a substation and switch station as part of its new 765-kV transmission project — see the press release
Oncor and the Lower Colorado River Authority Transmission Services Corporation (LCRA TSC) have filed an application to construct a 765kV transmission line stretching from Schleicher to Bell counties. The proposed Bell County East–Big Hill 765 kV Transmission Line Project, a major infrastructure project aimed at strengthening Texas’ electric reliability amid rapid population and demand growth, is part of a broader state effort to develop a next-generation transmission network capable of moving significantly more electricity across longer distances with greater efficiency. The companies say the line is intended to help support ongoing growth in communities across Texas.
Under Texas law, new transmission projects must be approved by the Public Utility Commission of Texas through a Certificate of Convenience and Necessity (CCN), a regulatory filing that outlines the need for the project, proposed routes, and environmental and routing studies.
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Associated Press/KVUE – March 26, 2026
Investigators find gas utility pipes separated before deadly Mississippi explosions
Separate natural gas explosions in January 2024 that destroyed two homes in Jackson, Mississippi resulted from underground pipes pulling loose from their fittings as spongy clay soil expanded and contracted with rainfall, according to a federal report released Thursday. The first explosion killed Clara Barbour, 82.
The National Transportation Safety Board found that the natural gas utility in the city, Dallas-based Atmos Energy Corp., had detected the leaks before the explosions, but didn’t evaluate them as severe enough for quick repair. The board also found that Atmos didn’t do enough to assess risks and make repairs to its pipeline system and didn’t do enough to educate the public or emergency officials about how to respond to natural gas leaks. It urged regulators to take a closer look at the company. “Atmos has had significant safety shortfalls in recent years,” the board wrote “Thus, Atmos’s multistate operations require broader oversight.”
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S&P Global Platts – March 26, 2026
CERAWEEK: Executives say utilities preparing for more-extreme weather
US utilities are having to prepare for extreme weather in ways they’ve never thought of before, from more devastating wildfires in the West to increased flooding and more hurricanes in the Southeast, executives said March 26. At the same time, utilities are also facing the challenge of meeting increased electrification and rapid demand on the electrical system while keeping power reliable and affordable, executives said during the CERAWeek by S&P Global energy conference in Houston.
“We have to think about extreme weather in ways we’ve never thought about it before,” said Chris Womack, Southern Company chairman, president and CEO. “We need to make sure we are getting ahead of it and be prepared for the most extreme conditions.”
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Utility Dive – March 26, 2026
50 GW of data centers online at end of 2025, with MISO seeing strongest growth: FERC
More than 50 GW of data center capacity was operating in the U.S. at the end of 2025, representing 24% compound annual growth since 2020, according to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. The Midcontinent Independent System Operator region, with 43% compound annual growth, saw the most rapid data center development in that period, FERC staff said in the 2025 State of the Markets report, released March 19.
The other fastest-growing regions are the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, the Southwest Power Pool and the Southeast, with annual growth rates ranging from 28% to 30%, according to the report. About 5,995 MW of data center capacity was being built at the end of 2025, down from 6,350 MW in 2024, CBRE said in a Feb. 25 report.
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WFAA – March 25, 2026
Battery storage for electricity in Texas has been soaring, and much more is on the way.
In February, it may have felt like you had heated your home in January with burning piles of cash. Many Texans were confronted with soaring electric bills after our extended time encased in the January deep freeze. Compare Power notes that about 60% of Texas homes use electricity as their primary heating source. As we have discussed before, when we plunge below and well-below freezing, often the auxiliary or emergency heat kicks on.
That’s those heat strips in your air handler enhance your heating system. When they crank up, your electric consumption and your electric bill can go way up. If your frustration level is also up because of last month’s electric bill, let’s cool down a bit and just be thankful…for batteries. Lots of batteries. Cleanview Founder and CEO Michael Thomas says, “What happened in really just the last one to two years is there was this incredible buildout of solar and batteries in Texas… bigger than almost anything other than China in the world, probably. And what that did was it brought online a huge supply of energy.”
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New Orleans Times-Picayune – March 23, 2026
Gov. Jeff Landry wants Louisiana to bet big on nuclear energy. Here’s why.
Gov. Jeff Landry’s administration is pushing to embrace the nuclear power industry and proposing the state build more nuclear plants, components and fuel enrichment sites. Landry announced the state’s framework for nuclear energy Monday evening at the energy conference CERAWeek in Houston. He’s meeting there with companies and officials from President Donald Trump’s administration in hopes of landing grant funding and nuclear-related projects.
The push comes as data centers and heavy industry are popping up in Louisiana, creating a major need for new power generation. And buyers of chemical feedstocks and other products made here — particularly companies in Europe — are demanding products made using carbon-free energy.
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The Wall Street Journal – March 26, 2026
Energy Capital Partners Proceeds With Caution on Gas-Fired Power Plant Deals*
Energy Capital Partners is looking to make new investments in natural-gas-fired electricity plants but is moving cautiously as asset prices rise in a booming U.S. power sector considered somewhat insulated from war in the Middle East. “Domestic power generation is not impacted by the situation in the Middle East,” said Doug Kimmelman, founder and executive chairman at the private-equity firm also known as ECP. Summit, N.J.-based ECP invests in both gas-fired and renewable power plants, as well as businesses that help make energy infrastructure more sustainable. The firm is owned by London-listed Bridgepoint Group, a private-market investor that manages assets of about $98 billion.
If anything, America’s war with Iran could indirectly lift electricity consumption in the U.S. as more liquefied natural gas plants come online in the next few years, Kimmelman said. Domestic plants are poised to increase exports after Iranian missiles struck large LNG facilities in Qatar, one of the world’s main suppliers alongside the U.S. “LNG plants are very electricity-intensive because of the need to refrigerate and freeze the gas,” he said. “If we’re going to have more LNG export terminals in the U.S., we will need a lot more electricity for that.”
He also said robust production of gas, burned by thousands of U.S. power plants, has prevented domestic prices from rising too much. U.S. natural-gas prices climbed about 13% after the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran on Feb. 28, but have fallen back to just about 2% higher than before the start of the war. Meanwhile, prices in Europe surged more than 50% and remain near that level.
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Inside Climate News – March 26, 2026
Two Wildly Different Data Centers Reveal a ‘Fork in the Road’ on How to Meet Electricity Demand
A proposed Google data center in Michigan is notable for its use of renewable energy and its ability to ramp down power use during periods of high demand. The plan, announced last week, is a partnership with the utility DTE Energy and could serve as a model for cleanly and efficiently providing electricity to a data center.
But there are many examples of data center developers going in the opposite direction, with proposals to build giant gas-fired power plants to go along with giant data centers. The largest of these, also announced last week, is a 9,200-megawatt gas plant in southern Ohio being developed by SoftBank Group Corp. of Japan and its subsidiary SB Energy.
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The Wall Street Journal – March 26, 2026
‘Renewable’ Energy Gives Us a Crisis: Brenda Shaffer*
Every major energy crisis invites finger-pointing. In 2022, the world blamed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine for a spike in natural-gas prices. This time, it’s attributing the energy crisis to the war in Iran. But challenges in energy production and trade because of geopolitical tension are common. The true culprit behind recent disruptions and price volatility is global energy policy. Western countries’ abandonment of fossil fuels left the world’s energy supply vulnerable to disruptions and price increases. For years, the world’s top policymakers have heralded the move from fossil fuels to renewable energy as an inevitability. Despite trillions of dollars in renewable technology investments, fossil fuels accounted for 87% of global energy consumption in 2024, almost unchanged from the 1970s. Global oil, natural-gas and coal demand reached record levels in 2025.
Under the illusion of an imminent energy transition, Western governments and institutions stopped investing in fossil fuels. In 2019 the World Bank halted funding for upstream oil and natural-gas projects. The International Energy Agency’s “Net Zero by 2050” report in 2021 called for no new investments in fossil fuels. The same year the Group of Seven countries committed to end public financing for overseas fossil-fuel projects. The message was clear: Investment in oil, gas and coal was no longer welcome. These policies have inflicted devastating consequences particularly in Africa, where large volumes of oil and gas in multiple fields were discovered in the 2010s. Had investments continued, Africa could have become a critical energy supplier, and the increased supply outside the Middle East could have softened the effect of current energy disruptions.
While the West doubled down on the renewable-energy pivot, energy security continued to suffer. Europe chose to rely on volatile liquefied natural gas supplies from distant regions rather than making long-term commitments to more secure sources such as pipeline gas from Azerbaijan. The U.S. retreated from its traditional role of ensuring freedom of navigation on the world’s seas, a core tenet of global energy security. The Biden administration’s withdrawal from its global maritime security responsibilities—exemplified by its failure for several years to address Houthi attacks on Red Sea shipping and the spillover of the Russia-Ukraine war into the Black Sea since 2022—set the stage for the current challenge in the Strait of Hormuz.
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The New York Times – March 26, 2026
Local Opposition Is Slowing A.I. Data Centers. Wall Street Has Noticed.*
The torrential wave of data center construction for artificial intelligence has seemed unstoppable. Unconstrained by interest rates or labor costs, the biggest tech companies in the world are pouring trillions of dollars into land, electronics and new power plants. A.I. spending is now a meaningful share of American economic growth and the wind at the stock market’s back. But lately, zoning commissions and county councils across the country have been resisting. Unnerved by the data centers’ voracious electricity demands and sprawling footprints, they are denying permits and withdrawing tax breaks at a rate that is forcing companies like Google, Microsoft and Meta to take a different tack.
And Wall Street, which has ridden high on those valuations, is starting to raise some eyebrows. “A lot of the commitments and the build-out of data centers where it’s easy has kind of been done, so you’re getting marginally more difficult,” said Todd Castagno, a managing director at Morgan Stanley. “From a markets perspective, expectations might be, maybe not reset, but realigned with the fact that it’s hard to put a couple trillion dollars in the ground in a short time.” About 30 percent of the S&P 500 is made up of just six companies: Apple, Meta, Alphabet, Microsoft, Nvidia and Amazon, all of which have staked their futures on the use of artificial intelligence. The building boom has also lifted equipment makers like Caterpillar and Siemens, which have enjoyed greater sales to data center projects. Much of the construction is also funded by the investors behind OpenAI and Anthropic, which are privately held.
Regulatory
Wired – March 26, 2026
Senators Demand to Know How Much Energy Data Centers Use
Democratic senator Elizabeth Warren and Republican senator Josh Hawley are urging the US’s central energy information agency to provide better information on how much electricity data centers actually use. In a joint letter sent to the Energy Information Administration Thursday morning, seen by WIRED, Hawley and Warren press the agency to publicly collect “comprehensive, annual energy-use disclosures” on data centers. This information, they write, is “essential for accurate grid planning and will support policymaking to prevent large companies from increasing electricity costs for American families.”
As the data center boom spreads across the country, there have been widespread worries from voters about how their massive energy needs may increase consumers’ electric bills; this concern helped shape some midterm elections in data-center-heavy states, including Virginia and Georgia. Last month, Hawley cosponsored a bill with Democratic senator Richard Blumenthal that would require data centers to supply their own power sources in order to protect consumers. Earlier this month, Donald Trump convened a group of executives from big tech companies at the White House to sign a nonbinding (and toothless) agreement pledging to pay for their own power for data centers.
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The Wall Street Journal – March 26, 2026
Carbon-Removal Credits Licensed by EU Get Nasdaq Backing*
Nasdaq Inc. is among a group of investors backing a carbon-capture project in Stockholm, in what is the first sale of carbon-removal credits licensed by the European Union. The EU initiative aims to spur further investment in a system potentially worth hundreds of billions of dollars. EU policymakers hope a step-up in the flow of corporate cash for removals of carbon can help it achieve its ambitious goal of emissions neutrality within the coming decades. But critics warn that the removal of polluting gases already emitted shouldn’t replace efforts to cut emissions in the first place. The EU’s methodology “will facilitate investment in innovative carbon removal technologies, as well as sustainable carbon farming solutions,” it said.
The Stockholm facility, operated by energy provider Stockholm Exergi, will take carbon-laden agricultural and woody residues and produce energy for heating and electricity, in a process known as BECCS—bio energy with carbon capture and storage. The leftover carbon dioxide will be stored deep beneath the North Sea in sedimentary bedrock and will gradually mineralize over time. BECCS is one of the key methods set out by the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, in its framework for removals projects. Operations for the Stockholm project are due to begin in 2028. Nasdaq, which operates the New York stock exchange, and Dutch payments provider Adyen are among the group of buyers of units in the Stockholm project. The investment should offer a “catalytic impact” to the voluntary carbon-removal market, said Ella Douglas, Adyen’s global sustainability lead.