Texas Energy Report NewsClips
Tuesday May 26, 2026
Asterisk (*) denotes news stories that may be inaccessible because portions are behind a paywall
Good morning! Here are today’s Texas Energy Report NewsClips
Oil prices were mixed Tuesday as U.S. military operations in southern Iran and President Donald Trump’s mixed messaging on the negotiations between Tehran and Washington kept traders on edge.
July futures for international benchmark Brent crude gained 2% to $98.26 a barrel in Asia trading, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures for July were trading 5.1% lower at $91.73 per barrel.
The U.S. military said it “conducted self-defense strikes in southern Iran today,” targeting vessels allegedly trying to deploy mines, as well as missile launch locations. The U.S. Central Command said the actions were intended “to protect our troops from threats posed by Iranian forces.”
Complicating peace talks, Trump said in a social media post Monday that he had encouraged Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Pakistan, Turkey, Egypt and Jordan to join the Abraham Accords aimed at normalizing Arab nations’ ties with Israel.
President Donald Trump said Monday talks with Iran were “proceeding nicely,” although he warned that the U.S. could go back on the offensive if their discussions fall apart.
Earlier, Trump said that an agreement to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, among other issues, was largely negotiated and would be announced soon.
Top Stories
CNBC – May 25, 2026
Oil market at ‘tank bottoms’ in Asia, and Europe isn’t far behind, warns market veteran Jeff Currie
Oil markets are nearing minimum operating levels in Asia, with Europe likely next and the U.S. potentially facing shortages by July, said veteran market strategist Jeff Currie on Monday, underscoring the global energy shock due to the Iran war. Headline global inventory figures can be misleading as much of the oil stored worldwide cannot be used immediately, said Currie, Carlyle’s chief strategy officer of energy pathways and co-chairman of Abaxx Markets.
A large portion of that oil is needed to keep pipelines and storage systems running safely, leaving only a smaller share available for the market. Asia is already close to these so-called “minimum operating levels,” Currie told CNBC on the sidelines of the UBS Wealth Conference in Singapore. Global oil markets have been under strain since the outbreak of the Iran war earlier this year, after disruptions to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz sharply curtailed energy exports from the Middle East.
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KTBC – May 22, 2026
Roy files legislation to track data center water, power use
U.S. Rep. Chip Roy filed legislation Friday that would require the Department of Energy to track and report water and energy used by big data centers that received expedited permitting under an executive order The Public Oversight of Water and energy Reporting Act would mandate a federal report to Congress tracking resource consumption of data centers qualifying for benefits under Executive Order 14318. The Trump administration executive order allows for AI data centers that require more than 100 megawatts of electrical load to apply for accelerated federal permitting.
What they’re saying: “As data centers spring up across the country, we need to be mindful of our water and energy resources. States like Texas have been enduring extreme drought conditions, and as we build out energy intensive data center infrastructure, we must have a clear picture of how much water and energy these projects are consuming. The Public Oversight of Water and Energy Reporting (POWER) Act ensures the Department of Energy collects an honest accounting of exactly how much water and energy these projects will use,” Roy said.
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Rigzone – May 23, 2026
NYSE Owner, OKX to Launch Perpetual Futures Tied to Oil
Intercontinental Exchange Inc., owner of the New York Stock Exchange, is working with crypto exchange operator OKX to launch oil futures contracts that never expire. ICE’s futures prices for Brent crude and West Texas Intermediate, known as WTI, will underpin the new perpetual contracts offered on OKX’s platform, the companies said in a statement Friday. The new contracts will be available on OKX, in which ICE holds a stake, across territories where the crypto company is already licensed to offer perpetual futures.
“Oil markets are critical to the world economy,” Haider Rafique, global managing partner at OKX, said in the statement. Bringing ICE’s benchmarks “into regulated perpetual futures is exactly the kind of bridge between traditional and digital markets that market participants have been asking for.”
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May 24, 2026
The US-Israel war with Iran was predicted to cause the worst energy crisis in history, according to the International Energy Agency. Around 20% of the world’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) and 25% of its seaborne oil supplies were affected. The impact should have eclipsed the oil shocks of the 1970s.
But despite early panic, the crisis hasn’t been as widespread as anticipated. Oil prices have dropped, even though the Strait of Hormuz hasn’t fully reopened. Why? Four reasons. First, oil markets are behaving as if the conflict will be over soon. Second, other oil producers have seized the opportunity. Third, demand for oil has fallen. And fourth, nations have been burning through their oil reserves.
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ESG Today – May 25, 2026
Enbridge to Develop $1.2 Billion Solar & Storage Project to Power Meta Data Centers
Canada-based energy infrastructure company Enbridge announced a new $1.2 billion solar and battery energy storage (BESS) project in Wyoming to support tech giant Meta’s growing data center operations, expanding the companies’ clean energy partnership to approximately 1.6 GW of contracted capacity across North America.
According to the companies, the new Cowboy Project, located near Cheyenne, Wyoming, will combine 365 MW of solar generation capacity with a 200 MW/1600 MWh battery energy storage system, and is designed to deliver dispatchable power, improve grid resiliency, and support greater integration of renewable energy into the regional power system.
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Texas Tribune – May 21, 2026
Hurricane season expected to be mild in 2026, but officials urge Texans to stay prepared
Forecasters at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration are predicting a below-normal Atlantic hurricane season, officials said Thursday, citing the expected El Niño weather pattern which tends to suppress hurricane formation. The agency forecasts eight to 14 named storms, with up to three potentially becoming Category 3 or higher hurricanes — which have wind speeds of at least 111 miles per hour.
Hurricane season starts June 1 and ends Nov. 30. Last year was particularly quiet in the Gulf of Mexico — no named tropical storms or hurricanes made landfall in Texas. In 2024, Texas was struck by Tropical Storm Alberto and Hurricane Beryl — a Category 1 that left millions of Texans without electricity for days.
The Latest TERse Tips
Some social media posts indicate that the price of gasoline is up considerably in Russia, with long gas lines in at least one area, the city of Tver, and gas lines in other cities
A Ukrainian drone attack caused a fire at another Russian oil terminal over the weekend, local officials in Russia’s Krasnodar region said Saturday, in what appeared to be the latest attack on Moscow’s vital oil industry — Associated Press
Automakers are rationing synthetic motor oil and dealerships and distributors are stockpiling as the Iran war diminishes supply of the specialized lubricant that most vehicles need to meet strict manufacturer specifications and protect against engine wear — Auto News
Average power prices in Mexico’s main wholesale electricity market fell 45% year-on-year in April, reflecting a fall in natural gas prices and the rising share of combined cycle gas turbine plants — natural gas, imported from Texas, is used to generate most of Mexico’s electricity — BNAmericas
“Greenland could be exporting 2 million barrels of oil a day right now” — Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry (R), who is serving as President Trump’s special envoy to Greenland after what he called an “eye opening” visit there, “Think about what that could mean. Think about what kind of pressure that would relieve in the Strait of Hormuz.” — The Hill
Frontier Power USA has inked a deal to buy a 480-MWh portfolio of battery energy storage system development projects from US battery storage developer and IPP firm Bimergen Energy Corporation, marking the first acquisition under its exclusive project pipeline — Renewables Now
Will This ‘Miracle’ Battery Finally Change Your Mind About EVs? — a Finnish startup claims to have perfected a revolutionary new battery. Whether the hype is to be believed, solid-state technology is coming—and it’s a potential disruptor for the entire EV industry — The Wall Street Journal*
Fitch Ratings has affirmed Matador Resources Company and MRC Energy Company’s Long-Term Issuer Default Ratings at ‘BB’ — Fitch
Sunraycer Renewables secures $901 million for solar and BESS projects in Texas — Renewable Watch
Bimergen Energy agreed to sell a 480 MWh ERCOT battery energy storage development portfolio to Frontier Power USA –– the three-project portfolio includes two “Texas 10” assets and a 100 MW / 400 MWh project, with NTPs expected mid-2026 — Stock Titan
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Oil & Gas Texas
Oil Price – May 22, 2026
Higher Oil Prices Tempt US Drillers To Turn Up The Volume
The total number of active drilling rigs for oil and gas in the United States rose this week, according to new data that Baker Hughes published on Friday, bringing the total rig count in the US to 558, down just 8 from this same time last year. The number of active oil rigs rose by 10 to 425 during the latest reporting period, according to the data. This is 30 below this same time last year. The number of gas rigs fell by 3. Gas rigs now sit at 125, which is 17 more than this time last year. The miscellaneous rig stayed the same at 8.
The latest EIA data showed that weekly U.S. crude oil production fell during week ending May 15. US crude oil production averaged 13.702 million bpd during the reporting period—just 160,000 bpd under the all-time high. Primary Vision’s Frac Spread Count, an estimate of the number of crews completing wells, rose during the week ending May 15 by 5 again this week, reaching 184 crews—the highest level since last June.
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E&E News By Politico – May 22, 2026
Republicans propose emissions carve-out for small oil producers*
Congressional Republicans introduced legislation in both chambers Thursday that would exempt small oil and natural gas producers from emissions tracking requirements. The “Protect Domestic Oil and Gas Small Business Act” is the latest in a flurry of Republican bills seeking changes to the Clean Air Act. Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) and Rep. August Pfluger (R-Texas) are sponsoring the proposal.
The bill would create a Clean Air Act carve-out for “marginal wells” — low-producing onshore oil and gas wells — so they would not need to comply with federal reporting requirements for emissions such as methane. It is intended to give operators “the long-term certainty that EPA rulemaking alone simply cannot guarantee,” according to Lummis’ office.
Midland Reporter-Telegram – May 23, 2026
Western Midstream eyes revenue stream from produced water*
Three revenue streams support Western Midstream’s growth: natural gas gathering and processing, crude oil and natural gas liquids gathering and transportation, and produced water services. “Brazos is important for us. It’s an important growth opportunity that expands our footprint,” said Chad Unrau, senior director, beneficial reuse at Western.
“That’s focused around natural gas, but we need growth across three revenue streams to continue to grow,” he said. Produced water services will become an important revenue stream, Unrau told the Reporter-Telegram, especially as beneficial reuse becomes more prevalent. “This is one of those unique opportunities like to create a winning situation for everyone,” he said. “The industry has large water volumes. Communities are water challenged.”
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Midland Reporter-Telegram – May 23, 2026
Northern Oil eying billions in asset acquisitions*
Rising oil prices are bringing less-developed oil properties to market, and Northern Oil & Gas is ready. “People are willing to sell in every market (but) with undeveloped potential, it’s only when oil prices are high. We see $70 as the magic number where quality assets come to market,” said Nick O’Grady, CEO. The company is evaluating more than $10 billion in oil and gas assets as well as tracking several high-quality Permian Basin packages.
That figure could rise, O’Grady said. “Some of the majors are putting packages on the market and some are quite large,” he explained. Adam Dirlam, the company’s president, said the upstream sector has seen significant consolidation in recent years. “Integration takes time, so now it seems noncore assets (to consolidated companies) are coming to the market in different ways, either unit by unit or in larger packages.” The company, the nation’s largest publicly traded nonoperated upstream energy asset owner, is seeing a pickup in interest in developing the Barnett and Woodford benches, but the challenge is the cost, O’Grady said. They will be costlier until they are fully developed, he added.
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Financial Times/Streamline Feed – May 24, 2026
Can Exxon Build the World’s Biggest Carbon Capture Business?
Towering steel pipes rise above the Texas coastline, representing billions of dollars staked on a singular, controversial premise. ExxonMobil is racing to construct the largest carbon capture business on earth, betting its future on burying the emissions it helped create.
The energy behemoth faces mounting backlash from Gulf Coast communities and environmental advocates who view the carbon capture initiatives as a dangerous diversion rather than a climate solution. The outcome of this colossal industrial gamble will redefine the future of the fossil fuel industry and shape global decarbonization strategies for the next fifty years.
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Fortune – May 24, 2026
It took over a decade, but NextDecade’s longshot bet to lead LNG in Texas is finally paying off*
The war in Iran and the disruption of flows from Qatar have placed renewed global focus on liquefied natural gas (LNG), which must be chilled into liquid form for overseas tanker transport. The U.S. has emerged as the world’s top LNG exporter in recent years, supplying energy-hungry markets across Europe and Asia. Most U.S. LNG capacity is concentrated along a corridor stretching from Corpus Christi, Texas to south of New Orleans. NextDecade’s Rio Grande LNG is an outlier—located another 160 miles south of Corpus Christi to the southern tip of Texas.
“The geopolitical volatility that we’re now seeing has made people aware of the fragility of our global energy system, and it’s more vulnerable than people thought,” NextDecade CEO Matt Schatzman told Fortune. Founded in 2010, NextDecade is finally bringing Rio Grande LNG online—slated to begin production early next year and continue expanding through 2036, adding roughly one new liquefaction unit, called a train, per year. The first phase of three trains—capable of powering more than 20 million households—is expected to be complete by early 2029. Ten trains are planned in total, half of which are now under construction, producing enough energy for 65 million households.
Oil & Gas National & International
S&P Global Platts – May 25, 2026
Carbon markets face governance risks seen in financial markets
Carbon markets are now grappling with the same governance, legal, and financial risks that have long challenged global financial markets, industry experts at Innovate4Climate during Ecosperity Week in Singapore said during a May 22 panel, raising questions about market integrity and long-term viability. One of the prominent themes throughout the discussion was that integrity now sits at the center of the carbon market, as the market attracts more compliance buyers and institutional capital, with confidence in the credibility of carbon credits becoming essential.
Juan Carlos Arredondo, director of knowledge and policy at Abatable, a member of the Technical Advisory Body for the CORSIA carbon-cutting scheme, explained that within such systems, liability revolves around two fundamental questions: whether credits genuinely represent real emissions reductions, and whether host countries correctly account for those transfers under the Paris Agreement framework.
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Pipeline & Gas Journal – May 23, 2026
Dakota Access Pipeline Cleared to Operate Under Stricter Rules
The Dakota Access oil pipeline can continue operating with stricter environmental and safety mandates, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said on May 21, in a blow to Native American tribes and green groups who fought the pipeline’s route across a crucial water supply for years. A U.S. court in 2020 ordered the Army Corps, the federal agency overseeing permit approvals, to undertake a more intensive environmental study of the pipeline’s route under a lake that straddles the border of North Dakota and South Dakota.
The pipeline, known as DAPL, has continued to operate during the review. It is the biggest oil pipeline from the Bakken shale oil basin and can transport up to 750,000 barrels of oil per day from North Dakota to Illinois. A portion of the line, owned by Texas-based Energy Transfer, runs under Lake Oahe, an artificial reservoir on the Missouri River.
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The Wall Street Journal – May 25, 2026
Peace May Not Be at Hand in Iran: Walter Russell Mead*
Is peace at hand between the U.S. and Iran, or is talk of an end to the war just more hype and spin? Is the potential agreement, as President Trump insists, a good deal that is much tougher than anything the Obama administration managed to negotiate? Or is it the thinly disguised surrender of a Trump administration desperate to liquidate a war the president now privately feels he should never have launched? As of Memorial Day, nobody, possibly including both Mr. Trump and Iran’s supreme leader, seems to know. That shouldn’t be surprising. Both the American president and his Iranian opponents believe that the purpose of speech is less to inform than to spin. Add this to the sensitivity and secrecy with which delicate diplomatic negotiations must proceed, and we have a fog of misleading statements, dramatic but disingenuous social-media posts, and intentionally obfuscatory leaks.
Both sides have an interest in proclaiming an imminent peace. Fuming American motorists want prices to drop at the pump. Mr. Trump’s political allies, haunted by falling poll numbers before the midterm elections, pine for good news. Anxious American allies in the region and beyond long for an end to the war’s energy and trade disruptions. Rumors of peace set financial markets surging. Rumors of renewed hostilities leave traders reeling in despair. On the Iranian side, the rattled political authorities need some good news about sanctions relief to mollify a restless public. Leaders, not unreasonably fearing more waves of Israeli decapitation strikes, yearn for an end to that anxiety. And any result that can be spun as a victory for the Islamic Republic against Israel and the U.S. would provide badly needed legitimacy to an untested, unloved and nepotistically selected supreme leader.
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Politico May 15, 2026
Carney pitches Alberta pipeline pact as proof Canada still works
Prime Minister Mark Carney struck a pipeline agreement with oil-rich Alberta on Friday, presenting it as proof of a “Canada that works” amid a separatist strain in the province. Carney and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith met in Calgary to sign a deal that could eventually move more than 1 million barrels of Canadian oil a day to the Pacific, creating a direct export route to major energy markets in Japan, South Korea, China and India. The agreement marks a major shift in the Liberal government’s energy policies. Under Carney, Ottawa is now embracing Alberta’s decadelong push to expand oil production and export capacity. It’s an effort made possible by President Donald Trump’s trade war, which exposed vulnerabilities in Canada’s economic dependence on the U.S.
And as the Alberta separatist movements flares up, Carney is attempting to show he is listening to the concerns of the province, which has long accused Ottawa of restricting resource development. “Today, is also about building trust in a Canada that works, a Canada rooted in cooperative federalism, where we build together pragmatically and ambitiously to achieve our shared ambitions,” Carney said Friday
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Associated Press – May 11, 2026
Bolivia’s fuel shortages and ‘junk gasoline’ drive a surge in electric cars
Tired of gasoline shortages and skyrocketing prices, Simón Huanca took matters into his own hands. The 53-year-old Indigenous artisan imported a Chinese electric car to navigate El Alto, Bolivia’s highest city, using the vehicle to transport both his family and the alpaca wool for his weaving workshop. He also installed a dedicated charger in his own garage, mainly for convenience, but also because there are only three public charging stations serving the vast metropolitan area of El Alto and neighboring La Paz, home to more than 1.6 million people.
“Since last year, I’ve been trying to get an electric car to save on costs,” Huanca said while driving his electric off-road vehicle through a working-class neighborhood. Huanca is one of a small but growing number of Bolivians abandoning their fossil fuel-powered cars for electric vehicles as the South American country grapples with fuel shortages and a presidential decree that ended long-standing fuel subsidies, effectively doubling the cost of gasoline.
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Yahoo! News – May 8, 2026
Pipeline company Enbridge unfazed by rival oil shipping projects
Related; Enbridge CEO says it’s ‘game on’ for growth amid surging energy demand — ‘The best growth opportunities I have seen in 10 to 15 years,’ says Greg Ebel — Financial Post
Related: Gas giant met with White House about New England pipeline project — the plan to increase gas supply comes as the region’s Democratic governors seek reelection, pledging to both green their states’ economies and address high energy prices — Politico*
An executive with Enbridge Inc. says the company is unfazed by rival oil pipeline expansions likely to jockey for oilsands producers’ business, including a revival of sorts for the defunct Keystone XL proposal. If anything, the stepped-up competition is a good sign, said Colin Gruending, who leads Enbridge’s liquids pipelines business.
“We’ve seen other competitors respond to the quite favourable outlook in the Canadian basin, which is not surprising,” Gruending told analysts on a conference call to discuss first-quarter results Friday. If customers do sign long-term contracts on a competing proposal, Gruending said he would “view it as a positive sign and a vote of confidence in the basin and in the outlook.” Chief executive Greg Ebel said the macroeconomic landscape is the strongest he’s seen in more than a decade, as the global oil and gas supply crunch, triggered by the war in the Middle East, drives up demand for the services Enbridge provides.
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Houston Chronicle – May 14, 2026
Gasoline and diesel prices are taking a toll on the economy, and consumers welcomed President Donald Trump joining Democrats in calling for a gasoline tax holiday. But the biggest winner will be Big Oil. Trump surprised Republican allies on Monday when he called on Congress to suspend the federal fuel tax that pays for roads and bridges. The tax adds 18.3 cents per gallon for gasoline and 24.3 cents per gallon for diesel fuel and goes into the Highway Trust Fund. U.S. Sens. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., and Richard Blumenthal, D-N.Y., first proposed a suspension in March after Trump ordered an attack on Iran and fuel prices spiked.
Last month in Texas, U.S. Sen. John Cornyn — a San Antonio Republican facing his toughest re-election campaign in a decade with stout challengers from the left and the right — told Fox News 4 in Dallas that a suspension “would explode the deficit” and would “not be a solution.” State Rep. James Talarico, the Democratic nominee to replace Cornyn, blasted him. “Every day, families are choosing between putting gas in the tank or putting food on the table,” Talarico told a press conference on April 21. “Politicians say we don’t have the money to make gas, or groceries, or utilities, or healthcare, or childcare cheaper. But there’s always enough money for a new forever war.”
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MedPage Today – May 18, 2026
Don’t Let Big Oil Off the Health Liability Hook: Elizabeth Del Buono, MD; Steven Schroeder, MD
As healthcare professionals, we understand the gravity of our responsibilities. We are held to exacting standards, and we accept that our decisions may be scrutinized in malpractice claims. Many of us have been named in such suits; we devote significant time and energy to defending clinical judgments often made under urgent, high-pressure conditions and grounded in the best available evidence. When errors occur and harm results, we recognize the necessity of accountability.
But consider a different kind of responsibility. What if your role were to design, manufacture, or market products that — according to well-established scientific evidence — pose substantial risks to public health — products such as tobacco, opioids, firearms, or fossil fuels?
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The Dispatch – May 20, 2026
We Can’t Sue Big Oil Out of Existence: Alex Trembath
Since the Democrat-led Congress in 2009 tried and failed to pass a cap on carbon emissions, climate activists and policy entrepreneurs have come up with a number of creative ways to impose limits on fossil fuel consumption by other means. These included the misguided but relatively inoffensive civil protests against projects like the Keystone XL pipeline and the anti-Big Oil #ExxonKnew public relations campaign. But more recently, advocates have advanced a wave of coordinated lawsuits against oil and gas companies and the government regulators who have failed to bring the industry to heel.
These “climate liability” suits have reached as far as the appellate court system. In 2024, the 9th Circuit heard, and dismissed, the famous children’s climate lawsuit that argued for a constitutional “right to a stable climate.” More recently, the Supreme Court agreed to hear Suncor Energy v. Boulder County, a suit filed against Suncor Energy and Exxon attempting to hold the oil and gas companies liable for damages associated with climate change. A ruling in that case is expected next year, with implications for more than 3,000 similar suits filed by activist groups, attorneys general, and other plaintiffs.
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The Conversation – May 21, 2026
In recent years, at least two dozen local and state governments have sued petroleum companies to recover the billions in costs they have incurred responding to and rebuilding after flooding, storms and wildfires – all of which have been worsened by changes to the climate resulting from burning fossil fuels. Most of these lawsuits, often filed in state courts, make a simple claim: Fossil fuel companies knew for decades that their products were harmful but concealed that fact to protect their profits. The lawsuits ask judges to order companies that have profited from the extraction and sale of fossil fuels to pay for the costs their products have imposed on the taxpaying public.
Recently, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear one of these cases, Suncor Energy v. Boulder County, in the term beginning in October 2026. In their appeal to the Supreme Court, the oil companies are asking the nation’s highest court to block state courts from even considering holding the companies liable for climate-related damages.
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Fox News – May 25, 2026
Democrats are powered by high gas prices, forgetting they loved expensive energy: Daniel Turner
Nearly four years after the Biden green agenda sent the price of gasoline past the $5 mark, leftists have found their religion on high prices – or so they say. The Trump administration “needs to stop its crazed policies that cause so much economic pain,” declared former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. “The American people are paying the price” for “Donald Trump’s war of choice in Iran,” added former Vice President Kamala Harris.
As America enters a record-breaking summer driving season and with a midterm election looming shortly thereafter, the overheated political rhetoric from opponents of the Trump administration is predictable. Sadly, missing from the conversation is the wisdom of the economist Thomas Sowell who observed: “there are no solutions, only trade-offs.”
Utilities, Electricity & Renewables
Dallas Morning News – May 22, 2026
Atmos settlement would raise average Dallas residential gas bill by $9.46 monthly*
Dallas has reached a settlement with Atmos Energy that scales back a proposed $11-a-month increase in residential gas bills for the average customer. The gas company initially sought a $38 million revenue increase from Dallas customers under its annual rate review, according to a city memo released Friday. That’s equal to a 10.5% increase for a typical residential customer, or roughly $135 per year.
Under the settlement, the average residential customer would see an increase of about 9.4%, or about $9.46 more per month, according to a presentation for a City Council committee. The average commercial bill would increase by about 6.5%, or $32.35 per month. The new rates would take effect June 1. The memo from Dallas’ chief financial officer, Jack Ireland, comes ahead of a Tuesday briefing with the council’s finance committee. It then goes to full council for consideration May 27, ahead of a May 30 state deadline to act on the request.
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San Antonio Express-News – May 22, 2026
Austin approves $1B to build controversial gas plants*
Austin City Council has approved a controversial plan to build new natural gas plants that Austin Energy officials say are needed to protect residents and the city-owned utility from power shortages and extreme price spikes during severe weather and other grid emergencies. The late Thursday vote came after council members, acting as the board of Austin Energy, discussed the proposal privately in executive session. The council later announced that the item had passed, though the breakdown of the vote was not disclosed. The council also authorized Austin Energy to move forward with wind and battery projects, part of a broader effort to add more power generation as the utility faces rising demand, severe weather risks and mounting financial pressure.
Though the exact price tag is not public due to the competitive nature of the agreement, Austin Energy estimates that the natural gas plants could cost about $1 billion. The controversial proposal came as Austin Energy faces a critical energy crunch marked by soaring demand and cost. Utility officials say the plants are necessary to protect Austin residents and the utility itself from increasing costs. Critics say the decision threatens Austin’s climate goals, commits the city to more fossil fuel use and raises major transparency concerns because basic details — including vendor names, pricing and contract amounts — have not been publicly released.
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Yahoo! News – May 25, 2026
Tesla is building a massive Texas solar factory in its clearest push yet for 100 GW
What if Tesla’s next major energy move was not a vehicle at all, but a sprawling solar manufacturing campus outside Houston? A new report suggests that may be exactly what is taking shape in Brookshire, Texas. According to Electrek, Tesla is developing a major solar manufacturing operation at its Brookshire site, alongside the Megapack battery factory already under construction there. The property is located in Empire West Business Park, about 35 miles west of Houston.
The proposed operation would reportedly span nearly the entire solar manufacturing process — from ingot growth and wafer slicing to photovoltaic cell production and finished panel assembly — creating a vertically integrated facility supported by cleanroom-grade manufacturing space and more than $250 million in construction spending.
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Mexico Business – May 25, 2026
Why Mexico is Less Than 3 Days from a Blackout It Refuses to See: Miguel Medina
Eleven years ago I visited Cuba for the first time. The island was selling what it always sells — beaches, rum, music, 1950s American cars frozen in time — but you could sense something had stopped working long before my arrival: pharmacies with three products, hotels with hot water half a day, hospitals where families brought their own sheets. Cuba’s golden era ended 70 years ago; what remains is the inability to let it go.
In May 2026, Cuba is no longer stuck in the 1950s. It has dropped into the Middle Ages. Blackouts in Havana now reach 22 hours a day. On May 13, the grid registered a deficit of 2,113MW against demand of 3,250MW. The system has suffered seven full collapses in 18 months, including a March 16 blackout that left the entire island dark for 29 hours.
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electrek – May 25, 2026
Musk abandoned his own ‘solar electric economy’ to burn gas for an AI chatbot no one uses
Elon Musk spent years telling the world that solar power was the obvious answer to Earth’s energy needs — that a small patch of desert could power the entire United States. Now, he’s burning millions of tons of fossil fuels to run an AI chatbot that has lost 60% of its downloads, selling the unused compute to a company he called “misanthropic and evil” three months ago, and pitching space-based solar panels right as SpaceX files for a $2 trillion IPO. The contradictions are stacking up faster than xAI’s unpermitted gas turbines.
In July 2017, Musk stood before the National Governors Association and made the case for solar with the kind of clarity that made him an icon of the clean energy movement. “If you wanted to power the entire US with solar panels, it would take a fairly small corner of Nevada or Texas or Utah; you only need about 100 miles by 100 miles of solar panels to power the entire United States,” he said. He added that the battery storage needed for 24/7 power was “1 mile by 1 mile. One square-mile. That’s it.” He called the sun “a giant fusion reactor in the sky” that is “really reliable.”
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Korea News Plus – May 26, 2026
KOSPO partners with Hunt Energy for Texas power trading training
Southern Power (KOSPO) announced on May 26 that the firm has signed a memorandum of understanding with Hunt Energy Network to strengthen its power trading capabilities in the Texas electricity market.
The state-run utility noted that the agreement focuses on establishing a training program for the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) power trading system.
KOSPO said that the partnership is aimed at improving its understanding of the Texas electricity market while fostering practical expertise in local power trading operations. The agreement follows a separate memorandum signed by the two companies in January regarding the joint development of battery energy storage system (BESS) projects in Texas.
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S&P Global Platts – May 22, 2026
States espouse need for increased role at PJM as concerns mount over resources, costs
State officials called for increasing their role in PJM Interconnection decision making as the regional organization grapples with multiple challenges, including resource adequacy in the region. Speaking during a panel discussion on the future of PJM governance at a conference held by William & Mary Law School’s Center for Energy Law and Policy May 20-21, an official with Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro’s office said the grid operator’s current structure is inadequate.
“We want PJM to work, but PJM also has to work, and right now, from our perspective, it’s not working,” Jacob Finkel, Shapiro’s deputy secretary for policy, said. “If it were working, we would not have a capacity market that’s in deficit, and capacity prices that are being capped.”
Regulatory
Canary Media – May 20, 2026
California cap-and-invest proposal would threaten state climate goals
California’s top air regulator wants to overhaul the state’s two-decade-old carbon market. But key lawmakers and environmental groups say the effort will undermine the program — and the state’s decarbonization goals. Last month, the California Air Resources Board proposed major changes to the state’s cap-and-invest program. The system was put in place in 2006, becoming the country’s first economy-wide emissions-trading mechanism for refineries, factories, power plants, and other major industrial sites. Together, these sources account for about 80% of California’s greenhouse gas emissions.
The program effectively taxes major emitters and uses the proceeds to fund climate and decarbonization solutions throughout the state. CARB is in charge of managing the program, and ensuring it supports the state’s legal mandate to reduce its carbon emissions by 40% from 1990 levels by 2030.
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Texas Energy Report NewsClips
Friday May 22, 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 resumed their rally Friday after declining for three straight sessions as investors weighed mixed messaging on Iran peace deal negotiations.
While statements from the U.S. had signaled the peace deal was imminent, Iranian leadership’s reported stance of keeping enriched uranium within their country has raised worries of an extended conflict, keeping oil supplies disrupted for longer.
July futures for international benchmark, Brent crude, gained 1.9% to $104.52 a barrel in early Asia trading, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures for June advanced 1.5% at $97.81 per barrel.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei issued a directive that near-weapons-grade uranium in the country should not be sent abroad, Reuters reported, citing Iranian sources.
This comes after U.S. President Donald Trump said that Washington was in the “final stages” of negotiations with Iran, according to a pool report.
Worries over oil supplies continue to linger with the International Energy Agency warning that as travel demand grows during the summer season, oil markets could enter a “red zone” soon as global stocks deplete.
Top Stories
The New York Times – May 21, 2026
Exxon May Return to Venezuela, Ending a Long Fight With Its Leaders*
The largest U.S. energy company, Exxon Mobil, is in talks to acquire rights to produce oil in Venezuela nearly two decades after it was effectively expelled from the country, according to several people familiar with the matter. The deal would be a major victory for President Trump, who has declared the country’s vast natural wealth open to American businesses. If finalized, the deal would mark Exxon’s return to a country with one of the world’s largest oil reserves after years of legal battles that had turned the oil giant into a nemesis of Venezuela’s ruling Socialist Party.
As recently as January, Exxon had called Venezuela “uninvestable.” After deposing the nation’s leader, Nicolás Maduro, Mr. Trump installed Mr. Maduro’s vice president to manage Venezuela’s economic opening to the United States. The deal, which could be finalized and announced as soon as this month, would involve Exxon signing contracts to produce oil in up to six fields in several regions in Venezuela, according to the people familiar with the matter. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about private discussions. An Exxon spokesman declined to comment. Venezuela’s government and state oil company did not respond to requests for comment. Any deal between these two archenemies of the global oil industry — Exxon and the Venezuelan government — would be a milestone in Ms. Rodríguez and Mr. Trump’s campaign to turn Venezuela into an economic partner of the United States after decades of rivalry. Venezuela has on two occasions in past decades nationalized foreign oil ventures, including Exxon’s assets.
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Houston Chronicle – May 21, 2026
Texas is running out of cheap water, and will need to make salty water sweet: Chris Tomlinson*
Texas is outgrowing its freshwater supply. Communities across the state need billions of gallons more water for growing populations and thirsty industries like oil and gas fracking, computer chip etching and artificial thinking. What happens this summer in Corpus Christi is a sign of what’s coming for all Texans. The price of creating freshwater and keeping the economy growing will leave consumers with sticker shock, state lawmakers recently acknowledged. A draft of the 2027 State Water Plan says Texas will need to spend $174 billion to meet the water needs of the next 50 years — twice as much as lawmakers estimated just four years ago. “The taxpayer is going to pay for this stuff one way or the other, be it property tax or be it fees, or be it insurance cost increases,” state Sen. Charles Perry, chairman of the Senate Water, Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee, said during a hearing last week. “There is no free lunch here, or if they don’t pay, we end up with a Third World state.”
Droughts and floods have complicated life in Texas for eons. The population and economy only began to grow once people started damming rivers and drilling into aquifers. But experts say those water sources are insufficient for a growing state. Corpus Christi is the canary in our coal mine. The city’s surface water supplies are running low, new groundwater wells have disappointed, and citizens can’t afford to make seawater drinkable. In the City Council’s drive to attract industry and bring in new jobs and revenue, it stretched the water supply too thin. Now that the inevitable drought has arrived, the council will likely declare an emergency and impose strict rationing. Experts told the Senate committee on May 11 that while 57% of city-owned water utilities say they have long-term plans with sufficient funding, 10% have no plan, and 43% do not have enough money.
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Middle East Eye – May 21, 2026
Pakistan deployed 8,000 troops, a Chinese air defense system and warplanes to Saudi Arabia: Report
Pakistan has deployed 8,000 troops, a fighter jet squadron and a Chinese air defence system to Saudi Arabia as part of its mutual defence pact with the kingdom, Reuters reported on Monday. The deployments, which enhance the number of Pakistani troops and military assets in the kingdom, began in early April, Reuters reported. Pakistan has deployed a squadron of around 16 aircraft, mostly JF-17 warplanes, which it produces jointly with China. In addition, it has deployed an HQ-9 Chinese air defence system.
The presence of sophisticated Chinese weaponry in Saudi Arabia overlaps with high-tech US-made systems operating in the country. Saudi Arabia has Patriot and Thaad air defence systems. In fact, the kingdom has the largest stockpile of Patriot interceptors in the Gulf. … The deployment of military assets underscores how Islamabad tried to address Saudi Arabia’s security concerns. Reuters reported that the agreement left open the possibility of deploying 80,000 Pakistani troops to Saudi Arabia to secure the kingdom’s borders.
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Governing – May 9, 2026
Texas Energy Pipeline Tilts Back to Gas Amid Rising Demand
A decade ago, wind power was surging in popularity and attracting huge investments that made Texas a national leader in renewable energy. But today, gas generation is making a big comeback, driven by a wave of data centers flooding into the state.
For the last six months, the volume of gas generation in the Texas grid’s interconnection queue — the yearslong waiting list for electric generators wanting to connect to the grid — has surpassed wind. It’s the first time since January 2016 that gas has overtaken wind in the queue, a shift that reflects the policy and economic headwinds facing the wind industry and data centers favoring gas power as they seek to cash in on the artificial intelligence boom. “The data center explosion and their desire for 24/7 power probably excited a lot of gas developers, and that gas queue got bigger,” said University of Texas professor of energy regulation David Spence.
The Latest TERse Tips
US total crude inventories fell last week ~17.8 million barrels (that’s commercial and SPR stocks combined) and on that basis, it’s the largest weekly fall since data is available starting in 1982 — Bloomberg’s Javier Blas on X
Nearly 16,000 Austin Energy customers without power as storms move through Central Texas — Austin American-Statesman*
‘Crush their souls’: Democrats ditch the niceties after GOP gains upper hand on redistricting — Politico
A strong smell of natural gas reported across parts of the Houston area Thursday afternoon triggered multiple emergency responses, including a temporary evacuation at Lone Star College-Houston North Fallbrook campus, according to officials — KPRC
NRG says Glenn Wright has been appointed to its Board of Directors, effective May 26 — his leadership comes from Shell plc where he most recently served as Senior Vice President, Shell Energy Americas, and President and Chief Executive Officer of Shell New Energies, US — see the press release
Port Houston, an advocate of the nation’s busiest waterway, the Houston Ship Channel, has announced the appointment of Amy Rister as its Director of State Government Relations — she joins Port Houston with more than two decades of experience in Texas legislative and public policy work. Most recently, she served as Committee Director for the Texas House Committee on Intergovernmental Affairs — Marine Link
Fitch Ratings has affirmed San Miguel Electric Cooperative, TX’s Issuer Default Rating at ‘A+ — outlook stable — Fitch
Fitch Ratings has assigned a ‘AA-‘ rating to the approximately $297 million refunding revenue bonds series 2026A and 2026B (taxable) to be issued by the Lower Colorado River Authority — Fitch
“Oil and gas companies should tighten valves, close hatches, replace worn and faulty equipment, ensure equipment is well maintained, end routine flaring, and track emissions to know how much gas is escaping from where,” which will cost a modest amount of money and there are investors interested as well — Environmental Defense Fund’s Fred Krupp in an op-ed “Natural Gas Is Escaping Into Thin Air” in The Wall Street Journal*
Fitch upgraded Caturus Energy, LLC’s IDR to ‘B’ with Stable Outlook, citing Galvan Ranch scale and higher liquids mix. Fitch forecasts capex $700–$800 million through 2027; positive FCF supports debt repayment, with downgrade risk above 3.0x leverage — Fitch
BP plans to dismantle its pipeline gas trading team, as the oil major focuses on expanding its LNG trading, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters*
Oil & Gas Texas
The Wall Street Journal – May 21, 2026
Exxon Blasts Proxy Advisers for Conflict of Interest in Fight Over Texas Move*
Exxon Mobil is striking back at two proxy advisory firms opposed to the company’s plan to move its legal home to Texas from New Jersey, its latest clash over shareholder governance issues. The U.S. oil giant says Glass Lewis and Institutional Shareholder Services have a conflict of interest in recommending that investors vote against Exxon’s proposed plan to redomicile in Texas, given their ongoing legal battle with state Attorney General Ken Paxton. They are fighting over a Texas law that requires proxy advisers to disclose their motivations for their recommendations. Exxon said it intends to run full-page ads in major newspapers, including The Wall Street Journal, to make its case. The company, which has been incorporated in New Jersey since 1882, relocated its headquarters to Texas from New York City in 1989.
“We’re not surprised the two dominant proxy advisory firms ISS and Glass Lewis are against our redomiciliation to Texas,” the ads read. “But we are surprised both firms didn’t disclose their ongoing litigation with the Texas Attorney General under their conflict-of-interest policies.” Glass Lewis and ISS are arguing the move would eliminate investor protections established under New Jersey law. Exxon has said it isn’t adopting any elective provisions of the Texas corporate statute that weaken shareholder rights. Investors will vote on the relocation plans at Wednesday’s annual meeting. “There is no conflict of interest,” a Glass Lewis spokeswoman said. “Glass Lewis’ proxy research, including our approach to assessing the governance implications of reincorporation proposals, is entirely separate from our lawsuit challenging Texas Senate Bill 2337, which is a matter of public record and has been disclosed on our website.”
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Texas Tribune – May 21, 2026
In the Permian Basin, AI takes on big oil’s dirty water problem
Underneath the Permian Basin, the state’s largest oil field, lies an ocean of toxic, unusable wastewater that bursts out of rock formations when oil companies extract fossil fuels from the ground. For years, companies have struggled with how to dispose of it. Now, many are turning to an ubiquitous, albeit controversial, technology to solve the problem — artificial intelligence.
In the race to keep up with skyrocketing demand for crude, oil and gas companies are increasingly turning to AI to gain an edge over their competition. AI, experts and analysts said, is reshaping how oil companies handle the saltwater slush, also known as produced water, by giving operators more information about the region’s geography. It’s also providing access to data more quickly and allowing operators to file permits faster.
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KUHF NPR – May 20, 2026
In Texas, high schools bet on a bright future for oil and gas careers under Trump
Dylan Ruiz sat in front of a nearly 6-foot-tall structure, a jumble of pumps and valves that simulate the flow of liquids and pressure changes. He was working through a training scenario on preventing oil leaks during his class on pumps, compressors and mechanical drives at Midland College in Texas. In the oil and gas industry, even minor errors can have major consequences. Ruiz, a 17-year-old senior at Legacy High School in Midland, is one of about 100 students earning dual high school and college credits by taking free courses on the basics of oil and gas production through Midland College’s Petroleum Energy Program.
“It’s a boom-and-bust economy, but you can see the profits undeniably,” said Ruiz, who wants to be a petroleum engineer to provide for his family. As a kid, he and his family felt the bust: His dad, who entered the industry without a college degree, was laid off a few times. But they’re betting on Donald Trump to help usher in a boom.
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Midland Reporter-Telegram – May 21, 2026
Czech investor acquires Delaware Basin portfolio*
A Czech billionaire is stepping into the upstream arena, acquiring a portfolio of southern Delaware Basin assets. Sev.en Global Investments, owned by Pavel Tykac, is acquiring the assets of UpCurve Energy Partners I and II from Post Oak Energy Capital. This includes substantially developed oil and gas assets located in the Southern Delaware Basin in West Texas, consisting of mature oil-weighted production and associated leasehold acreage.
“We focus on investments in commodity-linked sectors, including energy, mining and minerals, steel, oil and gas, and fertilizers,” a spokesperson for Sev.en told the Reporter-Telegram by email. “Geographically, we prioritize stable markets with predictable fundamentals, such as Europe, North America and Australia.” The company’s entry into the upstream oil and gas sector is driven by the company’s strategy of building a diversified energy portfolio and investing in assets with stable production and long-term development potential. “The U.S., and specifically the Permian Basin, represents one of the most established and attractive regions globally for this type of investment,” the spokesperson wrote.
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Houston Chronicle – May 26, 2026
Why Houston’s biggest oil companies are betting billions on the Gulf of Mexico again*
Crabs, tube worms and darkness greeted Dan McConnell, a marine geophysicist, when he rode a submersible deep into the Gulf of Mexico more than two decades ago. The trip marked the beginning of the deepwater renaissance for the industry operating offshore Houston, and its first shift away from crowded shallow waters. Now, it is seeing a new resurgence after years of taking a back seat to the onshore fracking boom as technology, artificial intelligence, and policy shifts have boosted an offshore industry some said was fizzling out.
“Offshore still has a lot of promise,” McConnell said earlier this month at the Offshore Technology Conference, which he chaired this year. “The promise comes through better imaging and better drilling technology.” Crabs, tube worms and darkness greeted Dan McConnell, a marine geophysicist, when he rode a submersible deep into the Gulf of Mexico more than two decades ago. The trip marked the beginning of the deepwater renaissance for the industry operating offshore Houston, and its first shift away from crowded shallow waters. Now, it is seeing a new resurgence after years of taking a back seat to the onshore fracking boom as technology, artificial intelligence, and policy shifts have boosted an offshore industry some said was fizzling out. “Offshore still has a lot of promise,” McConnell said earlier this month at the Offshore Technology Conference, which he chaired this year. “The promise comes through better imaging and better drilling technology.”
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Houston Chronicle – May 21, 2026
Houston’s oil industry is making a comeback in the Gulf of Mexico. Here’s how Trump is helping*
The offshore oil industry is making a comeback in the Gulf of Mexico, thanks, in part, to regulatory changes from the Trump administration. As part of President Donald Trump’s push for energy dominance, the administration has taken steps to boost offshore operations by making leases more available, easing regulations and unwinding permitting processes. As a result, new deepwater and high-pressure projects in the Gulf of Mexico and contested platforms offshore oil-averse states such as California have been given the green light. Offshore drilling, unlike its land-based counterpart, has added more rigs since last year, according to the latest counts from Baker Hughes. Onshore oil rig counts for the U.S. have dropped by 32, while the offshore count is up by 6.
Many of the administration’s moves offshore have been met with dismay and legal challenges from environmental groups, and some state leaders. The latest major lawsuit brought in April challenged the administration’s approval of BP’s Kaskida project, arguing the project was approved without proper oversight and testing of the newer deepwater and high-pressure technology.
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KIII – May 21, 2026
The water is there, but Corpus Christi still needs approval to pump more of it
As Corpus Christi pushes deeper into South Texas in search of water, the city’s western well fields are beginning to produce in a major way. New wells are coming online near Bluntzer, millions of gallons of groundwater are now flowing, and city leaders say the project could become one of the most important short-term water supplies the city has ever developed. But even as crews continue drilling, city officials say there is one major problem. The city may not be allowed to pump all the water it is finding.
Here on the banks of the Nueces River near Highway 666 and Highway 624, water from eight newly completed wells is already pouring into the river some 10 mgd of water which will end up at the O.N. Stevens treatment plant. Another drilling rig is now working on well number 19 at the city’s first western well field site. Crews lowered hundreds of feet of pipe nearly 800 feet underground into the Gulf Coast Aquifer, tapping another source of groundwater intended to help stabilize Corpus Christi’s water future.
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Yahoo! News – May 21, 2026
Gov. Gavin Newsom has decided to declare war on Chevron and small businesses as he tells drivers to avoid filing up at California gas stations this Memorial Day weekend. The California governor’s press office told travelers who are hitting the highway this holiday to “be sure to AVOID Chevron” amid the state’s sky-rocketing gas prices.
Newsom’s Thursday post claimed the company’s “branded” blend costs drivers more at the pump compared to “unbranded” gas. He also posted a map featuring two gas stations in the state, one in Sacramento County the other in Solano County, which Chevron said is run by small business owners.
Oil & Gas National & International
Oil Price – May 21, 2026
Why Oil’s Supply Crunch Could Arrive Late
The oil market still looks surprisingly calm for a system that has spent nearly three months absorbing the largest supply disruption in modern history. That should probably make people nervous. Because underneath the headline inventory numbers, the market has gone from adding barrels to burning through them. And lately, it has been using emergency reserves to help keep the machinery running.
The inventory picture still looks comfortable if you zoom out far enough. According to Oilprice.com’s analysis of weekly API data, U.S. commercial crude inventories excluding the Strategic Petroleum Reserve remain up roughly 25 million barrels year-to-date. That sounds reassuring until you zoom back in. Over the last five weeks, commercial U.S. crude inventories have dropped by roughly 25 million barrels. The entire year’s build effectively disappeared in a little over a month, and it was limited to “just” 25 million barrels only because the market had serious help.
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The Wall Street Journal – May 21, 2026
Walmart Sees Signs at Gas Pump That Consumers Are Stressed*
For the first time since 2022, Walmart WMT -7.27%decrease; red down pointing triangle shoppers filled their tanks with an average of less than 10 gallons per trip at its gas stations. “That’s an indication of stress,” said Chief Financial Officer John David Rainey in an interview. “The headline consumer is reasonably healthy, but when you look underneath, the pressure is uneven.” The retailer on Thursday reported strong sales growth in the most recent quarter and noted that rising fuel prices could draw more cash-strapped low-income shoppers. In this environment, Walmart plans to keep prices low to grab share but could lift prices later if fuel costs stay high, he said. The company also largely left its financial expectations for the rest of the year unchanged. That was a disappointment for some investors, who sent shares down sharply in Thursday’s session.
The company said that higher tax refunds to shoppers in the most recent quarter likely muted some of the impact of higher fuel costs on its results. Meanwhile, higher-income shoppers are gravitating to Walmart’s fast online delivery services and more premium selection in categories such as fashion and beauty, said Rainey. The dynamics pushed Walmart’s sales higher, with U.S. comparable sales, those from stores and digital channels operating for at least 12 months, up 4.1% in the three months ended May 1 from a year earlier. Sales rose in its major segments and online, the company said.
It is a familiar pattern for Walmart. The retail giant has often benefited amid times of economic trouble as shoppers look for bargains. Consumer sentiment in the U.S. has fallen to record lows in recent months as higher gasoline prices have exacerbated shoppers’ concerns about the economy, but wage and employment figures have held strong. The national average for regular gasoline is now $4.56, according to AAA, a sharp rise from $3.18 a year ago. Rainey said the company’s full-year sales would now land in the upper end of its earlier expectations of a 3.5% to 4.5% increase. The company said that for the current quarter it expects sales to increase by 4% to 5%. It said earnings per share would be between 72 and 74 cents, slightly below analysts expectations.
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Yahoo! News – May 21, 2026
One of Russia’s biggest oil refineries erupts in flames after Ukrainian strike
Note: Rumor is the distillation unit was destroyed
One of Russia’s largest oil refineries caught fire after a reported strike, marking another hit to fuel infrastructure tied to the country’s war effort. According to Ukrinform, the latest attack appears to have targeted both a major refinery and an oil pumping station, though officials had not yet confirmed the full extent of the damage.
The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said on Facebook that the strike sparked a fire at the Lukoil-Nizhegorodnefteorgsintez plant in Kstovo, in Russia’s Nizhny Novgorod region. The facility is one of Russia’s largest refineries, with the capacity to process roughly 17 million tons of oil annually.
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Reuters – May 21, 2026
Deep under China’s coal basins, PetroChina is unlocking gas from rocks*
Thousands of metres below its vast coal basins, China is tapping an unconventional fuel source in a multi-billion-dollar effort to unleash new supplies of natural gas and further Beijing’s goal for energy independence. State energy giant PetroChina’s experts forecast the company could produce 30 billion cubic metres (1.06 trillion cubic feet) of coal rock gas by 2035, topping last year’s record shale gas output, which made up 10% of the country’s production.
The push to develop coal rock gas is part of Beijing’s widening effort to diversify its energy mix and reduce reliance on imports. That strategy, along with China’s massive electrification of its vehicle fleet, has insulated it from the worst of the disruptions triggered by the Iran war despite being the world’s top energy importer. Extracting coal rock gas (CRG), which for now is produced commercially only in China, requires horizontal drilling and fracking, a technology that PetroChina, the country’s top gas producer, has honed developing shale gas for over a decade.
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Industrial Info Resources – May 20, 2026
Venezuela’s PDVSA Continues with Refinery Repairs
State oil company Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) is planning to shutter a refinery for a unit turnaround, while U.S. officials laud the role that Venezuelan crude oil can play in global energy security. According to Industrial Info Resources data, there are nine operational refining facilities in Venezuela, including three upgraders. Subscribers to the Industrial Info Resources Global Market Intelligence Petroleum Refining Plant Database can view a list of detailed plant profiles. There are 40 active petroleum refining projects in the country, including rehabilitations, restarts and refurbishments in the country, worth US$238 million.
PDVSA has scheduled planned maintenance starting June 2 at its refinery in Cardon, which has an operational capacity of 220,000 barrels per day (bpd). The maintenance is only for 75,000 bpd. Subscribers to the Industrial Info Resources Global Market Intelligence (GMI) Petroleum Refining Plant Database can view a detailed plant profile.
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Cool Down – May 15, 2026
Berkshire Sold $8 Billion of Chevron Shares as Prices Soared*
Berkshire Hathaway Inc. sold about $8 billion worth of Chevron Corp. shares in the first quarter as the oil giant’s stock reached a record high. Berkshire’s sale reduced its position in Chevron by about a third, leaving it with a 4.2% stake, the company said a filing Friday. The Omaha-based conglomerate, formerly run by Warren Buffett, was still Chevron’s fourth-biggest shareholder after the sale, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Chevron stock touched a record high in March after US and Israeli forces attacked Iran and sent oil prices soaring.
Berkshire bought Chevron stock in 2020 when it was trading in the $65-a-share range before selling some a year later. It added to the position at $124 a share in 2022, around the time Russia attacked Ukraine. The most recent sale occurred at a volume-weighted average price of $182.59 a share, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Utilities, Electricity & Renewables
San Antonio Express-News – May 21, 2026
Texas is best positioned for AI data center boom, study says*
Texas ranks as the nation’s top state for artificial intelligence data center readiness, according to a new industry benchmark, as companies race to expand AI infrastructure across the country. Texas is the state most equipped for AI infrastructure, according to a new data center readiness index benchmark by AI-services and regulatory firm Labrynth. Oregon, Illinois, Florida and Georgia rounded out the the top five. Labrynth develops technology and consulting tools for heavily regulated industries, with the goal of helping companies and governments navigate rules more quickly and efficiently.
The company’s new benchmark examines energy supply, grid reliability, water supply, permitting, workforce and more to determine how states are prepared to support the massive wave of AI data center development. Texas has emerged as the nation’s fastest-growing data center hub, driven by abundant power, incentives and available land. That growth is helping propel Dallas to the top of the global market: The city was named the world’s No. 1 primary data center market, surpassing established hubs in Atlanta and Virginia, according to a report released Wednesday by commercial real estate firm Cushman & Wakefield. The corridor between Austin and San Antonio is rapidly emerging as a major cluster, with more than 70 projects planned between Temple and San Antonio and roughly 5,600 megawatts under construction in the Austin and San Antonio metro areas. The region leads rankings for secondary and tertiary markets.
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The Wall Street Journal – May 21, 2026
The Clash Between a Giant Coal Plant and Houston’s Booming Suburbs*
Thompsons, Texas—One of the fastest-growing counties in the nation is also home to one of its biggest coal-fired power plants: the W.A. Parish Generating Station. The plant, in Fort Bend County, is the largest in Texas and can generate about 5% of the state’s electricity. It also contributes to air pollution in Houston and haze as far away as Arkansas. Now its towering stacks are fueling residents’ concerns about the air they are breathing. “It’s hazy most of the time,” said Sarah Roberts, 49 years old, who lives east of the plant in Sienna, a planned community whose website boasts amenities such as a sports complex, amphitheater and “endless fresh air.”
From her plant-filled patio, Roberts said she often sees a brown haze and believes emissions have made her allergies worse. “Newcomers to the area have posted, ‘Is there a fire going on?’ ” she said. “There are still a lot of people that have no clue.” Last year, Parish pumped out 36,000 tons of sulfur dioxide, 49% more than the prior year. Its emissions exceeded those in 43 states in 2025. The surge came amid rising power demand and a shift to coal as natural-gas prices rose. Only one other U.S. plant, the Labadie Power Station in Missouri, produced more sulfur dioxide. The colorless gas can harm the respiratory system of sensitive individuals, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
NRG Energy, which owns the Parish plant, said it takes environmental and safety compliance seriously and that its emissions are within permitted levels. Just west of the plant, a 4,700-acre community called Austin Point is under construction and projected to attract 50,000 new residents to 14,000 homes, priced from roughly $200,000 to $900,000. A few dozen are finished and occupied. “Watch the future unfold from your front porch,” a billboard reads.
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KUT NPR – May 21, 2026
Austin Energy wants to buy a new power plant but won’t say how much it costs
Austin City Council members are set to decide on whether to pursue a new natural gas power project without a public debate or public vote Thursday. Any discussion between City Council and representatives of Austin Energy, the city’s electric utility, will take place during executive session, where the mayor and council go behind closed doors. Opponents of the plan, including environmentalists and people from neighborhoods where the project may ultimately be located, are questioning both the need for the new gas generators and the secrecy around the council vote.
“They’re literally asking for a blank check, which ratepayers are the ones that will be on the hook for,” said Kaiba White, climate policy specialist for Public Citizen Texas. “It’s everybody who pays an Austin Energy bill that will pay this price.”
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Austin American-Statesman – May 21, 2026
Cheaper power bills or climate goals? New gas plants in Austin force controversial choice*
The Austin City Council, acting as the board of Austin Energy, is set to vote Thursday on a controversial proposal to add new natural gas plants that could be turned on when demand for power spikes during extreme weather or other grid emergencies. The proposal calls for adding 400 megawatts of power from natural gas “peaker” plants. Austin Energy officials say the deal is necessary to protect residents — and the financially strained city-owned utility — from soaring power costs, while opponents say it flies in the face of Austin’s climate goals and complain that some of the most basic details will not be released publicly before the vote. That is because state law allows public power utilities to discuss certain competitive power matters behind closed doors, including vendor names, pricing and contract amounts.
Kaiba White, a climate and energy policy specialist for the watchdog group Public Citizen who also serves on the Austin Electric Utility Commission, said city leaders are pushing an opaque project through in a rush while failing to consider all the alternatives that could keep the utility’s climate goals intact, like more solar and battery storage.
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San Antonio Express-News – May 21, 2026
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton targets San Antonio solar company over ‘deceptive’ practices*
After years of mounting complaints about Texas’ once largely unregulated residential solar industry, Attorney General Ken Paxton sued a San Antonio-based solar company over allegedly misleading homeowners about energy savings, tax credits, warranties and financing agreements. The lawsuit against CAM Solar Inc. follows a broader state investigation into rooftop solar companies that the attorney general’s office says was prompted by more than 100 consumer complaints statewide.
he allegations mirror findings from a 2024 San Antonio Express-News investigation into the industry that documented widespread reports of defective systems, aggressive sales tactics and homeowners stuck paying long-term loans for systems that failed to work as promised. The series was built on an analysis of more than 1,000 consumer complaints filed with the attorney general’s office. CAM Solar Inc. was involved in an asset sale in September and is no longer in business, according to Tania Garcia, owner of CAM Solar 2.0 LLC. She said she purchased CAM Solar Inc.’s assets — including the company name, the gocamsolar.com website, customer database and phone number — but did not assume liabilities.
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American Public Power Association – May 21, 2026
LCRA Commits $1.8 Billion for Power, Water and Broadband
The Lower Colorado River Authority recently approved its largest investment plan to date to help Texas keep pace with its continued growth, LCRA said on May 21. On Wednesday, LCRA’s Board of Directors approved a $656 million operating budget and $1.8 billion in capital investments for FY 2027. The $1.8 billion in capital investments is funded primarily through LCRA’s own revenues and debt, consistent with the organization’s operations since 1934, which have relied on no state appropriations.
LCRA manages the lower Colorado River and six Highland Lakes, provides wholesale electricity to Central Texas cooperatives and small towns, and operates one of the state’s largest transmission networks. The business plan projects that power demand across ERCOT will grow significantly through 2031. Water needs are rising alongside power demand.
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AOL – May 21, 2026
Clean energy more reliable than fossil fuel power, data shows
New data show that clean energy is keeping the lights on and saving consumers millions of dollars on their energy bills, while gas- and coal power plants are proving unreliable and costly. The analyses contradict the Trump administration’s claims that coal power plants are needed for reliability. “Some politicians with agendas are going around telling people we need coal- and gas power plants to supply the grid during cold snaps, heatwaves and hurricanes,” says Ted Kelly, an attorney for the global nonprofit Environmental Defense Fund, who specializes in clean energy. “But the truth is, coal and gas power plants are far less reliable than their boosters admit, and having a diversity of types of clean power — wind, solar, and batteries — helps guarantee our electric supply will be there when we need it most.”
When Winter Storm Fern barreled across much of the U.S. in January, a lot of coal- and gas power plants stopped working. For instance, the grid operator for much of the lower Midwest and the Mid-Atlantic region reported that more than 21 gigawatts of coal and gas power plants — enough to power about 16 million U.S. homes — went offline during the storm as a result of frozen equipment and other mechanical issues. Yet during the cold period that followed Fern, U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright claimed, “Beautiful, clean coal was the MVP of the huge cold snap we’re in right now.”
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Industrial Info – May 16, 2026
Billions Worth of Texas Solar Power Projects to Come Online in 2026
Solar power generation is expected to overtake coal-fired generation in Texas this year, in keeping with the more than $12 billion worth of utility-scale solar installations planned to come online in the state this year. For a while, solar power generation has been flirting with meeting and eventually surpassing coal-fired generation in Texas, and that milestone seems set to be crossed in a big way this year. In its latest Short-Term Energy Outlook, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) noted that since the start of this year, and especially noticeable from second-quarter estimates onward, solar power’s dominance over coal has been firmly in place and is expected to surpass coal’s annual generation in the state this year.
The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) grid covers the vast majority of Texas, and the EIA reports that ERCOT’s 14.0 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) of solar generation slightly surpassed coal’s 13.8 billion kWh in the first quarter of this year, but from the second quarter onward, those numbers continue to diverge more widely in favor of solar generation. Industrial Info Resources data find 37 utility-scale solar projects, valued at $12.8 billion, that are set to be completed in Texas this year.
Regulatory
May 19, 2026
The Railroad Commission of Texas—the agency responsible for regulating Texas’s oil and gas industry—has reported runaway costs for plugging and remediating so-called “orphan” wells. The commission estimates that it will cost $202 million to plug its inventory of orphan wells approved for state-funded remediation and decommissioning, the highest total in the program’s history. (See Figure 1.) Texas is on a well-plugging hamster wheel whose liability has grown with each passing year.
The commission, which was given authority over Texas oil pipelines in 1917 and oil production in 1919, considers an oil or gas well orphaned if it has produced no hydrocarbons for a year and its paperwork has been delinquent for the same period. Each year, the agency approves a portion of those orphaned wells to its cleanup rolls for plugging and estimates its obligations based on the projected plugging costs for each included well.
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Texas Energy Report NewsClips
Thursday May 21, 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 edged higher on Thursday, as investors monitored peace talks between the United States and Iran, while supply tightness and U.S. inventory drawdowns provided some support.
West Texas Intermediate futures were up 50 cents, or 0.5%, at $98.76.
Brent crude futures rose 40 cents, or 0.4%, to $105.42 a barrel by 0809 GMT.
Both benchmarks dropped around 5.6% on Wednesday to their lowest in more than a week after President Donald Trump said talks with Iran were in the final stages.
Top Stories
E&E News By Politico – May 20, 2026
Texas water plan ignores data center surge
A tidal wave of data centers is heading for Texas. Just don’t expect the state water plan to mention it. State agencies have only recently started seeking information about how much water data centers could use in some of Texas’ driest regions. And a landmark 2025 state law includes no stipulations for how to track or manage data center water use.
The result: A draft water plan for 2027 that does not allude to data centers — and probably won’t until there’s a new draft in five years. Conversations about data centers across the country often focus on the massive amounts of electricity that industrial buildings use. But concerns about water are growing as local stress points arise, including in a small Georgia town that saw 30 million gallons of water go missing. In growing Sun Belt states and beyond, leaders are starting to look at how data centers and their need for cooling could affect water costs and supplies, especially in regions prone to drought.
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Politico – May 20, 2026
The next Big Oil? Democrats set their sights on utilities.
A growing number of congressional Democrats have a new political villain in the fight over rising energy bills: electric utilities. For years, Democrats focused much of their political fire on the fossil fuel industry, tying oil and gas companies to volatile gasoline prices. But as electricity bills become a more visible household expense, utilities — and their executives — are attracting more attention. While utilities have long been regulated and challenged at the state level, Democrats in Congress are increasingly signaling they want a role in reshaping how the industry operates.
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Argus Media – May 20, 2026
Adnoc CEO sees long road back from war disruption
The disruptions to energy supplies caused by the US-Israel war with Iran may not fully resolve until the middle of 2027, even if the conflict ends soon, Abu Dhabi state-owned Adnoc’s chief executive Sultan al-Jaber has said. “Even if this conflict ends tomorrow, it will take at least four months to get back to 80pc of pre-conflict flows and full flows will not return before the first or even second quarter of 2027,” al-Jaber told an Atlantic Council event. For the UAE’s operations, he said damage and costs are still being assessed.
“The time it will take to get back to full operational capacity… is case by case,” he said. “Some will take several weeks and some will take several months.” The UAE has borne the brunt of Iranian attacks in the 2½ months since the US and Israel began the war, with al-Jaber acknowledging today damage to Adnoc infrastructure and facilities. Iran has also effectively closed the strait of Hormuz, leading the UAE to seek alternative routes to market for its energy products. Al-Jaber said a new crude pipeline to the port of Fujairah, outside Hormuz, is “more than 50pc complete”.
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Oil Price – May 21, 2026
Goldman Sachs Sounds Fresh Alarm on Global Oil Stockpiles
Global oil inventories are falling at an accelerated rate, Goldman Sachs has warned, noting April draws from inventories had run at double the rate until the end of March. Since the start of May, global draws from inventories have been running at 8.7 million barrels daily, which is the highest ever, the investment bank’s analysts said. “Physical markets continue to tighten, as estimated oil exports through the strait remain at a very low 5% of normal,” they said.
Earlier this month, Goldman said that global oil inventories were crashing and approaching an eight-year low, with the rate of depletion so fast that it exposes the market to further shocks. Total oil inventories globally have dropped to about 101 days of expected demand, the lowest level in nearly eight years, the bank’s analysts warned, adding that while inventories are “unlikely to hit minimum operational levels this summer, the speed of depletion and supply losses in some regions and products is concerning.”
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Reuters – May 21, 2026
Texas cuts gas use as ERCOT clean power momentum keeps growing*
The share of natural gas within the power generation mix of the state of Texas has fallen to multi-year lows so far this year as clean energy sources continue to crowd out fossil fuels within the top U.S. oil and gas production hub. Natural gas-fired power plants generated less than 35% of all utility-supplied electricity in the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) power system so far in 2026, data from ERCOT and the U.S. Energy Information Administration shows.
That gas share compares to over 40% just two years ago, and reflects the rapid pace of clean power growth within the largest power-producing state in the country. An 11% jump in combined output from Texas’s solar and wind farms during January 1 through May 19 compared to the same period in 2025 has been the main driver of clean power growth in ERCOT. Solar power output registered a 27% surge to a record 27 million MWh, while wind output has climbed 5% to nearly 51 million MWh, ERCOT data compiled by EIA shows.
The Latest TERse Tips
Ukrainian drones struck Russia’s Rosneft-owned Syzran oil refinery in Samara region overnight, Ukrainian military and President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said at 4 am ET Thursday — Reuters*
As the summer driving season moves in, AAA is showing a national average of $4.53 for a gallon of regular gas
Dallas Morning News recommends Wright in the Republican primary runoff for railroad commissioner — Dallas Morning News*
Fort Worth Star-Telegram recommends Wright — Fort Worth Star-Telegram* — Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and House Speaker Dustin Burrows have all backed Wright
S&P Global Ratings revised the outlook to negative from stable and affirmed its ‘AA’ long-term rating on the city of Corpus Christi, Texas’ general obligation bonds, certificates of obligation, and limited-tax notes outstanding — S&P Global
China’s Xi Jinping and Russia’s Vladimir Putin hailed their friendship and growing energy trade during their Beijing visit on Wednesday, coming on the heels of President Donald Trump’s visit to China last week — KTXS
UAE says new pipeline that will bypass Strait of Hormuz is nearly 50% complete — CNBC
US military boards Iranian-flagged oil tanker suspected of trying to breach blockade — Associated Press/KSAT
A large fire at what appeared to be a tank battery south of State Highway 1788 sent heavy black smoke into the sky Wednesday afternoon as rain moved through parts of the Permian Basin — KMID
The Rise of ‘DEXIT’: Why Corporations are Swapping Delaware for Texas — Texas Lawbook
Oil & Gas Texas
E&E News By Politico – May 120, 2026
Interior rakes in $4B in Texas, New Mexico oil and gas lease sale*
Related: Devon Energy accounted for more than half of a record $4 billion sale of oil and gas drilling rights on federal lands in New Mexico and Texas held by the Trump administration on Wednesday, according to the U.S. Bureau of Land Management — Reuters*
Note: The Bureau of Land Management Monday opened a 30-day public comment period to receive public input on plans to include 41 oil and gas parcels totaling 2,794 acres in the Wayne National Forest located in southeastern Ohio in a September 2026 sale. This is the first lease sale held in Wayne National Forest since March 2017. The comment period ends June 17 — see the press release
The Interior Department said Wednesday it had generated more than $4 billion in revenue in a major oil and gas lease sale across some of the nation’s most lucrative acres in the Southwest. Interior’s Bureau of Land Management leased all 74 parcels it had put up for auction across parts of New Mexico and Texas, totaling 33,530 acres. The area offered is in the most prolific region for U.S. oil production that has continuously grown for nearly two decades. Winning bids and rental payments totaled $4,007,944,870, the department said.
The Trump administration has moved aggressively to try to boost oil and gas drilling in the United States, especially as the war in Iran crimps global supplies and raises prices. But with U.S. crude production already at record levels and future oil prices uncertain, the results have been mixed. Wednesday’s sale continues a string of successful onshore auctions, including a record sale in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska in March. But the administration has struggled to drum up industry interest in offshore acres, and companies already holding leases have largely spurned calls to ramp up drilling.
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“With Jim Wright’s leadership, Texas will remain number one in oil and gas production,” Abbott said. “It is essential for Texas to remain the economic powerhouse that we are, and we need proven leadership like Jim Wright.” French, former chairman of the Tarrant County Republican Party, did not respond to a text message or phone call seeking comment on Abbott’s comments. French’s campaign has rarely touched on oil and gas regulation in his campaign. Instead, he has drawn scrutiny for anti-Muslim comments, antisemitic and other inflammatory comments.
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KUT NPR – May 20, 2026
Bo French talks more about DEI than oil and gas. But he could soon regulate the industry in Texas.
When Jim Wright first ran to lead the Texas Railroad Commission in 2020, he had the backing of Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, the two most prominent Republicans in Texas, and an endorsement from President Donald Trump. Those endorsements, and Wright’s experience in the oil and gas industry, which the Railroad Commission regulates, should have made him the favored Republican in this year’s election for the head of the three-person commission.
But Wright is now in a runoff election with Bo French, a far-right candidate who has spoken more about Islam and diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, initiatives on the campaign trail than the energy industry, turning an often overlooked statewide race into a gauge on what it takes to win statewide office in Texas in 2026.
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Reuters – May
Alaska LNG secures supply deal with ConocoPhillips for pipeline project
Glenfarne’s Alaska LNG said on Monday it had signed a long-term natural gas supply deal with ConocoPhillips and that it now had agreements for enough volumes to support a final investment decision for Phase One of its project and meet Alaska’s in-state natural gas needs. The company said the 30-year agreement would supply natural gas produced on Alaska’s North Slope for Phase One of the Alaska LNG project.
Phase One includes a 739-mile, 42-inch pipeline to transport natural gas to Alaska consumers as the state faces looming supply shortfalls from declining Cook Inlet production. Phase Two would add LNG export facilities in Nikiski.
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Reuters – May 20, 2026
Iran war boosts US shale oil but only so much: Ron Bousso*
U.S. shale oil drillers have responded rapidly to the surge in crude prices since the start of the Iran war by ramping up production, but output gains are likely to be far more constrained than in the previous shale boom. The loss of around 13% of the world’s oil supplies due to the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz following the outbreak of the war on February 28 has been a boon for the U.S. oil industry. Benchmark U.S. crude prices have risen roughly 60% since then, to around $107 a barrel.
U.S. crude exports have also soared by over 60% from pre-war levels to a record high of nearly 6.5 million barrels per day last month, according to the Energy Information Administration. That has helped plug a significant supply shortfall in Asia and Europe, reinforcing the United States’ role as the world’s new swing producer. U.S. oil production has jumped in recent weeks, reversing the steady decline seen at the beginning of this year. Production rose to 13.7 million bpd, as of May 8, from 13.6 million bpd a week earlier, EIA data showed.
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KTBC – May 20, 2026
Bastrop County residents concerned about proposed gas pipeline running through their properties
Several Bastrop County residents are worried about a proposed gas pipeline running through their properties. F.L. Meyer has lived on Lower Elgin Road for three decades. He got a letter in April about a proposed 36-inch gas pipeline that would run through his property. He says that was the only notice he received about it. He says the pipeline would take up about four of his 16 acres.
“It would lower the value of my property. I’d never be able to sell it. We wanted to someday, when I die, my three boys talked about probably subdividing it. It’ll make it where it isn’t even profitable. If you go to sell, who’ll buy the property with the pipeline on it, with a 36-inch gas line?” Meyer said. The notice says the company, MPH Bastrop Lateral, needs to survey properties along the proposed route.
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Midland Reporter Telegram – May 20, 2026
Energy CEO urges Permian Basin industry to advocate for oil and gas*
Mike Howard has spent 15 years building his company, Howard Energy Partners, into an energy infrastructure company with operations in four states and Mexico. “I won’t go public,” the chairman and CEO told members of the Natural Gas Society of the Permian Basin. “I’m not going to focus on next quarter earnings. I’m going to focus on the next five to 10 years.”
He is also, he said, “not embarrassed to be an energy company. I want to educate people about how energy is necessary.” When people think about energy, they think Big Oil, he said. “Yes, profit is good, but we also need to figure out a way to get more energy to the world. Energy is the cure for poverty,” he said. He said 3 billion of the world’s 8 billion people still use wood and dung for energy. The use of wood and coal for energy continues to set records, Howard added. “That will continue until we get more people out of poverty,” he said. “That’s why I think the way I think. That’s why I’m so passionate.”
Oil & Gas National & International
Bloomberg – May 19, 2026
Oil & Gas M&A Heats Up With $20 Billion of Assets in Play*
Buyout shops are finding a rare exit opportunity in the US oil patch. US private equity firms are shopping more than half-dozen closely held oil and gas companies in Texas, Colorado and elsewhere that together are worth about $20 billion, after the Iran War pushed crude above $100 a barrel. That’s spurred long-time energy players to bring choice fossil fuels holdings to market. EnCap Investments, one of the busiest oil and gas-focused private equity firms in Houston, is seeking $2 billion for Ridge Runner, which operates in the Permian Basin of West Texas and New Mexico, according to people familiar with the matter. Quantum Capital Group has separately picked advisers to sell Bison Oil and Gas, an operator in the Denver-Julesburg Basin. It’s looking to get a valuation of more than $3 billion for the company, said the people, who asked to not be identified because the details aren’t public.
Elsewhere, Greenbelt Capital Partners is exploring a sale of TRP Energy that could value the Permian Basin oil and gas explorer at more than $3 billion, the people said. Representatives for all three investment firms declined to comment. The activity underscores one potential bright spot for US private equity, which has been struggling in recent years to sell or take public their holdings, after paying top-of-the-market prices during the post-Covid M&A boom. The industry is sitting on 32,000 unsold companies worth $3.8 trillion while the average holding period for assets has stretched to around seven years, according to Bain & Co.’s most recent private equity industry outlook. The exit market in oil and gas has ratcheted up since the war in Iran effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz in February, sending crude prices up more than 50%. That’s a potential boon for the private equity firms that invest heavily in oil and gas, a sector that’s been fairly brutal to Wall Street firms through the decades.
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S&P Global Platts – May 20, 2026
Duration of Strait of Hormuz crisis ‘critical’ for global gas market: IGU
The duration of the current disruption to LNG supply via the Strait of Hormuz will be “critical” to the global gas market, the International Gas Union said in its latest annual gas pricing survey published May 20. In the closely watched report, the IGU said the curtailment of Qatari and UAE LNG capacity due to the Strait of Hormuz crisis had “dramatically” altered the outlook for global balances.
“The duration of this crisis is critical,” the IGU said. “If a realistic political agreement can be reached between the warring parties, then the process of recovery will begin at pace,” it said. “On the other hand, in the event of a protracted disruption, a return to the supply growth model looks more difficult.”
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Reuters – May 20, 2026
Oil refining at a standstill in central Russia after Ukrainian drone strikes, sources say*
Virtually all major oil refineries in central Russia have been forced to halt or scale back fuel output following Ukrainian drone attacks in recent days, according to official data and sources. Moscow already introduced gasoline exports ban starting from April until the end of July. The combined capacity of refineries that have fully or partially halted operations exceeds 83 million metric tons per year, or around 238,000 tons per day. That accounts for around one quarter of Russia’s total refining capacity, according to data and sources who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The combined share of the refineries in Russia’s fuel output is over 30% for gasoline and about 25% for diesel. Russia’s energy ministry did not reply to a request for comment. Ukraine has stepped up drone attacks on Russia’s energy infrastructure, doubling the number of oil refineries targeted since the start of the year, according to various posts on social media by Russian officials.
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Reuters – May 21, 2026
US energy storage additions hit a first-quarter record, report shows*
U.S. energy storage developers installed 9.7 gigawatt-hours of new capacity in the first quarter of 2026, marking a record high for the quarter, an industry report showed on Thursday. Energy storage capacity grew 32% in the quarter from a year ago despite federal actions the industry says are slowing clean energy development, the report by the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) and Benchmark Mineral Intelligence said.
The SEIA said the demand is being driven by data centers, volatile electricity prices and disruptions to global gas and gas turbine supplies. Major technology companies, including Google and Meta, have announced deals this year to procure tens of thousands of megawatt-hours of storage to power data centers needed to run AI technologies. The solar industry faces tariff pressures and a freeze on approvals for major projects under the Trump administration, as part of an agenda focused on oil, gas, coal and nuclear energy.
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Bloomberg – March 19, 2026
World Underestimating Iran War Impact on LNG, Says Woodside*
The world is underestimating how long the impact of the Iran war will last on global supply of liquefied natural gas, according to Australia’s top exporter of the fuel. “I don’t think markets and consumers and society are yet fully appreciating it, and there’s a belief that things will return to normal at some soon point,” Liz Westcott, chief executive officer at Woodside Energy Group Ltd., said on the sidelines of the Australian Energy Producers Conference in Adelaide.
The near-closure of the Strait of Hormuz since the US and Israel began strikes on Iran in late February has choked a fifth of global LNG supply. While spot gas prices in Asia and Europe are up more than 60% over pre-war levels, they’ve moderated from the highs of March and are far lower than in 2022, after Russia invaded Ukraine.
Utilities, Electricity & Renewables
Yahoo! News – May 20, 2026
Developer behind $10B Fort Worth data center ‘considering’ Parker County site
Black Mountain, a Fort Worth-based energy consortium developing a $10 billion data center in Fort Worth, is considering Parker County for a data center after purchasing over 2,000 acres just outside the Weatherford city limits — and applying to operate natural gas turbines to power a data center in the same area. In 2025, according to the Parker County Appraisal District, Black Mountain purchased land worth over $57 million in assessed value near Azle Highway and Pearson Ranch Road, roughly seven miles northeast of downtown Weatherford. The sale prices for the land were not available.
Black Mountain CEO Rhett Bennett said Tuesday that the company was considering a “potential” data center site in the area. “We are evaluating many sites, only a fraction of which actually make it all the way through development and become an operational project,” Bennett said.
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KDAF – May 20, 2026
Texas metros rank for electricity grid stress as demand rises
A new study by Payless Power indicates that several smaller Texas cities are projected to experience greater summer electricity grid stress in 2026 compared to the state’s largest metropolitan areas. The “2026 Texas Summer Power Index” ranked 26 Texas metros based on factors related to peak summer electricity demand.
The study was conducted as Texas prepares for another summer of triple-digit temperatures and increasing electricity demand, raising concerns about grid reliability. The index evaluated cities based on population growth, the age of housing stock and access to central air conditioning. Sherman-Denison was identified as the most summer grid-stressed metro in Texas, surpassing major cities like Houston, Dallas-Fort Worth, San Antonio and Austin.
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Austin American-Statesman – May 20, 2026
Austin weighs potential data center crackdown amid massive development growth*
Austin leaders are considering a crackdown on data center development amid concerns about how artificial intelligence infrastructure will impact the city’s supply of power and water. Mayor Kirk Watson and four City Council members are asking the city manager to evaluate whether new large-scale data centers should be allowed within city limits and how future development should be handled. They’ve given the city manager until July to bring an item to the City Council.
Austin is just one of the local governments in Texas researching the potential impacts of data centers in their communities and several counties are weighing potential moratoriums despite questions about whether they have the legal authority to do so. Hill County, in rural North Texas, recently approved a one-year pause on data center construction. With the rapid expansion of artificial intelligence, Texas has become the country’s fastest-growing data center market, drawing developers with available power capacity, incentives and open land for the facilities.
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Austin Free Press – May 19, 2026
Austin Peaker Debate: Reliability, Equity and Climate Collide
After hearing a presentation from Austin Energy, the Austin Electric Utility Commission voted 8-3 earlier this month to recommend adding new natural gas-powered peaking units, or “peakers,” to the city’s energy mix — a decision that heads to the Austin City Council for a final vote Thursday. The recommendation for action puts city leaders at the center of a high-stakes tradeoff with growing scrutiny: While peakers can prevent blackouts and stabilize costs during extreme demand, they also rely on fossil fuels that worsen air quality and climate change — and community leaders say the process behind the proposal lacks transparency and risks further burdening historically marginalized communities.
All 10 of the city’s current peakers are in East Austin in largely African American and Hispanic neighborhoods. With no details forthcoming from Austin Energy about the location of proposed peaker units, community leaders are concerned that the city will steer them to East Austin.
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San Antonio Express-News – May 20, 2026
CPS Energy’s 120-megawatt battery project aims to strengthen San Antonio’s grid*
CPS Energy is charging its portfolio with a new battery energy storage system on the Southeast Side as the utility looks to boost its grid reliability. Construction began this week on the project, which is a collaboration with San Antonio-based OCI Energy. The 120-megawatt Alamo City Battery Energy Storage System, or BESS, will be able to inject power onto the grid for more than four hours at a time once it begins operating in 2027.
“Energy storage is a critical component of how we prepare for the future,” CPS Energy CEO Rudy Garza said. “Projects like Alamo City BESS give us the flexibility to meet growing demand, integrate more diverse energy resources, and ensure our community has reliable power when it matters most.” The utility plans to tap the new battery site when the grid is under pressure, providing critical support during periods of peak demand. Utility-scale batteries act like a sponge, absorbing excess energy when demand is low and releasing it back onto the grid in times of need.
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San Antonio Express-News – May 20, 2026
Texas leads the way as nation adds record amount of battery storage*
A record amount of battery energy storage was installed nationwide during the first quarter of the year, with Texas playing a key role in the surge, according to a Solar Energy Industries Association report. Texas is installing more utility-scale storage than any other state, accounting for 27% of the growth. The added storage is capable of generating 2.7 gigawatts over an hour — enough to power 675,000 homes during a sunny day. The next closest states were Arizona, which added enough storage to produce 940 megawatts over an hour, and California, with 936 megawatts over an hour.
“Texas is really one of the leaders,” said Joan White, the association’s senior director of storage and interconnection policy. “I think it’s because, partially following Winter Storm Uri, there’s a high interest in maintaining reliability. Texas has needed major energy resources to come online in a short amount of time to keep the lights on.” San Antonio’s CPS Energy forecasts that its peak demand could quadruple as data centers flock to the state. The city-owned utility has been actively expanding storage in its portfolio, which currently accounts for nearly 5% of its total generation. Its latest project, a 120-megawatt energy storage system in partnership with San Antonio-based OCI Energy, started construction this week on the Southeast Side.
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Temple Daily Telegram – May 20, 2026
Texas AG commissioner calls for data center moratorium, Rep. Hickland raises questions
Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller called for a statewide moratorium on new hyperscale data centers as opposition grows over the industry’s impact on the electric grid, water supplies and agricultural land. The debate reflects a growing clash over Texas’ rapid expansion of artificial intelligence infrastructure.
Supporters say data centers bring tax revenue, infrastructure investment and national security benefits. Critics argue the facilities consume massive amounts of electricity and water, accelerate farmland loss and benefit from taxpayer-backed incentives while rural communities absorb the strain.
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E&E News By Politico – May 20, 2026
A new mega-utility is at ground zero for AI. Here’s what could happen.
Few energy companies have navigated the Trump era like NextEra Energy. The White House selected the Florida-based power giant to build a pair of massive natural gas plants in Pennsylvania and Texas in March, as part of a wider $550 billion trade deal with Japan. But even as NextEra embraced President Donald Trump’s call for more gas, its executives made clear during their quarterly appearances before financial analysts that they believed renewables and batteries are the quickest ways to meet soaring energy demands from data centers.
Now, NextEra’s proposed $67 billion merger with Virginia-based Dominion Energy stands to test those competing strategies on the front lines of artificial intelligence. The deal would create a super utility with a market capitalization on par with some of the country’s largest oil companies. It would also give NextEra a foothold in one of the country’s fastest-growing data center markets and see it take over construction of the largest offshore wind project in America — the very industry that has drawn Trump’s ire.
Regulatory
The Express US – May 15, 2026
Scientists no longer believe the most apocalyptic climate scenario will happen
The feared doomsday may no longer be on the horizon, as climate scientists dismiss the most apocalyptic scenario as “implausible.” The world’s top climate modelers offered an update on the scientific scenarios that are used to explore and predict the future evolution of Earth’s climate. The scientists have now ruled out the most apocalyptic worst-case scenario, citing trends in renewable energy, emerging climate policy, and recent emissions data. It comes after it emerged Stephen Hawking predicted the exact date of the apocalypse.
In 2010, climate scientists predicted that the most catastrophic climate scenario could be a rise of about 4.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels by 2100. However, the modelers no longer believe that the feared scenario is likely. According to a study in the journal Geoscientific Model Development, the high-emissions scenario predicts 3.5 degrees Celsius of warming by 2100. The updated climate scenarios were developed by the Scenario Model Intercomparison Project (ScenarioMIP), an international committee comprising 20 scientific experts.
The researchers wrote that the climate scenarios are critical to climate change analysis as different research communities can use the data to “explore potential future avenues of socio-economic conditions, assess the effects of different drivers of climate change, characterize future climatic conditions, and assess impacts of climate change as well as adaptation and mitigation responses.”
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Texas Energy Report NewsClips
Wednesday May 20, 2026
Asterisk (*) denotes news stories that may be inaccessible because portions are behind a paywall
Good morning! Here are today’s Texas Energy Report NewsClips
Oil prices were down about 1% on Wednesday after U.S. President Donald Trump again asserted the war with Iran will end “very quickly”, though investors remain wary about the outcome of peace talks amid continued disruptions to Middle Eastern supply.
Brent crude oil futures fell $1.11, or 1.0%, to $110.17 a barrel by 0640 GMT.
“Benchmark prices softened on a potential deal as the market gauges the geopolitical outcomes,” said Emril Jamil, a senior oil research analyst at LSEG.
Both benchmarks fell nearly $1 on Tuesday after U.S. Vice President JD Vance said the U.S. and Iran had made progress in talks, with neither side wanting to see a resumption of military action.
“Investors are keen to gauge whether Washington and Tehran can actually find common ground and reach a peace agreement, with the U.S. stance shifting daily,” said Toshitaka Tazawa, an analyst at Fujitomi Securities.
Top Stories
The Wall Street Journal – May 19, 2026
Inside the Tiny Oil Sheikhdom Cut Off by the Iran War*
Kuwait City — Thirty-five years ago, the oil fields of this desert sheikhdom the size of New Jersey went up in flames when Iraq’s Saddam Hussein invaded and drew the U.S. into the first Gulf War. Today, Kuwait’s crude has stopped flowing again. Rigs are standing still, while oil-loading berths along the Persian Gulf are empty. With the Strait of Hormuz closed, Kuwait has stopped exporting nearly 2 million barrels a day, depriving the world of around 2% of its daily needs, and shutting off the country’s main income source. The Iran conflict has hurt countries up and down the Gulf—but few as much as Kuwait. Practically everything its 5 million residents eat and drink must be trucked in from neighboring Saudi Arabia.
Meanwhile, hundreds of Iranian drones and missiles have badly damaged Kuwait’s oil infrastructure, hurt U.S. military bases and sent American diplomats and thousands of troops stationed in the country packing. The airport only recently reopened, long after others, and remote learning remains in place, even as neighboring states returned to in-person schooling. Workplace attendance for the public sector, which employs most of the workforce, remains capped at 50%. Public gatherings have been slow to return. Although only a few people were killed, Kuwait City’s seaside skyline is pockmarked with war wounds. That includes the top floors at the state oil company’s headquarters, which was struck by cruise missiles on April 5, sparking a fire that sent smoke billowing into the night sky.
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San Antonio Express-News – May 19, 2026
Texas faces water supply woes as big tech continues its Lone Star takeover
As data centers ramp up their presence in the Lone Star State, new research out of Texas’ capital city is shedding more insight into just how much more water use these developments will need amid Texas’ ongoing drought and water supply woes. The University of Texas at Austin shared new research earlier this month that revealed Texas’ data center water use could make up 3% to 9% of Texas’ overall water use by 2040 as production ramps up statewide. That estimate accounts for both data centers’ use of water as a cooling mechanism as well as their water needs for power production. Right now, data centers’ water usage accounts for fewer than 1% of the state’s total water use.
Researchers’ forecasts have been shaped by factors such as industry growth, cooling technologies used in those processes as well as the specific source of electricity used to power Texas data centers. That estimated figure could potentially surpass the total water use from Texas’ manufacturing industry, which sits at 7% of statewide figures, UT’s research noted.
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electrek – May 19, 2026
Tesla is building its giant solar panel factory in Houston
Electrek has learned that Tesla (TSLA) is building its massive new solar panel manufacturing operation at its facility in Brookshire, Texas, near Houston. The factory will be co-located with the Megapack Megafactory Tesla is already constructing at the same site. A source familiar with the plans pointed us to the Houston location, and Electrek was able to independently confirm it. This is the first concrete sign of where Tesla plans to build toward its 100 GW annual solar manufacturing target.
Tesla’s solar manufacturing story has been a decade-long saga of broken promises and modest restarts. When Tesla acquired SolarCity in 2016, it inherited a factory deal with New York state worth nearly $1 billion in public subsidies. The state built Tesla a massive facility in Buffalo in exchange for commitments to create 1,500 factory jobs and invest $5 billion over 10 years in New York.
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KUHF NPR – May 19, 2026
Defense Department delays 54 wind projects in Texas, citing national security concerns
Dozens of wind projects in Texas are in limbo after the U.S. Department of Defense paused issuing routine federal permits citing national security concerns, a move that experts say expands the Trump administration’s crusade against wind energy. According to data collected by the American Clean Power Association, 54 Texas wind projects are waiting for the department to review development plans to ensure that turbines don’t interfere with military operations. It’s part of a broader nationwide logjam that has ensnared 165 onshore wind projects, a figure first reported by the Financial Times.
Federal law requires any structure 200 feet or taller — such as antennas, smokestacks or wind turbines — to be reviewed first by the Federal Aviation Administration, then the military, which must determine whether a structure may interfere with military airspace.
The Latest TERse Tips
Election for oil regulator becomes battleground for wealthy donors — Texas Tribune
Greg Abbott says Bo French would ‘wreck’ Texas oil and gas if elected to Railroad Commission — San Antonio Express-News*
President Trump has endorsed state Attorney General Ken Paxton in Texas’ high-stakes Senate race, snubbing incumbent senior Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) ahead of next week’s GOP primary runoff — The Hill
The U.S. Senate narrowly voted to approve Steve Pearce’s nomination to lead the Bureau of Land Management — Pearce, a 78-year-old Republican, has deep ties to the oil and gas industry and a record of supporting federal land sales — Mountain Journal
“Two Chinese VLCCs carrying 4 mb of Iraqi oil have crossed the Strait of Hormuz and are now heading straight for the US blockade. If they’re allowed to pass, it means Trump and Xi have quietly agreed to let it happen. Meanwhile, 4 LNG carriers are on their way to China to deliver US LNG … so they have a deal” — Anas Alhajji on X
Haynesville Shale pure-play Comstock Resources could supply up to 1 Bcf/d of natural gas by 2031 to a 5.2 GW data center project in Anderson County, TX, as the company expands its position in the formation — Natural Gas Intelligence*
Texas upstream oil and gas employment increases by 1,800 jobs in March — Permian Basin Petroleum Association Magazine
Fitch Ratings has assigned a ‘BBB’ rating to Oncor Electric Delivery Company LLC’s junior subordinated notes due 2056 — Fitch
Oil & Gas Texas
Reuters – May 19, 2026
Venezuelan oil minister tells Houston conference country is open to foreign dispute resolution*
Venezuelan Oil Minister Paula Henao said on Tuesday that the country’s new hydrocarbons rules allow for dispute resolution outside the country, a key demand of many foreign oil companies before stepping up activity in the South American country. “On the issue of legal certainty, which I know many of you are looking for, the law incorporates all of that through dispute resolution mechanisms, not only within our national territory, but it also allows and opens the door for other venues to be used to resolve any disputes that may arise,” she said at a conference outside Houston in The Woodlands.
“We trust that it won’t come to that, but in the event that any difficulty does arise, we can resolve it through that channel.” Her remarks at the event, hosted by the American Association of Petroleum Geologists in The Woodlands, Texas, marked the first visit to the U.S. by a senior oil official from the South American country since President Nicolas Maduro was ousted in January by American military forces.
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S&P Global Platts – May 19, 2026
US LNG feedgas demand hits four-month low amid maintenance
US LNG feedgas demand fell May 19 to the lowest level since late January amid seasonal maintenance work, led by sharp declines in nominations at the Freeport and Sabine Pass LNG export terminals along the US Gulf Coast. The nine major LNG export terminals operating in the Lower 48 were scheduled to receive about 16 billion cubic feet/day on May 19, S&P Global Energy CERA data showed, based on nominations for the morning cycle that could later be revised. That would mark the lowest level of feedgas demand since Jan. 27 and a decline of nearly 1.6 Bcf from May 18.
At the Freeport facility in Texas, flows were scheduled to decline by about 500 million cubic feet/day, or 35%, on May 19 to about 900 MMcf/d, which suggested two of the terminal’s three trains were offline. Freeport spokesperson Heather Browne declined to comment. Freeport on May 13 confirmed taking one of the plant’s three liquefaction trains offline for scheduled maintenance that it expected to last “several weeks.”
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May 18, 2026
Wars damage fertilizer plants, take toll on production: Texas Farm Bureau
While the closure of the strait has received a lot of media attention due to its importance, Rosenbusch said it’s only part of the story. “There have been 31 ammonia plants in the region that have curtailed production or have been damaged during the conflict. Another 49 plants in India and South Asia were also shuttered due to disruption of their natural gas supply from the region,” he said. This exacerbated an already tight global fertilizer supply.
“China, who is the world’s largest producer of fertilizer with about a third of all nitrogen production and 43% of the global phosphate supply, are currently restricting all of their exports,” Rosenbusch said. “Twenty Russian nitrogen plants have been damaged due to Ukrainian drone strikes, and Russia also has implemented an export ban on their fertilizer or restriction.” At the same time, globally, there’s strong demand for fertilizer.
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Texas Tribune – May 19, 2026
Rain gives Corpus Christi a small break, delaying projected water crisis by 3 months
A projection for when Corpus Christi expects to reach a water crisis was pushed back by three months after a wet April brought enough rain to delay an emergency but too little to quench a brutal drought. The city was initially bracing for a Level 1 emergency — the point when water demand is projected to be six months from exceeding supplies — to hit by September. Rain that the community has long prayed for fell last month, delaying the Level 1 projection to December and buying the city a few more months to plan for the expected emergency.
Still, the delay provided “some very encouraging news,” Nick Winkelmann, chief operating officer of Corpus Christ’s water department, told the City Council on Tuesday. The new projection came largely because Lake Texana, one of three reservoirs the city depends on, jumped from 55% capacity last month to 76%. The two other reservoirs the city depends on have shrunk to historic lows: Lake Corpus Christi is a little above 10% capacity, and Choke Canon is at 7% capacity. Winkelmann added that “there is a beneficial forecast this week, so we need to remember that these numbers do not include any future rain.”
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Inside Climate News – May 19, 2026
Corpus Christi Leaders Believe Data Center Plans May Be Behind Delays to Emergency Water Supply
Corpus Christi needs the groundwater beneath the small town of Sinton so urgently that it’s already laying pipeline, even before it has the permits to start drilling for water. Sinton, with 5,500 residents about half an hour north, is fighting those permits in court, citing concerns for its own water supply. But leaders in Corpus Christi, which supplies water to half a million people, now suggest an ulterior motive: Sinton wants a thirsty, new complex of data centers.
Officials and executives in Corpus Christi point to recent land deals, well permits and a rezoning ordinance as evidence for the data center plans. Officials in Sinton neither confirm nor deny Corpus Christi’s supposition. “It is rumors,” said John Hobson, Sinton’s city manager, declining to say whether or not it is true. Everyone involved in the deal probably signed non-disclosure agreements, said Greg Ellis, an attorney for the San Patricio Groundwater Conservation District, which is based in Sinton and issued the drilling permits in dispute.
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Texas Tribune – May 19, 2026
What soaring gas prices mean for Texas and how long it could take for costs to come down
Texas fuel prices have risen significantly since the U.S.-Israel war on Iran began on Feb. 28, which led to Iran closing a key international shipping lane for oil and gas, the Strait of Hormuz. The average price for a gallon of gas in Texas, which was $2.55 in early February, surged by nearly two dollars to $4.52 on Monday, according to the AAA.
The Strait of Hormuz, a narrow maritime corridor south of Iran, accounts for one-fifth of the world’s oil supply — the energy trade passing through it was valued at roughly $600 billion annually. Any threat to shipping in the strait can affect oil prices globally.
Oil & Gas National & International
Associated Press/KXAN – May 19, 2026
Video and satellite photos show Iran war oil spill on Persian Gulf island
A mysterious attack on an Iranian oil refinery during the Iran war caused an oil spill that affected a nearby Persian Gulf island that’s a protected breeding ground for wildlife, videos and satellite photos show. The oil-soaked waves lapping onto Shidvar Island, an uninhabited island, represent yet another sign of the ecological damage wrought by the war. Oily rain has also fallen on the Iranian capital, Tehran, after airstrikes targeted oil facilities there. Iranian attacks on ships passing through the Persian Gulf, the Strait of Hormuz and the Gulf of Oman also caused environmental damage.
Mobile phone footage shot April 9 by an Iranian named Ehsan Jalali shows thick black smoke rising after the strike on an oil refinery on Lavan, an island just off mainland Iran near Shidvar. The footage corresponds with known features of both islands and only was posted by Jalali to Instagram in the last few days as Iran’s theocratic government has shut off access to the wider internet for weeks.
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Argus Media – May 19,m 2026
Venezuela close to issuing oil regulations: Henao
Venezuela will soon issue rules meant to provide energy investorswith more clarity, hydrocarbons minister Paula Henao said on Tuesday. The national assembly passed a hydrocarbons law reform earlier this year aimed at opening the sector to investment, but it lacks the moredetailed regulations needed to implement many changes.
“In coming days, we should publish the regulations … to make all these reforms operational,” Henao told a Venezuela E&P conference organized by the American Association of Petroleum Geologists near Houston, Texas. The national assembly will need to publish the regulations in the official gazette for them to take effect. Several different draft versions have circulated among market participants in Venezuela.
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The Wall Street Journal – May 19, 2026
U.S. Seized Iran-Linked Oil Tanker in the Indian Ocean*
The U.S. seized an Iran-linked oil tanker in the Indian Ocean overnight, according to three U.S. officials, as President Trump threatens to resume military strikes on Iran. The tanker, known as the Skywave, was sanctioned by the U.S. in March for its role in transporting Iranian oil. Ship-tracking data showed it sailing just west of Malaysia on Tuesday after transiting the Malacca Strait. The ship was likely loaded with more than 1 million barrels of crude at Iran’s Kharg Island in February, according to brokers and data from Lloyds List Intelligence. It couldn’t be determined if the ship unloaded the oil in Asia. It was sailing in an area known for shadowy ship-to-ship transfers, and was heading back to the Middle East when it was seized.
It marks at least the third time the U.S. has seized an oil tanker in connection with its crackdown on Iran-linked shadow-fleet vessels. The actions are separate from the U.S. blockade of Iranian ports, which is being carried out in the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea. The U.S. seized other Iran-linked tankers, the Majestic X and Tifani, in the Indian Ocean in April. The shadow fleet is an armada of around 1,000 old and uninsured tankers that use deceptive practices to move sanctioned and illicit oil. They are known for shipping Iranian and Russian crude exports to countries like China and India. Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, announced the effort to go after Iran-linked shadow-fleet vessels in mid-April, saying the U.S. would “actively pursue any Iranian-flagged vessel or any vessel attempting to provide material support to Iran.”
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S&P Global Platts – May 19, 2026
New Pemex CEO seen as boosting financial focus, reinforcing political control
The departure of Víctor Rodríguez Padilla as Pemex’s CEO and his replacement by former CFO Juan Carlos Carpio Fragoso is seen as positive by observers, as it suggests the government’s focus will be on keeping the finances of the state oil company healthy. “I think it’s positive that the new management focuses on the numbers,” said Daniel Sánchez, a partner at Baker & McKenzie in Mexico City who specializes in the Mexican energy sector. “The financial community will welcome the profile,” Sánchez said, noting that Pemex now has a person who understands the numbers and can assess the size of the debt.
Carpio has only been CFO for a few months. He previously worked in Mexico City’s finance department under President Claudia Sheinbaum. In recent years, Pemex’s reliance on federal funding has increased. According to company filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Pemex’s operational continuity and timely compliance with its financial obligations depend on the recurrence of equity contributions from the Mexican government.
Utilities, Electricity & Renewables
El Paso Times – May 19, 2026
Houston firm aims to connect El Paso to Eastern U.S. power grid*
Grid United, a Houston company backed by a Houston billionaire, has begun the years-long process of connecting El Paso Electric’s Western power grid to the Eastern grid, providing a new electricity stream for this region. The 5-year-old company has started buying residential properties in the far East Montana area of El Paso County as part of a possible route for high-voltage transmission lines, much to the chagrin of some homeowners in that area. It may cross some of the same areas where El Paso Electric (EPE) plans to build its own high-voltage power lines.
Michael Skelly is the co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Grid United. He is a prominent pioneer in the U.S. renewable energy industry and has extensive experience in developing transmission infrastructure and clean energy projects. Grid United is backed and co-founded by Houston-based commodities billionaire John Arnold. He has committed several hundred million dollars to the independent transmission company, which he established
El Paso Matters – May 19, 2026
More data centers could be coming to El Paso. What will that mean for your electric bills?
El Paso Electric is signaling that more large-scale artificial intelligence data centers are likely to come to the Borderland over the next three years – and wants them to operate under a set of rules meant to prevent El Pasoans from paying higher electric bills as a result. Companies including Meta Platforms, Oracle and Open AI are developing hyperscale data center campuses in and around El Paso as the city government is setting up operating policy guides for any future developments. Some see data centers as the future of the region’s economy, while others view them as unsustainable resource hogs.
El Paso Electric earlier this month asked its regulator, the Public Utility Commission of Texas, for permission to set up a special rate specifically for big data centers – a sign the utility anticipates it will provide service to more of the facilities soon. El Paso Electric “expects to begin serving between 1 and 2 (gigawatts) of new load” under the data center rate in the next three years, the utility said in PUC filings.
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KVUE – May 19, 2026
Austin Energy, Base Power partner on home battery storage program
Austin Energy is teaming up with local home energy company Base Power to deploy residential battery storage across its service area. As part of the partnership, Base Power will provide home battery installation and maintenance to homeowners who join the program. Those 40-megawatt batteries are capable of providing full power for about an hour and a half during peak demand or outages. They can also discharge smaller amounts of energy over longer periods.
Under the agreement, Austin Energy will dispatch the batteries when needed to help manage prices and grid reliability. “This partnership is an example of our all-in approach to providing sustainable, affordable and reliable power for our customers,” said Austin Energy General Manager Stuart Reilly. “40 megawatts of local battery storage helps us deliver the power our community needs today while planning for our energy future.”
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Power Magazine – May 15, 2026
America’s power grid was built for a world that no longer exists. For more than two decades, U.S. electricity demand grew at well below 1% annually, and utilities knew to expect one or two large-load interconnection requests a year. Today, demand is projected to grow by 5.7% annually through 2030, and utilities are fielding 40 to 50 large-load proposals. In Houston, Texas, CenterPoint Energy’s data center interconnection requests surged from 1 GW to 25 GW within 12 months. Exelon, which serves the Mid-Atlantic and Midwest, said only 22% of its 65-GW pipeline through 2040 is likely to materialize.
If these numbers seem unreal, in one sense, they are. The requests flooding interconnection queues come from data center developers, private equity funds, land brokers, and shell companies, many of whom lack site control, a construction timeline, or even a signed customer. They secure a queue position, bet that powered land will attract a buyer, and wait. The industry calls them “phantom data centers,” and the grid isn’t prepared to handle them.
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KUHF NPR – May 19, 2026
Why you should care about 2 power companies merging. Hint: affordability
One of the largest electricity producers in the U.S. could grow even bigger if a proposed merger with another power company goes through. It comes at a time when energy demand is surging due to the AI boom and there are heightened worries about rising electricity prices.
“Anytime there’s a merger there’s a worry consumers might face raising rates,” said Darrell West, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution’s Center for Technology Innovation. NextEra Energy said on Monday it plans to acquire Dominion Energy in a roughly $67 billion deal, The merger will require both federal and state approvals, including in Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina. Those three states would be covered by the merged company, as well as Florida.
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The New York Times – May 19, 2026
Rising Energy Prices and Data Centers Are at Center of a Utility Deal*
NextEra Energy’s proposed acquisition of Dominion Energy will make it the nation’s largest utility and power company, placing it at the center of national debates about why electricity bills are soaring and how the country should meet the seemingly insatiable energy demands of data centers. The deal, which was announced Monday, would bring together utility operations serving around 10 million customers in Florida, Virginia and other Southeastern states. NextEra will also own nuclear power plants, renewable energy projects, transmission lines and pipelines from Maine to Hawaii.
The companies and some analysts say that combining all those operations under one corporate roof will result in big benefits, including lower costs and the speedier addition of new sources of electricity. But who reaps those rewards from this deal, which values Dominion at more than $120 billion including its debt, is a big question. Even before the war in Iran sent fuel prices soaring, anger was building about the rising costs of energy, especially for electricity. Residential electric rates are up around 34 percent since 2020. At least some of that increase can be linked to the rapid growth of data centers used to develop artificial intelligence.
Most utility industry experts do not expect electricity rates to drop but say that policymakers can do a lot to arrest their rapid rise. One early sign of their willingness to do so will come when federal and state governments weigh NextEra’s purchase of Dominion. Regulators could try to block the deal or impose conditions aimed at keeping electricity rates in check.
What does this deal mean for electricity rate and bills? It is hard to say with any certainty. NextEra, based in Juno Beach, Fla., said on Monday that if its deal is approved, it will offer Dominion’s roughly four million customers in Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina $2.25 billion in bill credits over two years. That amounts to about $550 per customer.
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The Wall Street Journal – May 19, 2026
The Biggest Challenge of a Utility Megadeal: Regulators*
NextEra Energy and Dominion Energy have agreed to combine in a blockbuster utilities deal. Now comes the hard part: a regulatory marathon. The companies must convince a web of state and federal regulators that combining two of the U.S.’s largest utilities will benefit customers and avoid increasing electricity bills at a time of heightened scrutiny on consumer costs and grid reliability. Dominion owns the transmission lines at the center of America’s data center boom in northern Virginia’s “Data Center Alley,” while NextEra is a major developer of the power generation and batteries needed to fuel energy-hungry AI campuses. The $67 billion deal would create an East Coast energy behemoth with 10 million customer accounts in Florida, the Carolinas and Virginia. It would be the largest U.S. electricity producer—specifically the biggest provider of natural gas-fired power and No. 2 in nuclear, the companies said.
The tie-up will offer the next test of the Trump administration’s willingness to consider mergers that reshape industries. It needs approval from utility commissions in Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina, which are increasingly focused on making sure data centers shoulder the cost of grid upgrades and new power plants. It will also require the approval of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The path through the state regulators will be “challenging,” said Alex Torgerson, partner in mergers and acquisitions at West Monroe, while federal regulators will be “slightly below challenging.” “None of this is going to be easy,” he added. The utility industry is facing its biggest increase in customer demand in decades, much of it driven by artificial intelligence-related data center construction. New data centers require city-size amounts of electricity, and access to power has become a key hurdle in the global AI race.
Regulatory
The New York Times – May 19, 2026
E.P.A. to End Some Limits on ‘Forever Chemicals’ in Drinking Water*
The Trump administration announced Monday that it will drop some limits on “forever chemicals” in drinking water that officials had determined can cause cancer and other serious health problems — angering some key activists who had supported President Trump’s campaign. The Environmental Protection Agency said it would unravel the nation’s first federal drinking water limits for the compounds, perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS. The Biden administration established the limits on six of the substances in 2024, after the agency determined that long-term exposure to PFAS was linked to kidney cancer, immune system suppression, developmental delays in infants and children and other issues.
Instead, the Trump administration will issue narrower regulations that rescind protections for four of the substances and continue to protect against two of them, though companies will be able to request two extra years to comply with those. But the move, which had been planned for more than a year, has sparked fury within the Make America Healthy Again movement, a diverse group of anti-vaccine activists, wellness influencers and others who make up a key part of Mr. Trump’s coalition.
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The Hill – May 19, 2026
Bipartisan highway bill includes $130 registration fee for EVs
The House version of a bipartisan highway bill proposes to add a $130 registration fee for electric vehicles (EV) and a $35 fee for plug-in hybrids. The provision is part of the five-year Surface Transportation Reauthorization, a bipartisan bill that seeks to make investments in the country’s roads, bridges, rail and other infrastructure.
The bill text was unveiled Sunday as Reps. Sam Graves (R-Mo.) and Rick Larsen (D-Wash.), the top lawmakers on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, announced they had reached a deal. It’s not clear whether the registration fee will ultimately become law, as the bill would also require Senate approval, and Senate Democrats may not want the provision to be included. In the House bill, the fee would increase by $5 every other year starting in 2029, but the fees would not exceed $150 for EVs or $50 for hybrids.
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Texas Energy Report NewsClips
Tuesday May 19, 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 Tuesday after U.S. President Donald Trump said he would postpone a planned military strike on Iran following requests from key Middle Eastern leaders, easing fears of an imminent escalation that could disrupt global crude supplies.
The West Texas Intermediate futures declined 1.27% to $107.28 per barrel.
International benchmark Brent crude futures for July delivery fell more than 2% to trade at $109.15 per barrel.
Before his comments on Truth Social, there had been little public indication that Washington was preparing imminent military action against Iran, which would effectively end a fragile ceasefire struck on April 8.
Earlier Monday, Trump told the New York Post that Iran knows “what’s going to be happening soon,” though he did not elaborate.
Axios reported that Trump had been weighing renewed military action after Tehran’s latest proposal in talks aimed at ending the conflict fell short of expectations.
Top Stories
The Telegraph (UK) – May 18, 2026
Oil supplies ‘depleting very fast’, warns energy chief
Or see the Reuters* version of this news story
Related: ‘This is bad’: Strategists see European oil shortages within weeks as inventories are depleted — CNBC
The world’s oil stockpiles are “depleting very fast”, the head of the International Energy Agency has warned. Fatih Birol, executive director of the Paris-based agency, said commercial reserves were being rapidly drained as oil and gas shipments from the Middle East continue to be blocked by the war in Iran. Speaking at a meeting of G7 finance ministers in Paris, Mr Birol warned there were only “several weeks” left of stored supplies at current rates of depletion.
“I think it is depleting very fast,” he said. “We should be aware of the fact that it is declining rapidly.” Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor, and Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey attended the G7 summit in Paris on Monday to discuss the impact of the war in Iran on the economy and work out how to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
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Houston Chronicle – May 18, 2026
Phillips 66 bets on growing demand for natural gas chemicals with new Texas projects*
Phillips 66 announced it is moving forward with the Zeus Gas Plant and a third Coastal Bend Fractionator, two projects that will advance its integrated wellhead-to-market strategy, thereby expanding gas processing capacity in the Permian and NGL fractionation capabilities on the Gulf Coast. Zeus will be a 300 MMcf/d gas processing facility in the Permian and will include the new Midland Express (MEX) Pipeline, an approximately 45-mile, 20-inch line integrating Phillips 66’s Permian Basin gathering systems. Expected to come online with the Zeus processing plant, MEX will be able to move up to 230 MMcf/d of wellhead gas and provide future bi-directional flexibility between multiple processing facilities.
The third Coastal Bend Fractionator, previously referenced as Corpus Christi Fractionator, or BTT2, will be a 100 MBD natural gas liquids (NGL) fractionator in Robstown, Texas, including NGL purity pipeline expansion and water treatment facilities. Both projects are expected to be online in 2028.
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Houston Chronicle – May 18, 2026
Massive Texas Gulf Coast petrochemical plant hits pause
A massive petrochemical project planned for the Texas Gulf Coast has suddenly been put on pause. Last week, Dallas-based Energy Transfer withdrew an air application permit for a proposed $1.8-billion petrochemical complex in Jefferson County, according to Public Health Watch. A Public Health Watch analysis found that the odds of approval were in Energy Transfer’s favor. “On behalf of Energy Transfer Petrochemical Holdings LLC, please withdraw the subject air permit application from consideration,” a May 6 email from Jesse Lovegren to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) reads, without further explanation.
The withdrawal comes about two months after TCEQ’s executive director determined the application met applicable legal requirements and was set to be considered by the commissioners at a meeting on June 17. The facility would have been a massive ethane cracking plant on undeveloped land in Nederland, Texas, turning components of natural gas into ethylene and propylene, raw ingredients of plastics, according to Oil and Gas Watch. The facility could have emitted more than 8,500 tons per year of harmful pollutants and more than 5.1 million tons per year of greenhouse gases.
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Fortune – May 18, 2026
Related: Trump administration backs nuclear fusion — as a company tied to Trump invests in it — MarketWatch
On the morning of Monday, March 23, President Trump pulled his first “TACO” of the Iran war. After four weeks of fighting, with oil prices already up 55%, Trump had given Iran an ultimatum on Friday: make a deal within 48 hours, or the U.S. would strike its power plants and energy infrastructure. The brokerage account in Trump’s name spent the day buying them. According to the 113-page periodic transaction report released by the Office of Government Ethics on May 14, Trump’s brokerage account spent that same day buying a sweep of petroleum and gas stocks, including Phillips 66, Exxon Mobil, and Chevron, along with defense and aerospace names like Lockheed Martin and General Dynamics: the companies that stood to profit if the war dragged on.
The day wasn’t an outlier. The filing, which covers January through March, shows a consistent posture through the Iran conflict: as Trump prosecuted the war and told Americans it would end “soon,” the account in his name was hedging it, buying gold, Treasuries, and cash. Lockheed Martin and General Dynamics: the companies that stood to profit if the war dragged on. A spokesperson for the Trump Organization, the family’s privately held conglomerate, told Fortune the brokerage accounts are operated by third-party financial institutions that have “sole and exclusive authority over all investment decisions.” Trades, the spokesperson wrote in a statement, are executed through “automated investment processes and systems administered by those institutions,” and neither Trump, his family, nor the Trump Organization “plays any role in selecting, directing, or approving specific investments.”
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The Verge – May 18, 2026
Data centers are coming for rural America — And the jobs they promise don’t really exist*
At its peak, the Androscoggin paper mill in Jay, Maine, a rural town about 67 miles northwest of Portland, employed about 1,500 people — until a pulp digester exploded in 2020, forcing the mill to close permanently. In 2023, the 1.4 million-square-foot facility was purchased through a joint venture by JGT2 Redevelopment and a number of other holding and capital companies. The project is led by developer Tony McDonald. Over the next three years, McDonald and his team broke down the mill’s machinery and shipped it to Pakistan, and worked to clean up the industrial site for resale. That resale agreement was finalized earlier this year, according to McDonald — turning Jay into the latest flashpoint over giant data centers in America.
Maine is particularly appealing for data center developers for its relatively cool year-round temperatures, lax land-use statutes, and 54 percent renewable energy mix, the eighth highest in the nation. There is a handful of planned data centers around the state, which recently prompted the state legislature to pass a bill ordering an 18-month moratorium on permits and building of any proposed data center that consumes more than 20 megawatts of power. Lawmakers wanted to pause construction in order to study data centers’ impact on local economies, the power grid, and the environment.
The Latest TERse Tips
Gas Prices Up 56% In USA — Clean Technica
Commissioner Wright is suddenly on the board with $2 million raised; reports for AG candidates are largely unavailable as of yet and there are a few Texas House runoffs yet to wrap up — “Bo French once again found an issue with Railroad Commission Chair Jim Wright that has nothing to do with the commission’s role. Wright, who raised $2 million, received his single largest contribution from Texas Sands, run by casino magnate Miriam Adleson who is Jewish and staunchly pro-Israel. French has a history of antisemitic comments online and, presumably, at the sauna in River Crest Country Club in Fort Worth. Wright’s rebuttal was straightforward: ‘Dr. Adelson and I stand firmly with the state of Israel, and I join conservative leaders across Texas in condemning his ignorant bigotry.'” — Quorum Report*
Glenfarne Alaska LNG LLC, a subsidiary of Glenfarne Group, and ConocoPhillips Alaska, Monday announced the companies have signed a gas sales precedent agreement to supply natural gas produced on Alaska’s North Slope for Phase One of the Alaska LNG project, and with this thirty-year agreement, Alaska LNG has now secured precedent agreements for sufficient volumes to support a Phase One final investment decision and supply enough natural gas to meet Alaska’s energy needs — see the press release
US oil and gas M&A set to take off again after pause — Argus Media
A record 9.9 million barrels of oil were shipped out from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve last week, data from the Department of Energy showed on Monday, pushing the total volumes in the U.S. government’s emergency stash to about 374 million barrels, its lowest since July 2024 — Reuters*
Ashtrom Renewable Energy leaders were joined by members of CPS Energy, SOLV Energy, and elected officials as they broke ground on El Patrimonio, a new solar facility in Bexar County — see the CPS press release
EnergyWorks, a Fayetteville-based oil and gas company and a segment of Rausch Companies, said Tuesday (May 12) that it has acquired 731 natural gas wells in eastern Oklahoma for $65 million — Tulsa, Okla.-based BRG Energy was the seller — B&P
The auto industry’s massive pullback from its electric vehicle plans has claimed another victim: Honda, which posted its first annual loss since 1955 — Honda and other global automakers downshifted their EV ambitions after the Trump administration changed US emissions rules and ended a $7,500 tax credit for American buyers — MSN
Oil & Gas Texas
Dallas Morning News – May 18, 2026
Texas’ top GOP leaders endorse Jim Wright over Bo French in railroad commission runoff*
Texas’ top three Republican leaders are lining up behind Railroad Commissioner Jim Wright, giving the incumbent a major boost in an increasingly combative runoff for the agency that regulates the state’s oil and gas industry. Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and House Speaker Dustin Burrows have all backed Wright ahead of the May 26 race, the latest sign of establishment muscle against rival Bo French, the former Tarrant County GOP chairman.
Wright said the endorsements reflect support for his push to keep Texas “the energy capital of the world,” protecting jobs, the economy and national security. French dismissed the endorsements, saying voters want a conservative commissioner who will slash unnecessary regulation, fight DEI and promote an “America First Agenda.”
GOP heavyweights: Abbott had previously endorsed Wright. Patrick and Burrows did not endorse in the March primary in which Wright finished first with 32.1%, followed by French at 31.7%. The runoff was required because neither received more than 50%. The three Republican leaders highlighted Wright’s experience in the industry as a reason for their endorsements. Fellow commissioners Christi Craddick and Wayne Christian are also backing Wright.
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Texas Observer – May 18, 2026
Bo French’s Blood-and-Oil Bid for Railroad Commissioner
Former Tarrant County GOP Chairman Bo French is running what can fairly be called a fossil fascist campaign in his bid to unseat incumbent Railroad Commissioner Jim Wright in the May 26 runoffs. A victory for French would secure him the GOP nomination for a six-year term atop the agency that oversees, and is generally captured by, the state’s all-too-precious oil and gas industry. Wright and French essentially tied at 32 percent in a five-way March primary, with French running strongest in the Houston and Dallas-Fort Worth areas. In Texas, incumbents forced into runoffs rarely survive.
The 56-year-old French spends much of his time commenting on things that seem far afield from oil and gas regulation. A silver-spoon scion of a Texas oil family, the well-coiffed French has called on X for the deportation of a Chinese-American state representative and a Muslim state representative—and indeed the denaturalization and deportation of all Muslims in America based on religious faith.
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Texas Tribune – May 18, 2026
Chip Roy gets $2.75 million infusion from GOP megadonor Alex Fairly in attorney general runoff
GOP megadonor Alex Fairly recently gave $2.75 million to U.S. Rep. Chip Roy’s attorney general campaign, a much-needed shot in the arm as early voting begins in the Austin congressman’s runoff against state Sen. Mayes Middleton. The donation, first shared by Fairly with The Texas Tribune, makes the Amarillo businessman Roy’s biggest financial supporter. Fairly gave Roy $1.75 million in new money since the runoff began, and forgave a million-dollar loan he’d provided during the primary.
It comes at a critical time in Roy’s fight for the Republican nomination against Middleton, a Galveston oil and gas executive who has put more than $15 million of his own money into his campaign. Much of that self-funding came ahead of the first round of voting in March, propelling Middleton to a first place finish. Neither candidate cleared 50%, so they will face each other again on May 26. Pushing his “MAGA Mayes” message, Middleton more than doubled Roy’s $5 million in ad buys before the March 3 contest — still a significant amount for a state attorney general’s race, yet a big enough disparity for Middleton to overtake Roy’s initial polling lead.
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Austin American-Statesman – May 18, 2026
Austin federal lawsuit says Wells Fargo and investment advisers facilitated $300M Ponzi scheme*
Victims of an alleged Ponzi scheme run through dozens of Austin-based investment funds are in federal court going after the institutions, including Wells Fargo Bank, and people they say made it possible. Regulators have already shut down Clean Energy Technology Association Inc. and Freedom Impact Consulting LLC for selling fraudulent investments based on carbon capture technology for the oil and gas industry. They said they had patented technology that would capture drillers’ hydrocarbon spill-off and inject it back into the ground, providing a green return for energy-industry clients. They falsely told investors they had contracts with ExxonMobil Corp. and other oil companies for hundreds of its carbon capture units and promised a 10% quarterly return.
The two Texas companies, run by former Fairfield Mayor Roy Hill and Pennsylvania dentist Eric Shelly, raised more than $300 million from more than 500 investors before the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission shut them down in 2023. Now, a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Austin by a group of investors who put up more than $6 million is seeking damages from those it says assisted the companies. The suit’s targets are the companies’ accountant, their lawyer, his former firm and one of the banks. Mauricio J. Rauld of Premier Law Group, Timothy Gertz and his company ProVision Wealth Strategist, and Wells Fargo Bank all are alleged to have had a role in the scam since 2019.
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S&P Global Platts – May 18, 2026
Golden Pass LNG feedgas deliveries fall amid planned maintenance
Feedgas deliveries to the Golden Pass export terminal were near zero for a sixth consecutive day on May 18, which the operator of the Texas facility attributed to planned maintenance after shipping the second cargo from the facility. The outage at Golden Pass added to seasonal maintenance work underway at export terminals along the US Gulf Coast, reducing overall US utilization in May as the war in the Middle East continues to support strong demand for US supply.
The operators of the Freeport LNG terminal in Texas and the Cameron LNG terminal in Louisiana have also confirmed planned maintenance. The nine major LNG terminals operating in the Lower 48 were scheduled to receive about 18.3 Bcf/d of feedgas on May 18, S&P Global Energy CERA data showed, based on nominations for the morning cycle that could later be revised. The daily flows were in line with average deliveries in May, which were down from an average of about 20.5 Bcf/d in April.
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WOAI – May 18, 2026
A Weaker OPEC Could Mean a Stronger Texas Oil Market: Expert
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Bloomberg – May 18, 2026
I Have Seen the Future of Physical AI in Dusty West Texas: Thomas Black*
I was in West Texas recently to witness firsthand the emerging practical applications of artificial intelligence. What I saw bolstered my conviction about the technology’s progress and the need to mold it rather than resist the change. At the intersection of one of those dusty, gravel-covered roads that pepper the Permian Basin oil fields, a truck that would not be out of place on any American highway made a wide turn to account for the two trailers it was hauling. That’s a normal sight in these parts, but what wasn’t normal was that nobody was in the cab. Here, Atlas Energy Solutions Inc. has teamed up with Kodiak AI Inc. to become one of the first to commercially deploy driverless trucks, which are being integrated into the steady flow of haulers that carry sand for use in hydraulic fracking to well sites along private bumpy roads. In West Texas and southeastern New Mexico, it can be difficult to recruit drivers. They often stay in barracks-type housing called man camps and work two weeks on and a week off to return home, which is typically in another state.
Driverless trucks are graduating this year from a long testing phase and becoming one of the first physical AI tools to break out of the confines of a factory or warehouse and interact with the public. Robotaxis got a head start and more of the headlines, but freight’s larger market size and more predictable routes could make the autonomous trucks roll out faster and with a larger impact on the economy than driverless ride-sharing. A Goldman Sachs report late last month forecast that the market for autonomous trucking in the US will reach $105 billion in 2035, more than double the $48 billion projected for robotaxis.
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Midland Reporter-Telegram – May 15, 2026
Conduit offers details on West Texas power generation plans*
Conduit Power’s plans to develop natural gas-powered assets to sell energy and ancillary services to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas are taking shape. The company announced plans in December to develop 200 megawatts of new natural gas power generation assets with financial backing from Diamondback Energy and Granite Ridge Resources. “The deal is for 20 merchant power sites interconnected into ERCOT. None of these sites will power local exploration and production operations. All will be sold into the grid,” Matt Herpich, Conduit CEO, told the Reporter-Telegram in an email.
Conduit plans 20 10-megawatt facilities in and around the Permian Basin in Texas, according to Herpich. The sites will interconnect at distribution substations using reciprocating engines. The company will serve as a QSE, or qualified scheduling entity, and schedule power into the grid on a day-ahead and real-time basis based on dispatch costs and local power prices, he wrote. While none of the power generation will go to local E&P operations, Diamondback and Granite Ridge each committed to a fixed capacity payment to Conduit in exchange for a preferred share of power proceeds generated by Conduit.
Oil & Gas National & International
Financial Times – May 18, 2026
Iran energy crisis enters new phase as peak summer season approaches
Bloomberg – May 18, 2026
BofA’s Blanch Says $90 Brent Is Oil Market’s Best-Case Scenario*
Bank of America’s commodities and derivatives research chief said his best-case oil-price scenario is Brent averaging $90 for the rest of the year, and the market may go even higher if the stalemate with Iran persists or heats up with fresh fighting. A pullback hinges on an end to the US and Iranian blockade of the Strait of Hormuz that’s bottling up shipments from the Persian Gulf, BofA’s Francisco Blanch said Monday on Bloomberg Television’s Surveillance. The math problem, he said, is clear: Global supplies are too tight for prices to come down now.
“We have a pretty large deficit,” Blanch said. “We were running 14 million, 15 million barrels a day short, 14% to 15% short, of what we need to see for prices to stabilize, go down to $60 or $70 a barrel.” His outlook underscores the potential for persistent economic disruption from higher-for-longer prices after the Iran war spurred an 80% run-up in Brent this year through Friday, to $109.26 a barrel. The effective shutdown of a waterway that carries a fifth of global supply is biting hardest in the Asia-Pacific region but also squeezing consumers and industrial users worldwide. Blanch spoke just after the semi-official Iranian media outlet Tasnim reported that the US proposed a temporary waiver on sanctions applied to the Islamic Republic’s oil. While the US hasn’t confirmed that offer, such a development would meet a key Iranian demand for a peace deal and the reopening of the strait.
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Oil Price – May 18, 2026
U.S. Upstream Mergers Hit $38B As M&A Rebounds
Dealmaking in the U.S. shale patch jumped to a two-year high in the first quarter as M&A activity rebounded from a slump. U.S. upstream mergers hit $38 billion in Q1 2026, marking the highest quarterly total in two years despite a sharp slowdown in March due to a spike in volatility tied to the Middle East conflict. According to Enverus Intelligence Research, the U.S. Shale Patch has likely entered yet another consolidation wave, with a higher-for-longer oil price environment expected to supercharge both corporate mega-mergers and private asset sales.
“We are likely heading into another tsunami of consolidation as higher oil prices supercharge both private companies going to market and public E&P appetite for deals, both corporate consolidation and private asset sales,” said Enverus analyst Andrew Dittmar in a May 13 report.
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The Wall Street Journal – May 15, 2026
The Winners and Losers of Oil’s New World Order: Jason Bordoff, Columbia University*
Impact Oil and gas exporters in north, west and central Africa—including Algeria, Libya, Nigeria, and Angola—may benefit from higher prices and new investments in production capacity. Much harder hit are oil importers closer to the Gulf, including Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya and Zambia. Many countries, even some producers, import much of the refined fuel they consume. Higher crude prices raise the cost of diesel, gasoline, cooking fuel, transport and food, while governments have limited fiscal room to cushion the blow.
Long View The crisis will strengthen the case for both refineries and renewables. There are already plans to build a massive new refinery in East Africa, and countries such as Ghana, Angola, Uganda may quickly follow suit. For Africa’s poorest importers, every mini-grid, solar farm, battery and electric bus that displaces fuel imports reduces exposure to the next oil shock, though high borrowing costs, currency risk and weak grids remain major constraints. This situation will likely expand China’s existing investments in these industries in Africa and increase demand for Chinese products such as solar panels, inverters and batteries.
The longer the Iran war continues, the more divided the energy world will become across existing geopolitical and geographic fault lines. China will cast the conflict as proof that American hegemony has become a source of global instability rather than order, while heightened anxiety over oil and gas risk pushes more countries toward the clean-energy technologies Beijing controls. Wealthy countries will respond by diversifying supply, strengthening buffers and accelerating alternatives, while poorer ones will often be forced to choose what is cheapest rather than most secure. Importers will pay a premium for diversified supply, while exporters will pay for routes to market that are less vulnerable to disruption. Here in the U.S., perhaps the biggest lesson is that even the world’s largest producers cannot insulate themselves from shocks in a global market.
Utilities, Electricity & Renewables
The Wall Street Journal – May 18, 2026
Update: NextEra to Buy Dominion Energy in $67 Billion Deal*
NextEra Energy agreed to buy Dominion Energy in a roughly $67 billion deal that would create the largest U.S. electricity producer and represent one of the biggest tie-ups of the year. The companies said Monday that they plan to combine in a mostly stock deal. NextEra is offering the equivalent of around $76 a share to Dominion shareholders, based on Friday’s closing stock prices. In addition, they will receive a one-time cash payment of $360 million once the deal closes, the companies said. Dominion Energy shares surged 12% to $68.88 shortly after the opening bell, while NextEra dropped 4% to $89.51. In the deal, NextEra is offering 0.8138 of its shares for each Dominion share.
The tie-up would combine two of the largest U.S. utilities into an East Coast energy titan with 10 million customer accounts in Florida, the Carolinas and Virginia. It is expected to close within the next 18 months and would require approval from a handful of state and federal regulators. It comes as the utility industry faces a big upswing in customer demand for the first time in decades, much of it driven by the mania over artificial intelligence and the build-out of data centers that require an insatiable amount of electricity. Access to power has become a key hurdle in the race to build data centers quickly.
Utilities also are facing pressure over rising costs and rate increases, and energy affordability has emerged as a national political topic. Florida-based NextEra has a market value of nearly $200 billion, while Virginia-based Dominion’s is more than $50 billion. NextEra shareholders will own approximately 75% of the company, with Dominion shareholders holding the rest.
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Utility Dive – May 18, 2026
Combined NextEra-Dominion would have 130-GW large-load pipeline
NextEra Energy plans to acquire Dominion Energy in an all-stock transaction announced Monday, potentially creating the largest regulated electric utility in the world — with 10 million customers in four states — if the deal passes muster with three state and two federal regulatory commissions. The companies have proposed $2.25 billion in bill credits for Dominion customers in Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina, and they say all customers would see benefits from “enhanced scale in operations, procurement, construction and financing.”
The combined company would have a more than 130-GW large-load pipeline of projects and a rate base of $138 billion, which it expects to grow at approximately 11% through 2032, according to the deal announcement.
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Houston Chronicle – May 18, 2026
Most Houston-area residents use AI — but oppose data centers being built near them, UH study finds*
Most Houston-area residents report using artificial intelligence — but oppose the construction of data centers near their homes, according to a new study from the University of Houston. It’s a paradox that reflects the widespread push in workplaces to adopt AI, as well as fierce resident backlash against the rapid buildout of data centers needed to train and run AI models. Though water use has emerged as a key flashpoint in other parts of Texas more prone to water scarcity, Houstonians surveyed by UH’s Hobby School of Public Affairs say they’re most worried about the massive amounts of electricity that AI data centers can consume.
“When (Houston-area) residents say they are concerned about data centers, they’re mostly referring to grid reliability and affordability,” Soran Mohtadi, a UH post-doctoral fellow and author of the study, said in a statement. Of the more than 1,500 residents surveyed by the Hobby School, 65% reported using AI at least monthly. Almost the same percentage of people — 63% — said they oppose a data center being built within one mile of where they live. Houstonians’ wariness of data centers aligns with opinions nationwide. A recent Gallup poll found that seven out of 10 Americans oppose having a data center built near them, even more than the proportion of those opposed to living near a nuclear power plant.
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Canary Media – May 18, 2026
X-energy gets federal environmental approval for Texas nuclear reactors
X-energy, the Amazon-backed nuclear startup looking to revive the United States’ high-temperature gas-cooled reactor efforts, just took a major step toward securing federal permits to start construction on its debut plant. On Monday, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission approved the key environmental review for X-energy’s first project, which would see it build four of its 80-megawatt Xe-100 reactors at chemical giant Dow’s UCC Seadrift Operations, the 4,700-acre manufacturing complex on Texas’ Gulf Coast just north of Corpus Christi.
For months, the NRC conducted an environmental assessment of the proposed project — a step required by the National Environmental Protection Act for any large-scale energy project seeking federal permits. The results of that study determined whether a more rigorous, potentially yearslong environmental impact statement is needed. The agency, Canary Media has learned, has concluded the process with a “finding of no significant impact,” meaning that the project can forgo the impact statement.
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Associated Press/ABC News – May 17, 2026
As electric bills rise, some states are focusing on the growing profits of utilities
The artificial intelligence boom is leading to fights in some states over growing utility profits, as governors, attorneys general and others protesting rising electricity bills say cash-strapped residents are stuck in a broken system. Officials and lawmakers in at least six states — including Arizona, Indiana, Maryland, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania — are going to new lengths to try to block rate increases proposed by utilities. Some are pressing utilities to completely change their model for financing major system upgrades.
The push comes during a midterm election year in which affordability is the leading theme in Democrats’ attempts to loosen Republicans’ control of Washington. Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes, a Democrat who is seeking reelection this year, is challenging two utility rate increase requests in front of the state’s utility regulatory board.
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Utility Dive – May 18, 2026
Combined NextEra-Dominion would have 130-GW large-load pipeline
NextEra Energy plans to acquire Dominion Energy in an all-stock transaction announced Monday, potentially creating the largest regulated electric utility in the world — with 10 million customers in four states — if the deal passes muster with three state and two federal regulatory commissions. The companies have proposed $2.25 billion in bill credits for Dominion customers in Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina, and they say all customers would see benefits from “enhanced scale in operations, procurement, construction and financing.”
The combined company would have a more than 130-GW large-load pipeline of projects and a rate base of $138 billion, which it expects to grow at approximately 11% through 2032, according to the deal announcement.
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Austin American-Statesman – May 18, 2026
Texas nuclear energy boom faces a worker shortage as data centers push industry rebound*
When nuclear energy leaders gathered in Austin last month for the Texas Nuclear Symposium, they were faced with a stark reality: Their industry, which has languished for decades, is in the midst of a boom its workforce isn’t ready to meet. It comes amid a surge of construction of the power-hungry data centers needed to support rapidly increasing demand for artificial intelligence — and broad concerns about how the energy industry is going to serve them.
The solution increasingly includes nuclear. “We’re trying to build all these data centers, but we need the power,” said Danielle Zigon, director of strategic initiatives for the University of Texas’ nuclear and radiation engineering program. “I’m not just selling nuclear energy. I’m selling solutions to a power problem in this state. I am selling solutions to the water problem. We need it, and it’s happening fast.” … Questions about the technology’s safety in urban environments were driven in part by the 1979 partial reactor meltdown at the Three Mile Island nuclear plant in Pennsylvania and the 1986 explosion of a reactor at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in modern-day Ukraine. More recently, the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster in Japan renewed concerns about nuclear safety after an earthquake and tsunami damaged the plant.
Regulatory
Rigzone – May 14, 2026
Bill Seeks to Tax Windfall Oil Profits in US amid Iran War
A California congressman has proposed legislation to tax oil companies’ windfall profits during the war with Iran. Revenue collected under the Iran War Oil Crisis Windfall Profits Tax Act would be released back to households to offset increases in their energy and transport costs.
“For American families, rising oil prices mean higher costs and greater financial strain. My bill will ensure oil companies don’t profit from the hardship facing working families and will help offset the rising costs that Trump’s war has imposed on the American people”, Rep. Brad Sherman said in an online statement. “The war with Iran has driven global oil prices sharply higher, with U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude recently trading in the mid-$90s per barrel and, at times, even exceeding $100”.
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Texas Energy Report NewsClips
Monday May 18, 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 rose Monday as U.S. President Donald Trump warned that Iran “better get moving” amid a deadlock in peace talks, while experts pointed to record low inventories.
International benchmark Brent crude futures for July rose 1.98% to $111.42 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures for June advanced 2.43% to $107.98 per barrel, the highest this month.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s warning to Iran over the weekend signals that the impasse between Washington and Tehran over a peace deal and reopening the Strait of Hormuz could lead to a resumption in armed conflict.
Trump said a Truth Social post on Sunday that “For Iran, the Clock is Ticking, and they better get moving, FAST, or there won’t be anything left of them,” adding that “TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE!”
Inventories will near all-time lows of 7.6 billion barrels by end-May, if demand for oil remains the same month over month, according to a report by Swiss bank UBS last week
Top Stories
Reuters – May 15, 2026
Caturus to start construction of major US LNG facility after securing $9.75 billion*
U.S.-based Caturus has approved the construction of a liquefied natural gas export facility in Cameron Parish, Louisiana, after securing $9.75 billion for construction works, the company said on Friday. The Commonwealth LNG project will cost a total of $12.5 billion including financing fees, Chairman Ben Dell said at a ground-breaking ceremony to mark the formal approval. The engineering, procurement and construction portion of the project is estimated at $8.4 billion, Dell told Reuters on the sidelines of the event.
The plant will include processing units that chill natural gas into liquid for export. Most of the equipment will be built in Italy, with some components sourced from the U.S., Dell said, adding that tariffs have been factored into the project’s budget. “We have tariffs like everyone else, and we manage that process like everyone else. It is built into the budget,” Dell said. About 67% of total project spending will be in the U.S. and Italy, he added.
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KXAN – May 15, 2026
Texas lawmakers push back on massive 765-kV transmission line project
A major project to move power across Texas to the Permian Basin through giant transmission lines is now facing growing pushback, not just from landowners but from state lawmakers. The plan includes three 765-kilovolt transmission lines designed to carry power across the state. State Rep. Brad Buckley, R-Bell County, is leading the charge against the project, helping draft a letter this week criticizing the buildout.
“This is a misguided project. And for $30 to $40 billion, we ought to know what we’re doing,” Buckley said. “It really appears like we are taking a step in the wrong direction for Texas.” The letter, signed by 25 state legislators, argues the project exceeds the intended scope of the bill that authorized it following the 2021 winter storm.
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The Wall Street Journal – May 16, 2026
The Texas-Size Fight Over Rick Perry’s Nuclear Power Startup*
Seven months ago, former Energy Secretary Rick Perry described as genius an idea from Texas energy billionaire Toby Neugebauer to build the world’s largest data center on a dusty grazing lease near Amarillo. “There will be an M.B.A. case study written about what you guys pulled off—I’m telling you,” Perry said to Neugebauer onstage at an October nuclear power conference. Today, the men are on opposite sides of a bitter showdown over the company they co-founded.
Fermi raced to go public last year—it was founded in January and held its initial public offering in October to capitalize on two booming trends: AI data centers and renewed interest in nuclear power. The startup courted investors with ambitious plans for a sprawling data-center and energy campus named for President Trump on land owned by the Texas Tech University System. It has promised to generate enough electricity to match what many states produce, largely with natural gas-fired equipment and four large nuclear reactors. Electricity would flow directly to sprawling on-site data centers filled with rows of servers running AI workloads for tech companies. Things haven’t gone according to plan.
Fermi, which hasn’t generated any revenue, has yet to land the kind of marquee tech tenant needed to finance the project. Insiders, including Perry’s son, have unloaded shares, which have plunged about 80% from their public debut. The company ousted Neugebauer as CEO last month for what it called unauthorized actions, policy breaches and a pattern of abusive behavior, according to a termination letter included in court filings. Neugebauer’s legal team argues his firing was retaliatory because he and others raised governance concerns to the board.
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KIDY – May 15, 2026
Rep. Pfluger discusses transmission siting, grid reliability in House hearing
U.S. Rep. August Pfluger of Texas raised concerns about transmission siting decisions and power grid reliability during a recent House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee hearing focused on the nation’s growing energy demands. Pfluger, a Republican who represents Texas’ 11th Congressional District, emphasized the need to expand domestic energy production and strengthen power capacity as electricity demand increases. Lawmakers and witnesses discussed how the U.S. can maintain grid reliability while competing globally, including with China.
During the hearing, Pfluger highlighted concerns from constituents about the placement of transmission lines and the impact on private property. He said landowners and local communities should have a meaningful role in decisions about where transmission infrastructure is built. While transmission siting is largely handled at the state level, Pfluger questioned witnesses about best practices for incorporating local input and protecting property rights in the planning process. He also urged utility companies to work closely with state and local leaders when developing projects.
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Oil Price – May 16, 2026
The Fertilizer Shock That Could Trigger a Global Food Crisis
Following the United States-Israeli attack on Iran and the ongoing war, trade has been severely disrupted between Asia and Europe. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), the world is currently facing the worst oil disruption in history. The energy shortages felt over the last two and a half months have had a knock-on effect on other sectors, particularly on the fertiliser industry, leaving farmers around the globe without the inputs they need for their crops to grow, which could lead to severe food shortages in the months ahead.
Following the attack, Iran shut the Strait of Hormuz, a key trade corridor connecting the Persian Gulf with the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea. The Strait is used to transport around 20 percent of the world’s oil when fully operational, but only a small fraction of that has passed through the waters in the last two months. This has resulted in widespread fuel shortages across many parts of the world, leading governments to ration oil and gas use.
The Latest TERse Tips
A drone strike sparked a fire on the edge of the United Arab Emirates’ sole nuclear power plant on Sunday in what authorities called an “unprovoked terrorist attack.” No one was blamed, but it highlighted the risk of renewed war as the United States and Iran signaled they were ready to fight again — Associated Press
Ahead of a meeting of finance ministers from the Group of Seven developed economies in Paris on Monday, a senior European official says the situation in the Middle East has highlighted how exposed the interconnected global economy is to external shocks — CNBC
US Will Replenish Every Barrel of Oil it Releases From Strategic Petroleum Reserve, Energy Secretary Wright Says — Energy Now
Soaring diesel prices since the onset of the Iran war are draining already tight U.S. school district budgets, making it more expensive to bus students and run generators in a shock officials say they will not be able to afford for long — Reuters*
Multiple wildfires are burning in the Texas panhandle, eastern New Mexico and Oklahoma panhandle — see the list from KVII
Fitch Ratings has assigned a ‘AA-‘ rating to the approximately $297 million refunding revenue bonds series 2026A and 2026B (taxable) to be issued by the Lower Colorado River Authority — Fitch
Under a US-imposed economic blockade, Cuba has received almost no fuel in 2026, so on May 13, the island’s energy minister said the country has completely run out of the diesel and fuel oil it needs to keep its power plants running — MSN
Toyota Motor North America may build a new $2 billion assembly plant adjacent to its current Texas truck plant with construction starting as early as this year, according to documents filed with the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts — AutoNews
“How Energy Price Swings Are Reshaping Mineral Rights Decisions in Texas” — press release
Global automation leader Emerson today announced that Oncor Electric Delivery Company LLC (Oncor) has selected AspenTech Digital Grid Management solutions to optimize real-time grid operations and strengthen its digital foundation — Process and Control Today
Oil & Gas Texas
Oil Price – May 15, 2026
US Oil Rig Count Jumps amid Rising Crude Prices
The total number of active drilling rigs for oil and gas in the United States rose this week, according to new data that Baker Hughes published on Friday, bringing the total rig count in the US to 551, down 25 from this same time last year. The number of active oil rigs rose by 5 to 415 during the latest reporting period, according to the data. This is 50 below this same time last year. The number of gas rigs fell by 1. Gas rigs now sit at 128, which is 20 more than this time last year. The miscellaneous rig count fell by 1, to 8.
The latest EIA data showed that weekly U.S. crude oil production rose during week ending May 8. US crude oil production averaged 13.710 million bpd during the reporting period—just 152,000 bpd under the all-time high. Primary Vision’s Frac Spread Count, an estimate of the number of crews completing wells, rose during the week ending May 8 by 5 to 179 crews—the highest level since November. The number of active drilling rigs in the Permian Basin rose by 4 to 246, which is 36 rigs under year-ago levels. The count in the Eagle Ford fell by 1 to 42, which is 4 fewer than this same time last year.
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Midland Reporter-Telegram – May 16, 2026
Enverus confirms forecast for $90-$95 WTI through 2027*
Confidence is growing that the war involving Iran and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz are pushing crude oil prices higher. Enverus Intelligence Research’s latest Fundamental Edge report reaffirms its higher-for-longer oil price outlook as market consensus moves closer to its projections. EIR has maintained its forecast for Brent, the global benchmark, to average $95 a barrel for the rest of 2026 and $100 a barrel in 2027. Kyle Bertamini, principal analyst for research at Enverus, said West Texas Intermediate is expected to maintain its differential to Brent, averaging $90 in 2026 and $95 in 2027.
The base case assumes the Strait of Hormuz will remain closed for three months. Each additional month of disruption adds approximately $10 to $15 per barrel to the outlook. Bertamini told the Reporter-Telegram in a telephone interview that EIR is starting to see a response from oil and gas operators in the Lower 48. “Last year, we averaged 460 horizontal rigs. In the last week or two, we’ve notched 500 rigs,” he said.
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Midland Reporter-Telegram – May 16, 2026
Delaware Basin remains EOG’s busiest asset*
Like other oil and natural gas producers, EOG Resources is adjusting to market changes in the wake of the conflict with Iran. “We’ve announced an increase in oil production by 2,000 barrels. We’re redirecting capital investment to oilier plays,” said Ezra Yacob, chairman and chief executive officer of EOG. “We’ll see how the conflict plays out. It’s cyclical. You have to take a long-term view and be thoughtful,” said Yacob, who was in Midland to be honored at a Midland Wildcat Committee reception.
The conflict has resulted in a renewed focus nationally on national security, energy reliability and affordability. “That has put West Texas at the center of the universe,” he said. “Communities like Midland that are close to the field lean into innovation. You have an important and long-term role to play.” He said the Delaware Basin has been the company’s primary focus for the last 10 to 12 years. “It’s still our busiest asset.”
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Fort Worth Star-Telegram – May 17, 2026
Star-Telegram endorsement: Which Republican for Texas’ oil agency?
We hoped that Texas Republicans, in their primary for the state’s oil-and-gas regulating industry, would choose a candidate with practical experience in the field and a willingness to innovate without constricting the vital energy sector. Two of five hopefuls advanced to the May 26 runoff for the misnamed Railroad Commission. Neither was our initial choice, but there’s no doubt which is preferable: incumbent Jim Wright. Wright is far from perfect, and we have concerns about his potential conflicts of interest on the three-person commission. But his opponent, Bo French of Tarrant County, has no business anywhere near any office of public trust, let alone a statewide perch.
Wright, 64, says he wants to cut red tape to speed projects such as pipelines and natural-gas terminals and to help landowners ensure that lease operators follow state regulations. He has drawn the ire of some small oil companies who blame him for environmental rules they believe should target larger firms. Wright, a resident of Orange Grove in South Texas who is seeking a second six-year term, maintains ownership stakes in oilfield waste companies, meaning his decisions could connect directly to his bottom line. This is sadly more common than it should be, and Wright should either divest himself, recuse himself from more votes or place his holdings in a blind trust.
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KOB – My 14, 2026
Can some New Mexico counties seriously join Texas?: 4 Investigates
Ultimately, even Rep. Pettigrew whose legislation restarted this latest effort which Texas legislators said is being taken seriously, is not serious about seeing it through. “We don’t want to go to Texas either, but we do want the respect down here,” Pettigrew said. He said the legislation was meant to spark a conversation about the needs of rural communities.
“It brings up a conversation,” Pettigrew said. “The conversation is the part that’s important.” The Texas Legislature heads back to session in January 2027. It’ll be revealed then if there are any serious proposals to re-draw the state line. New Mexico leadership has made efforts to make the governing in Santa Fe more accessible to New Mexicans statewide. The non-partisan Legislative Finance Committee traveled to Mosquero, Hobbs, Taos, and Tucumcari last year, and will travel to Ruidoso, Red River, and Farmington this year, as they develop the state’s budget framework.
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The New York Times – May 15, 2026
9 Million Acres, One Bitter Race Over Land in New Mexico*
Michael Perry, a retired game warden who is the Republican candidate for New Mexico’s powerful land commissioner post, pitches himself “not as a Republican or Democrat,” but a “New Mexico state land commissioner” obsessed with “collaboration, accountability and responsible land management.” His Democratic rivals see something entirely different: an existential threat. That’s because President Trump has nominated another New Mexico Republican, Steve Pearce, to lead the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, sometimes referred to as the nation’s largest landlord. And with two New Mexico Republicans potentially at the helm of both agencies, dramatic changes could come to a state known as the Land of Enchantment for its breathtaking landscapes and cultural riches.
Even with Mr. Pearce’s confirmation still pending, the B.L.M. on Monday rescinded a Biden-era rule allowing public lands to be leased for conservation purposes. That aligns with Mr. Trump’s goal of championing public lands for oil and gas drilling, coal mining, logging and livestock grazing. “I don’t think that anyone would have to pressure Perry to fall in line with the Trump agenda,” said Matthew McQueen, a state representative from suburban Santa Fe and one of three Democrats competing in the June 2 primary. “That greatly increases the threat to our public lands, both state and federal.” Mr. Perry, a Chaves County commissioner, dismisses those objections as partisan noise. Unopposed in the primary, he vows allegiance to the agency’s twin mandates: leasing land to help finance public schools and hospitals — which raised a near-record $2.6 billion last year, mostly from oil and gas companies — and taking care of the land for future generations.
Oil & Gas National & International
The Wall Street Journal – May 17, 2026
The World Can’t Get Enough U.S. Energy, Keeping Prices High for Americans*
The world is making a run on U.S. energy, setting American motorists and foreign buyers on a collision course. President Trump and his administration have successfully talked down and taken measures to contain American energy prices. That, combined with the fact that the country has a huge surplus, has prompted overseas buyers to buy huge volumes of U.S. oil, gasoline, jet fuel and other products they aren’t getting from the Middle East. U.S. oil prices settled Friday at $105.42 a barrel, down more than $7 from last month’s high. For now, the U.S. has been able to meet needs at home and replace some of the missing Gulf barrels. No nation in the world’s history has ever exported as much energy: It shipped 14.2 million barrels of crude and products a day late last month—the rough equivalent of one out of seven barrels consumed globally in ordinary times.
But trouble is brewing. U.S. oil producers are barely stepping up their output, refineries are running at full-throttle, and domestic stocks are getting depleted fast. The upshot: American consumers are set to keep paying more for fuel to stay inside the U.S.’s borders. “This is all just going to end so badly,” said Matt Smith, director of commodity research at commodities- and shipping-data provider Kpler. “We have to essentially get squeezed to the point where prices move higher to stop the barrels leaving.” The Trump administration is trying to tamp down rising prices, including by waiving restrictions on trade between U.S. ports and releasing oil from strategic stockpiles. Trump said last week he supports suspending the federal gasoline tax. Gasoline prices nationally averaged $4.51 a gallon on Sunday and could keep climbing into Memorial Day weekend, the starting gun to the busy summer driving season.
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The Wall Street Journal – May 16, 2026
The Oil Shock Is Causing a $45 Billion Rupture in the Economy*
The largest oil disruption in history is widening a divide in the economy. Americans have cumulatively spent about $45 billion more on gasoline and diesel during the war with Iran than they did during the same period a year ago, according to an analysis of OPIS pricing data and federal demand figures. The surging costs are eating an outsize share of low- and middle-income consumers’ paychecks, darkening their outlook relative to the well-off. At the same time, investors in oil-and-gas companies are watching their portfolios swell. Big energy returns bolstered a blockbuster corporate-earnings season and added momentum to the artificial-intelligence-led rally that has pushed the stock market to records. While higher inflation and borrowing costs have added stress on less-affluent Americans, many economists believe high earners will continue powering the U.S. ahead.
President Trump campaigned on cutting Americans’ energy costs in half. Now, as higher prices contribute to sagging poll numbers and some of the lowest consumer-sentiment readings on record, he has argued that the oil shock is benefiting the energy-rich U.S. in the form of record exports. “The question is, of course, who is the U.S.?” said Isabella Weber, an economics professor at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. “If we look at the different income groups in the United States, it’s really the richest of the rich who benefit from this. The majority of people hardly have any benefit from it and are in fact carrying a much larger cost burden.” Weber equated oil shocks to wealth redistribution. Her research on the fallout from Russia’s war on Ukraine found roughly 50% of the huge profits from U.S. energy firms in 2022 flowed to the wealthiest 1% of Americans.
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Midland Reporter-Telegram – May 16, 2026
High crude prices expected to accelerate M&A deals*
Upstream oil and gas companies entered the new year revving up merger and acquisition activity, only to tap the brakes as volatility surged when the Iran war began. In its first quarter M&A report, Enverus Intelligence Research, said the quarter reached $38 billion, the highest quarterly total in two years before slowing sharply in March due to increased crude oil price volatility. Current high prices are expected to accelerate a rebound in dealmaking, particularly by enabling more private E&Ps to pursue sales while supporting continued corporate consolidation, according to the report.
“We are likely heading into another tsunami of consolidation as higher oil prices supercharge both private companies going to market and public E&P appetite for deals, both corporate consolidation and private asset sales,” said Andrew Dittmar, principal analyst at EIR. “This, combined with strong appetite from private capital, both ABS and traditional private equity, this sets up the market for a very busy rest of the year.” Dittmar told the Reporter-Telegram by email that the Permian has pulled back significantly as a contributor to M&A markets outside of public company consolidation like the Devon merger with Coterra.
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Insurance Business Magazine – May 17, 2026
Washington’s $40 billion Hormuz insurance fix: zero takers
The US Development Finance Corporation’s $40 billion maritime reinsurance program — backed by Chubb, AIG, Berkshire Hathaway, Travelers, Liberty Mutual and Starr, and announced by President Trump as the mechanism that would restore energy flows through the Strait of Hormuz — has written zero business. Not one dollar of coverage has been placed. Not one vessel has transited under its protection.
The reason, according to underwriters, brokers and risk professionals who work the marine war market every day, is that the program was built on a fundamental misreading of why commercial shipping stopped moving through the world’s most critical oil chokepoint. Washington concluded the problem was insurance availability. The market says the problem was — and remains — a war.
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Axios – May 15, 2026
Farmers growing desperate amid rising energy and fertilizer prices
Farmers across the Midwest are entering planting season under mounting financial pressure, as the Iran conflict drives up diesel and fertilizer prices — deepening an agricultural downturn that some say is the worst since the crisis of the 1980s. Rising fuel and fertilizer costs threaten to push more family farms out of business, drive up food prices and further strain rural economies already battered by trade disruptions, inflation and extreme weather.
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KTRK – May 16, 2026
Energy Secretary Wright says war with Iran ‘will certainly’ end in next few weeks
Energy Secretary Chris Wright said Sunday that the war with Iran will come to an end in the next few weeks, and possibly sooner, amid concerns about high gas prices. “I think that this conflict will certainly come to an end in the next few weeks,” Wright told ABC News’ “This Week” co-anchor Martha Raddatz. “Could be sooner than that, but the conflict will come to the end in the next few weeks.”
Wright’s comments come as Americans are seeing increasingly high gas prices as a result of the war. One major piece of leverage Iran maintains is its control over the Strait of Hormuz, a critical passageway connecting the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman through which around 20% of the world’s oil supply passes through. Iran has effectively closed the strait, sending crude oil prices skyrocketing and leading to higher gas prices in the U.S.
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CNBC – May 14, 2026
UAE fast tracks second West-East oil pipeline to bypass Strait of Hormuz
Abu Dhabi is accelerating construction of the new West-East pipeline to Fujairah as it looks to expand its oil export capacity and bypass the Strait of Hormuz chokepoint. The project, expected to come online in 2027, will double the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company’s (ADNOC) export capacity.
The second pipeline project comes as global energy supplies remain under pressure, flows through the Strait of Hormuz are severely limited, and repeated attacks on energy infrastructure and shipping have curtailed the UAE’s ability to restore normal output. Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan on Friday called for faster delivery of the pipeline to meet rising global energy demand. ADNOC is “well positioned as a responsible and reliable global energy producer, with the operational flexibility to responsibly increase production to meet market needs when export constraints allow,” the Crown Prince said during a meeting of the company’s executive committee.
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The New York Times – May 15, 2026
The Countries Profiting From the War Oil Shock, as Others Lose Out*
The effective closing of the Strait of Hormuz, a choke point between the Gulf and the rest of the world, has forced the United Arab Emirates, Iraq and other countries to slash production and exports. Some are hurting worse than others. Those that can use pipelines to reroute their oil to ports away from the strait have fared a lot better than countries without such options. This energy crisis affects everyone, but not evenly. The New York Times analyzed months of export and pricing data from S&P Global Energy Commodities at Sea and Argus Media to assess how much some of the world’s biggest oil producers have been selling and at what price. The analysis looked specifically at oil and related products exported by sea, which have been most affected by the closure of the strait. …
But unlike many other big oil producers, the United States does not have a state-owned oil company. That means big oil companies are receiving the large majority of this extra revenue. So far, there is little sign they will reinvest those proceeds to drill more or to hire more workers. That means there is unlikely to be a big war-related economic boom in Texas, New Mexico and other oil-producing states. Instead, much of that extra revenue is likely to benefit investors in the form of higher stock prices and dividends. Many state governments will also earn more because they will receive bigger tax and royalty payments, as will landowners who have allowed oil drilling on their property. Russia has been another big beneficiary — not because it is selling more oil, but because it is being paid more for its oil. The main reason is that the war has caused oil prices around the world to soar. The United States also temporarily lifted sanctions on some Russian oil in March, an abrupt policy shift that most likely helped Russia receive more for its oil than it otherwise would have. In early April, for example, the price for Russian oil sold off the Gulf of Finland approached $120 a barrel, up from $41 before the war. That said, Ukraine has sought to limit Russia’s ability to capitalize on higher prices by attacking the country’s oil infrastructure.
Utilities, Electricity & Renewables
Texas Standard (NPR) – May 15, 2026
Q&A: Hill County judge expects legal challenges to data center development pause
Texas is one of the country’s hottest spots for new data centers. These are massive computing warehouses that companies use to power technology like artificial intelligence and cloud storage. Data center developers target Texas because of available power, land, and relatively few regulations. But some projects have been the target of backlash due to concerns over water and electricity usage.
The industry has a gold rush feel at the moment, with developers moving fast to claim the choicest spots in the state. But the commissioners court of Hill County, located between Dallas and Waco, recently moved to press pause on new data centers for a whole year. Hill County Judge Shane Brassell spoke to Texas Standard about the rationale behind the pause. Listen to the interview in the player above or read the transcript below.
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RFD TV – May 15, 2026
Small Nuclear Could Support Rural Power Demand Growth from AI Data Center Expansion
Advanced nuclear is not just a big-city data center story. If the technology proves commercially viable, rural Texas could become one of the first places where small reactors help support energy-intensive operations that need reliable power beyond the traditional grid. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has proposed a new Part 57 licensing framework for microreactors and other lower-risk reactor designs. The proposal could allow faster licensing, fleet approvals, manufacturing licenses, and repeatable deployment models for qualifying projects.
The timing matters as Texas power demand grows. The U.S. Energy Information Administration says ERCOT demand has steadily increased since 2021 and is forecast to grow faster than any other U.S. grid operator through at least 2026. Data centers may be the first major customers, but rural agriculture could benefit indirectly. Dairies, feedlots, water systems, processing plants, cotton gins, and grain facilities all depend on a steady power supply.
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The Wall Street Journal – May 16, 2026
NextEra Energy Near Deal for Rival Utility Dominion*
NextEra Energy is in advanced talks to buy rival utility Dominion Energy in a deal that would be one of the largest of the year, according to people familiar with the matter. The potential tie-up comes as the artificial-intelligence race is propelling significant electricity-demand growth for the first time in decades. The companies are discussing a mostly stock deal that could come as soon as Monday, the people said, assuming the talks don’t fall apart. Florida-based NextEra has a market value of nearly $200 billion, while Virginia-based Dominion has a market value of around $50 billion.
NextEra owns Florida Power & Light, the largest electric utility in the U.S., and is also a large developer of power generation and transmission. Financial Times earlier reported on the deal talks. New AI data centers can consume the same amount of electricity as an entire city, with high demand around the clock. Beyond AI, many utilities are trying to keep up with growth in manufacturing, electric vehicles and residential markets, too. Utilities around the country are planning to spend tens of billions of dollars to build new sources of power generation and high-voltage transmission lines to carry electricity from power plants over long distances. NextEra said in December it was teaming up with Alphabet’s Google Cloud to build new, large data center campuses paired with power generation across the U.S. NextEra and Google in October announced a deal to restart a NextEra nuclear reactor in Iowa.
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The Wall Street Journal – May 16, 2026
Coal Makes a Comeback, Fueled by War in the Middle East*
Coal is making a comeback. Countries around the world are returning to the highly polluting but reliable source of power after the Iran war effectively shut the Strait of Hormuz and cut off around 20% of global liquefied natural gas supplies. Taiwan is restarting idled coal-fired power plants and South Korea boosted the amount of electricity it generated from coal by more than a third last month. In Europe, Italy has put its coal plants on standby as it girds for a prolonged energy shock. Spot coal prices at Australia’s Newcastle port, a key supplier to Asia, have jumped 12% since the war started. That benchmark briefly topped $140 a metric ton in mid-March, the highest level since late 2024, though far below the $440 reached in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
“Coal is a buffer fuel right now. It is independent of geopolitics relative to LNG. It is a hedge,” said Tony Knutson, head of thermal coal markets at consulting firm Wood Mackenzie. “As long as the conflict endures and the strait remains closed, coal will fill that gap.” The return-to-coal trend is the latest sign of how the economic fallout from the conflict in the Middle East is rippling out around the world. It could also have an environmental impact. Many countries have worked to reduce coal consumption in recent years to combat climate change, and some have looked to generate power from LNG instead. Coal emits around double the amount of carbon dioxide as burning natural gas. The conflict with Iran means an expected decline in coal demand by the end of this decade will likely now be delayed, Knutson said. To be sure, not all countries are switching back to coal and analysts don’t expect the trend to last in the long term, especially if the Strait of Hormuz reopens and LNG shipments resume.
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Austin American-Statesman – May 15, 2026
Two Views: Does Austin Energy need new gas peaker plants?
With a City Council vote slated for May 21, Austin officials are weighing whether new gas peaker plants are essential for reliability or a setback for climate commitments. Our latest Two Views package explores the arguments.
For the peaker plants: Austin’s clean energy future still requires reliable backup – By Austin Energy General Manager Stuart Reilly
Austin is growing. Maybe not at the incredible pace of a few years ago, but our economy is expanding, our population is increasing, and expectations for reliable, affordable, environmentally sustainable power have never been higher. As the new general manager of Austin Energy, I owe our community something simple but often uncomfortable: the truth. The truth is that we are in the middle of the most complex energy transition in modern history. And while our commitment to sustainability is real and unwavering, so are the challenges we face to keep the lights on every hour of every day. To move forward, we must have clarity about where we stand today along with confidence in where we’re going.
Against the peaker plants: City Council should delay Austin Energy gas plant vote – By Kaiba White
Questionable deals around fossil fuels are nothing new. This is Texas, after all. But Austinites should expect better from our city. Next week, our city-owned electric utility, Austin Energy, will ask the City Council to approve spending an undisclosed amount of money on 400 megawatts of gas-burning so-called “peaker” power plants to be developed outside the normally required competitive bid process. Council members would be wise to pump the brakes, gather more information and engage the public before giving the utility a blank check.
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Robert Gaudette took over as the new CEO of power and electricity giant NRG Energy at the end of April ready to ride the AI wave and build the “bespoke desires and needs” of hyperscalers nationwide. But NRG isn’t only in the business of rapidly building new power plants—primarily gas-fired facilities—to satiate the hunger of data centers. NRG also is leaning into the burgeoning business of turning the United States’ dumb power grid smart with better technology and efficiency. That’s where demand-response programs and so-called “virtual power plants” come into play, convincing both industrial users and residential customers to turn their thermostats over to AI at times of peak demand—and returning excess renewable energy back to the grid if available—to save energy and keep energy prices lower, essentially acting as a de facto power plant.
NRG (No. 153 on the Fortune 500) represents a tale of two strategies—rapid power growth to satisfy demand and smarter grid efficiency to help solve the rising utility bill woes that are triggering AI backlashes nationwide. “We’ve barely started the first inning from a VPP-virtual power plant perspective,” Gaudette told Fortune in a sit-down interview. “Where we are today is now we have an affordability issue. Now we have a need. You have the combination of technology, willingness, and the economic desire to find a way to mobilize the power of the consumer to make a difference.”
Regulatory
Santa Fe New Mexican – May 17, 2026
State should update oil and gas bonding levels — it’s overdue: Joanna Prokup
When I was the secretary of Department of Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources in the 2000s, bonding levels for oil and gas development in New Mexico were woefully inadequate. In the more than two decades since then, clean-up costs have skyrocketed, and bonding levels have become alarmingly outdated. Bonds provide the state with financial assurances if an oil or gas operator goes belly-up or creates a large mess that needs to be cleaned up and remediated. Land Commissioner Stephanie Garcia Richard understands that the oil and gas bonding levels for production on state lands need to be increased significantly to protect New Mexicans from damage caused by irresponsible actors.
Currently, companies are only required to have a $10,000 bond in place for a single lease. This is comically low, as plugging costs for a single inactive oil well exceed $100,000, not including other cleanup expenses, such as soil remediation or the removal of derelict equipment. These low bonding levels put New Mexicans at huge risk. According to a 2025 Legislative Finance Committee Report the state’s current and near-future liability for well plugging and site remediation is estimated to reach up to $1.6 billion. That is way too big a liability for a state where every taxpayer cent is critical.
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Texas Energy Report NewsClips
Friday May 15, 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 gained about 2% after U.S. President Donald Trump said he and China’s Xi Jinping agree Iran cannot have nuclear weapons and as concerns persisted over ship attacks and seizures despite Tehran saying about 30 vessels crossed the Strait of Hormuz.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures were up $2.13, or 2.11%, to $103.30 a barrel.
Brent crude oil futures were up $1.77, or 1.67%, to $107.49 a barrel at 0642 GMT. Prices hit a session high of $107.99 earlier in the day.
For the week, Brent has climbed nearly 6%, while WTI has jumped more than 7%, on uncertainty over the shaky ceasefire in the Iran conflict.
Trump said his patience with Iran is running out and he had agreed in talks with Xi that Tehran cannot be allowed to have a nuclear weapon and must re-open the Strait of Hormuz.
Xi did not comment on his discussions with Trump about Iran, although China’s foreign ministry issued a statement, according to Reuters.
Top Stories
Reuters – May 14, 2026
Land management company EagleRock raises about $320 million in US IPO*
EagleRock, a land and resource management company that collects royalties and fees from oil and gas production on the land it controls in the Permian Basin, has raised $320.1 million in its U.S. initial public offering on Wednesday. The Houston-based company sold 17.3 million shares at $18.50 apiece, touching a mid-point of its marketed range of $17 to $20 per share.
The IPO also comes at a time when Middle East tensions have pushed crude prices above $100 a barrel, boosting the appeal of U.S. energy assets. The IPO also comes at a time when Middle East tensions have pushed crude prices above $100 a barrel, boosting the appeal of U.S. energy assets.
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The Wall Street Journal – May 14, 2026
The World Is Burning Through Its Oil Safety Net*
An underappreciated surplus of crude oil, sloshing around storage tanks and aboard ships, cushioned the global economy when the Persian Gulf closed 2½ months ago. That excess supply is now dwindling at a record pace, with oil executives and analysts predicting that a harsh reckoning is set to upend the relative calm in energy markets. Acute shortages of key fuels and soaring prices could emerge within weeks if the Strait of Hormuz remains shut. The drawdown in private storage and government strategic reserves along with a fall in demand due to the higher prices, has bought time and prevented oil prices from exploding. But it has left little margin for error in the months ahead.
“You can only decrease consumption so much, and when inventories run out, they are going to run out,” said Ellen Wald, senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Global Energy Center. “At some point the market is going to collide and prices are going to shoot up.” Global oil inventories—which include onshore tanks and oil floating on tankers at sea, and are a measure of the slack in energy markets—have fallen at a record pace since the start of the war. They plunged by 250 million barrels over March and April, according to the International Energy Agency, a Paris-based club of energy consuming nations. That is equal to around 2½ days of global oil use. The runway to avoid reaching critical levels—known as tank bottoms in industry parlance—is vanishing rapidly.
In a report titled “The illusion of plenty,” JPMorgan Chase estimated that if the strait remains blocked, stockpiles in a group of wealthy nations could plunge to “operational stress levels” early next month and to system-straining “operational floor level” by September. The bank said it doesn’t expect inventories to actually reach those levels because history suggests demand would be curtailed first. The implications of an oil supply shortage are vast. Prices at the gas pump are already touching their highest levels in years in the U.S. and could shoot higher when stocks run low. Airlines are reorganizing flights to adapt to potential shortages of jet fuel. Central bank decisions over whether to raise interest rates will depend in large part on whether oil markets remain well supplied.
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Oil Price – May 14, 2026
Chevron Sells Singapore Refinery Stake to Eneos
Chevron struck a deal with Eneos to sell it its 50% interest in Singapore Refining Company. The Japanese energy major will pay close to $2.2 billion for the stake, media reported. As part of the deal, Eneos will also acquire other Chevron assets across Southeast Asia and Australia. The deal, for Eneos, fits with its expansion strategy and a move away from a focus on the domestic Japanese market. For Chevron, the sale is part of a push to streamline global assets and reduce costs.
Singapore Refining Company is a 50/50 joint venture between Chevron and the Chinese state-run oil and gas giant PetroChina. The refinery in Singapore can process 290,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil, with the fuel traded through a regional and international network, and an established distribution in Singapore and within Jurong Island. Earlier this year, Chevron said it would lay off 15-20% of its global workforce and reorganize its business structure. The company’s Oil, Products & Gas organization will be consolidated into two segments: Upstream and Downstream, Midstream & Chemicals. Mark Nelson will continue to lead this organization as vice chairman and executive vice president, Oil, Products & Gas.
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S&P Global Platts – May 14, 2026
Hormuz closure drives record tanker rates, boosts Teekay earnings
The effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz and the loosening of Venezuelan crude flows propelled midsize tanker rates to among the highest levels on record, Teekay Tankers executives told investors May 14, crediting the geopolitical environment for a surge in first-quarter earnings. Teekay Tankers reported first-quarter 2026 net income of $153.6 million, or $4.42 per share, roughly double the $76 million it earned a year earlier. Adjusted net income was $128.3 million, or $3.69 per share, compared with $41.8 million a year earlier.
The owner of 33 oil and product tankers said Suezmax and Aframax/LR2 spot rates averaged $61,000/day in Q1, with Suezmaxes earning $62,124/day and Aframax/LR2s $59,934/day. Quarter-to-date Q2 rates have climbed further, with Suezmaxes booked at $121,800/day on 60% of available days, Aframax/LR2s at $98,000/day on 53%, and the company’s lone VLCC at $141,800/day on 71%. CEO Kenneth Hvid attributed the results to ongoing geopolitical disruption.
The Latest TERse Tips
A Ukrainian drone attack killed three people in the central Russian city of Ryazan, damaged high-rise apartment buildings and hit an industrial enterprise, Regional Governor Pavel Malkov said early on Friday, and there are reports that a refinery was hit and is on fire — Reuters*
Chinese leader Xi Jinping warned President Trump that any mishandling of Taiwan could lead to “an extremely dangerous situation,” directly raising a point of tension that has loomed over what the U.S. president said at the start could be “the best summit ever.” — The Wall Street Journal*
“Goldman saying the oil market has been in a net deficit of 7-8MM Bbl/d since March 1st. JP Morgan said we can only lose 800MM Bbls before the global refining system gets pushed into operational stress levels. As of April 23rd 520MM Bbls were left. That puts ‘D-Day’ ~ July 1st” (about 6 weeks) — energy investor Eric Nuttal on X
“This is simply the nightmare that everyone least wants to see in their planning” — Hunter Hunt, grandson of Texas oil tycoon H.L. Hunt, said in Bloomberg*
Here are the megadonors and dark money groups boosting James Talarico’s anti-billionaire Senate bid — Texas Tribune
Moody’s Ratings has reaffirmed New Braunfels Utilities’ Aa1 credit rating — American Public Power Association
Colorado lawmakers say they are launching a last-minute legislative bid on Friday to counter a proposed ballot measure aiming to give consumers in the state a constitutional “right to natural gas” — CPR News
Coterra Energy Inc. Upgraded To ‘BBB+’ From ‘BBB’ On Completion Of Merger With Devon Energy Corp.; Outlook Stable — S&P Global
Fitch Ratings has revised Oncor Electric Delivery Company LLC’s Rating Outlook to Stable from Negative — Fitch
Talen Energy Corporation says Talen Energy Supply, LLC, a direct wholly owned subsidiary of TEC, has entered into several financing transactions designed to optimize the Company’s debt structure and financing cost — see the press release
Georgetown is taking a big step to make sure its taps do not run dry — the city announced it signed a term sheet with Recharge Water, a critical step to securing a long-term water supply. The groundwater deal will lock in water resources for decades to come — KEYE
The Texas Transportation Commission recently authorized Phase II of the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) program to proceed with approximately $250 million in funding for more public EV chargers in Texas — Clean Technica
Sunraycer Renewables has closed a $901 million project financing facility with MUFG, Ally Bank, Nomura, Nord/LB, and Societe Generale to fund three Texas solar-plus-storage projects — the portfolio totals 479.5 MWac solar and 236.5 MWac two-hour battery storage, with construction started in late 2025 and commercial operations expected between 2026 and 2027 — Stock Titan
Oil & Gas Texas
Houston Chronicle – May 14, 2026
John Cornyn partners with Democrat John Fetterman on LNG export bill*
U.S. Sen John Cornyn is partnering with U.S. Sen. John Fetterman, a Pennsylvania Democrat, on legislation to stop future presidential administrations from blocking construction of new exports terminals for liquefied natural gas. That happened under former President Joe Biden when the U.S. Department of Energy stopped permitting new LNG export terminals while it reviewed how emissions from those facilities was impacting the planet’s climate.
“America’s energy producers shouldn’t work in fear that a future administration could kneecap them with burdensome restrictions at a moment’s notice due to ambiguous laws,” Cornyn said in a statement. While Cornyn and Fetterman come from different political parties, the states they represent are the two leading producers of natural gas, representing more than 45% of the country’s total output, according to the Department of Energy. The Biden administration’s decision to put a hold on LNG construction in 2024 drew condemnation from oil and gas companies and a number of Democrats, including U.S. Reps. Sylvia Garcia and Henry Cuellar, as well as former Dallas congressman Colin Allred.
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Houston Chronicle – May 14, 2026
Can Greg Abbott suspend Texas’ gas tax? What state law says*
As gas prices climb above $4 a gallon, Democratic gubernatorial nominee Gina Hinojosa is renewing calls for Gov. Greg Abbott to suspend Texas’ 20-cent-per-gallon gas tax, arguing the governor already has the legal authority to do it during a disaster declaration. Abbott’s office says he does not. The dispute centers on a narrow but politically significant legal question: Does Texas law allow the governor to suspend taxes using emergency powers, or only regulatory rules and procedures?
Texas drivers currently pay a 20-cent state gasoline tax and the same rate on diesel fuel under state law. Hinojosa first proposed suspending the tax last month, framing it as immediate relief for families, commuters, truck drivers and small businesses struggling with higher fuel prices. Her campaign renewed the push this week after President Donald Trump said he supported suspending the federal gas tax. “Greg Abbott has the power to make gas 20 cents cheaper for every Texan driving to work,” Hinojosa said in an April statement announcing the proposal.
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Pipeline & Gas Journal – May 14, 2026
Aspen Midstream Reaches FID on Katy Hub for Gulf Coast Demand
Aspen Midstream has reached a final investment decision on its planned Aspen Katy Hub facility in Texas, a project designed to expand natural gas connectivity between major supply basins and growing Gulf Coast demand centers. The project will include new compression infrastructure and low- and high-pressure header systems in the Katy, Texas region. Aspen said the facility will provide approximately 3 billion cubic feet per day of receipt and delivery capacity across eight major interstate and intrastate natural gas pipelines when it enters service in the first quarter of 2027.
The company said the hub is intended to support rising demand tied to LNG exports, power generation and industrial growth along the Gulf Coast. Matt Ray, co-chief executive officer of Aspen Midstream, said the project is positioned near major supply basins and expanding Gulf Coast markets.
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Reuters – May 13, 2026
Exxon-backed initiative on carbon accounting sparks fears of bid to slow climate action*
It’s an old adage that you can’t manage what you can’t measure. But measurement requires a common language – something the world of greenhouse gas reporting doesn’t yet have. Last September, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the Greenhouse Gas Protocol announced plans to remedy that by harmonising standards to create one global standard for corporate, project and product accounting.
Suzanne Greene, global purchasing environmental sustainability director at chemicals giant Dow, told a recent webinar organised by the ISO that alignment between the standards would help suppliers to provide “low-carbon offers that are comparable, transparent and fit right into our Scope 3 and our product carbon footprints”. At the moment, she said, “We spend a lot of time looking at our suppliers’ product carbon footprint data, their corporate emissions data, and it can be hard to see if the information is correct and that we can trust it.”
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The New York Times – May 14, 2026
A Texas Fight for a Powerful Oil Job Tests the Strength of the Hard Right*
Bo French was such a headache for some Republican leaders last year that they asked him to resign as a county party chairman. But if their goal had been to try to sideline Mr. French, among the loudest voices on the far right in Texas, that effort may have backfired. With the support of a couple of billionaire oilmen, Mr. French has become a viable candidate for a powerful statewide job overseeing the Texas oil and gas industry, a cornerstone in the nation’s energy portfolio. Attorney General Ken Paxton headlined Mr. French’s campaign kick off party. Steve Bannon, a former close aide to President Trump, has boosted his candidacy.
On the other hand, Mr. French is opposed by Gov. Greg Abbott and other top Republican officials, along with some of the biggest companies in the energy business. They have all thrown their considerable conservative weight and campaign cash behind Jim Wright, the staid incumbent chairman of the Texas Railroad Commission who is facing Mr. French in a May 26 runoff. The contest, mostly overlooked outside of Texas, offers a clear test of the power of a traditional business-backed conservative incumbent against a self-described “America First” upstart challenging his own party’s boundaries of decency.
The two men, who have never met in person, are waging parallel but utterly disparate campaigns. Mr. French, 56, frequently posts anti-Muslim rhetoric on social media, claiming the state of Texas is being taken over by Muslims. He has called for the deportation of nearly one-third of the country and attacked his critics as “liars” or “gay race communists.” Accused criminals, he has said, deserve one punishment: “A rope.” Mr. Wright has argued that Mr. French’s comments have nothing to do with the job of being an oil and gas regulator — a position that is even more important now as the fallout from the Iran War continues to shock world oil markets.
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Oil Price – May 14, 2026
Permian Gas Glut Means Producers Are Paying Buyers to Haul It Away
The war in Iran has choked natural gas supplies across Europe and Asia, leading to fuel rationing and blackouts, but in the heart of US shale country, the market is swimming in supply. Gas in the Permian Basin of West Texas and New Mexico is so plentiful that producers are having to pay buyers to get rid of it. Bloomberg reports that there is so much inventory that it exceeds available pipeline capacity. “Prices aren’t merely cheap, they’re negative,” states the April 29 article, noting that Permian gas hit an all-time low of -$9.60 per million British thermal units on April 24.
In the Permian, gas prices have dipped below zero intermittently since 2019 as pipeline construction failed to keep pace with soaring production. But this year, negative pricing has been more pronounced than ever. US natural gas futures have slipped 10% since the Middle East conflict began, a situation that contrasts sharply with Europe, where prices are up about 40%, and Asia, where they’ve jumped more than 50%.
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Houston Chronicle – May 14, 2026
Houston’s newest energy IPO is more landlord than oil producer*
Houston-based EagleRock Land went public Thursday morning, aiming to reach more than $2 billion in valuation as U.S. oil and gas assets draw increased international attention in the wake of the Iran war. The land management company, created last year, owns more than 236,000 acres across the resource-rich Permian Basin in West Texas and New Mexico. EagleRock generates revenue from resource sales and the royalties paid by other firms that use its land, including Houston oil giants Chevron, and ConocoPhillips, and Devon Energy, which plans to move its headquarters to Houston this year.
The royalties that EagleRock receives from traditional producers are “just part of the story,” said Greg Pipkin Jr., Eagle Rock’s chief executive officer, in an exclusive interview with the Houston Chronicle. EagleRock aims to use its Permian real estate to ease a key bottleneck for oil and gas operators: water supply for fracking and handling the roughly three barrels of wastewater that flow up alongside each barrel of oil. Known within the industry as “produced” water, oilfield wastewater is a headache for Houston’s oil industry. Disposing of it underground is triggering leaking wells and earthquakes in some areas, but EagleRock said it offers “valuable pore space capacity for produced water disposal in areas not affected by seismicity and over-pressurization concerns.”
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Reuters – May 14, 2026
Venezuelan refiner Citgo profit hits $157 million as it processes more oil*
Venezuela-owned U.S. refiner Citgo Petroleum said on Thursday it made a first-quarter profit of $157 million, compared with an $82 million loss in the same period last year, thanks to a higher utilization of its 829,000 barrel-per-day processing capacity. Citgo, which is subject to a U.S. court-ordered auction of its parent company to pay billions of dollars to Venezuela-linked creditors, had a refinery throughput of 851,000 bpd, including record-setting crude runs of 819,000 bpd, with an average crude utilization rate of 99% across its three refineries.
“Reliability remained strong during the quarter and our margin capture rate improved relative to the previous quarter,” Citgo CEO Carlos Jorda said in a statement. Total throughput was 833,000 bpd in the first quarter last year, with a 95% crude utilization rate. High commodity prices contributed to the results, while Citgo also purchased and refined its first Venezuelan crude since 2019, but extreme price volatility triggered a 3% drop in sales volume to 417,000 bpd from 430,000 bpd the prior quarter.
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Associated Press – May 14, 2026
New Mexico politicians grapple with oil windfall from Iran war that’s both ‘awesome’ and awkward
The global oil bottleneck in the Strait of Hormuz has generated an enviable — and politically sensitive — financial windfall on the other side of the world in New Mexico, a rare Democratic-dominated state where fossil fuels are a bedrock of progressive social services. New Mexico produces more oil than any other state besides Texas, and the state’s revenue from taxes, royalties and lease sales helps cover the cost of college tuition, all school meals, health insurance and a new initiative for free universal child care.
Now that oil prices are surging from the conflict with Iran, money is flooding into the state treasury and creating an uncomfortable situation for Democrats who oppose the war and would rather reduce their reliance on fossil fuels. “It’s hard for people to think about, ‘Oh great, we have this windfall,’ and children are getting killed on the other side of the world,” said Deb Haaland, the former U.S. Interior Department secretary running for governor.
Oil & Gas National & International
Reuters – May 14, 2026
UAE to accelerate oil pipeline project to help bypass Hormuz*
The United Arab Emirates will accelerate construction of a new oil pipeline to double its export capacity through Fujairah by 2027, the government’s Abu Dhabi Media Office said on Friday, vastly expanding its ability to bypass the Strait of Hormuz. Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed directed the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) to fast-track the West-East Pipeline project during an executive committee meeting, ADMO said, adding the pipeline is under construction and expected to start operating in 2027. It did not disclose the original timeline for the project.
The UAE’s existing Abu Dhabi Crude Oil Pipeline (ADCOP), also known as the Habshan-Fujairah pipeline, can carry up to 1.8 million barrels per day, and has proved crucial as the country seeks to maximise direct exports from the Gulf of Oman coast. The UAE and Saudi Arabia are the only Gulf producers with pipelines that export crude outside the Strait of Hormuz, while Oman has a long coastline on the Gulf of Oman. The narrow waterway between Iran and Oman was effectively shuttered by Iran in response to a U.S.-Israeli air and naval campaign that began on February 28, choking off about a fifth of global oil supplies that normally flow to Asia and elsewhere.
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Bloomberg – May 14, 2026
Foreign Buyers Snap Up Nearly Half of Trump’s Emergency Oil*
Nearly half of the crude oil released from the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve is being exported, a fresh sign of how severely global supplies have tightened amid the Iran war. About 13 million barrels from the US emergency stockpile have sailed to Europe and other destinations, according to data from Kpler Ltd. based on US Customs’ documents. That represents roughly 40% of the crude released so far from the reserve. The last tanker to load crude from the SPR was the Kyrakatingo, which took 700,000 barrels of Bryan Mound Sour oil, a variety named after one of the four underground salt caverns where US emergency supplies are stored.
It’s not uncommon for oil from the emergency cache to be exported. In 2022, after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine disrupted global oil flows, traders shipped almost 21 million barrels from the SPR to refiners in Europe and Asia, or roughly 10% of the total release. Still, the scale of exports this time highlights the strain on global crude markets after the near closure of the Strait of Hormuz. The Trump administration pledged to release 172 million barrels from the reserve as part of a broader effort by advanced economies to ease the strain of the Iran war on global energy markets. So far, the US has agreed to loan 133 million barrels, with more than half snatched by trading companies. Trafigura Group alone secured about a quarter of that.
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S&P Global Platts – May 14, 2026
Q&A: Energy security drives focus on existing wells over new drilling
Global energy security concerns are driving a shift toward maximizing production from existing oil and gas assets rather than relying on distant supply sources, creating opportunities for well intervention services in markets from the North Sea to Venezuela, Guillaume Borrel, CEO of oilfield technology company GOWell, said in an interview.
The change in strategy comes as countries reassess their dependence on production “on the other side of the planet,” Borrel told Platts, part of S&P Global Energy, on May 12. The UK’s North Sea basin exemplifies the trend, he said, noting 2024 marked the first year without a single new well drilled there as policy focused entirely on plugging and abandonment work. Now the government is considering incentives to boost output from existing assets, he said.
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Reporting from Alaska – May 12, 2026
How much does a pipeline cost? Glenfarne says it is a secret
In the 24th meeting of the Senate Resources Committee on the Dunleavy tax cut plan for the LNG project last week, Sen. Bill Wielechowski asked a simple question of Adam Prestidge, the president of Glenfarne Alaska LNG. The simple question is the single most important question.
“What’s the cost of your project?” Wielechowski said. Glenfarne claims it has no intention of ever answering that question in public until the Legislature acts on a tax cut. Later on, when the state decides if it should invest in the project, all will be revealed, Glenfarne claims. Prestidge wouldn’t give Wielechowski and the other committee members the latest number on what Glenfarne thinks the pipeline and LNG project might cost.
Utilities, Electricity & Renewable
Austin Current – May 14, 2026
Austin weighs controversial $1 billion natural gas-powered peaker proposal amid climate backlash
The Austin City Council is poised to decide whether to back a controversial plan to build new natural gas “peaker” units, a move supporters say is necessary to prevent blackouts during extreme demand, but environmental advocates argue would deepen the city’s reliance on fossil fuels for decades. The debate exposes a growing tension between Austin’s climate ambitions and the demands of a rapidly growing city facing rising energy needs.
After retiring aging plants that produced significant carbon emissions but also provided more than 725 megawatts of local energy generation capacity — about 45% of Austin’s local energy generation — Austin Energy says it is facing a growing power supply shortfall. The issue became apparent during the record heat of 2022 and 2023, when customers cranked down thermostats and electricity demand spiked. Soon after, Austin Energy concluded that if it did not begin generating more energy locally, customers could face higher bills and an increased risk of blackouts during future extreme weather events.
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KIII – May 14, 2026
AEP project aims to strengthen power grid in Jim Wells County
A new AEP Texas project aimed at improving power reliability in Jim Wells County comes nearly a year after severe storms left many residents without electricity for days and caused widespread damage across the region. Now, AEP Texas is moving forward with a newly approved project to upgrade a segment of transmission line running from Alice to Falfurrias. According to AEP Texas spokesperson Omar Lopez, the improvements are designed to better support growth in the area while also helping reduce outages during severe weather.
“So when we rebuild a line like this, it’s always in the hopes that it can reduce customer outage minutes. We want to reduce power outages. That’s always our hope. We never know what Mother Nature is going to bring,” Lopez said. Richard Griffin has lived in Alice for 52 years and says he remembers just how hard the city was hit when powerful storms tore through the Coastal Bend last year. “Oh there were people without power for a couple of days,” Griffin said. Griffin said emergency crews from across Texas responded to help communities recover after the storm.
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pv magazine – May 14, 2026
Arava Power agrees to acquire half of 670 MW OCI Energy Texas solar project
Israeli solar developer and independent power producer Arava Power has agreed to acquire a 50% ownership interest in the 670 MWdc (512.6 MWac) La Salle Solar facility, from Texas-based OCI Energy. The facility site, located about 60 miles northeast of Lardeo, Texas, is currently under development, with commercial operations expected to begin in 2028. The companies will jointly finance, construct, own and operate the project.
The companies have previously collaborated on two other projects in the Texas market. The first was the Sunray solar farm, a 270 MW project in Uvalde county, which Arava Power began operating in 2024 after acquiring the project from OCI in 2021.
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S&P Global Platts – May 14, 2026
Canadian Solar managing ‘solar downturn’ that has lasted ‘longer than expected’
Canadian Solar is focused on key strategic markets as solar energy production continues to experience challenges, though its battery storage business is attracting greater interest. “The solar downturn has lasted longer than expected,” Shawn Qu, Canadian Solar’s executive chairman and chief technology officer, said May 14 during the company’s first-quarter earnings call. “Against this backdrop, we have consistently made the right strategic decisions.”
The company has refocused on strategic markets, Qu said, noting the creation of CS PowerTech in December 2025, which is helping it reshore US manufacturing. CS PowerTech is a joint venture for US assets that avoids US scrutiny over China from new foreign entity of concern (FEOC) restrictions added under the July 2025 Republican-backed budget law to qualify for tax credits.
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April 8, 2026
The stampede to build new gas-fired power generation is real; one recent U.S. estimate showed that 133,000 megawatts (MW) of new capacity is on the drawing board. But those planned projects overlook several major financial risks, both for utility customers and investors.
A growing issue for gas projects, and one largely overlooked in the planning process, is the impact of the fuel’s cost on the ultimate price paid by consumers for power. Utilities generally pass fuel costs directly through to consumers, which effectively eliminates the companies’ financial risk from gas price spikes. Customers are not as lucky, as was evident clearly in 2022 when Russia’s invasion of Ukraine sent gas prices soaring, pushing electricity costs from gas-fired power plants up sharply. In addition, weather-driven price spikes can result in significant unexpected costs being pushed onto U.S. consumers, as happened just this past winter.
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PV Tech – May 14, 2026
Israel-headquartered independent power producer (IPP) Arava Power has acquired 50% of US IPP OCI Energy’s La Salle Solar project, a 670MW project in Texas that OCI expects to start commercial operations in 2028. The acquisition is part of a Member Ship Interest Purchase Agreement (MIPA), which will see Arava take on half of the project’s ownership, and both companies will be involved in financing, constructing, owning and operating the project. The companies did not provide further details of the transaction, but noted that this is the largest single-site solar project in the companies’ shared portfolio, which now consists of three projects.
“La Salle Solar is a milestone not only because of its size, but because it reflects the consistency and expertise of our team,” said OCI president Sabah Bayatli. “Executing a project of this scale is the result of deep market knowledge, strong partnerships and a focused approach to development.”
Regulatory
KUHF – May 14, 2026
Air Alliance Houston to expand program along Gulf Coast, despite federal funding cuts
When a concrete batch plant, chemical manufacturing facility or other industrial business seeks a permit near a Harris County or Fort Bend neighborhood, nearby residents often receive a notice in the mail. However, that notice isn’t from the local government, the state’s environmental regulators, or even the businesses themselves. For the last four years, Air Alliance Houston has been conducting an awareness-raising campaign — known as AirMail — and notifying community members about industrial facilities seeking to operate in their neighborhoods.
Now, the environmental watchdog is expanding its AirMail program to Galveston, Beaumont, Corpus Christi, Louisiana, and other parts of the Gulf Coast, despite facing financial setbacks due to the termination of an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) grant. Air Alliance joined several other organizations whose grants had been terminated in a class action lawsuit against the federal agency last year.
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Texas Energy Report NewsClips
Thursday May 14, 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 rose Thursday as the International Energy Agency flagged greater impending volatility, while OPEC lowered its demand outlook for the year.
West Texas Intermediate futures for June gained 0.43% at $101.45 per barrel.
International benchmark Brent crude futures for July were 0.34% higher at $105.99 a barrel.
OPEC cut its demand growth estimates for 2026 to about 1.2 million barrels per day, from 1.4 million bpd previously, in its latest monthly update. OPEC production fell by 1.7 million bpd in April and has declined more than 30%, or 9.7 million bpd since the start of the Iran war in late February.
OPEC’s latest update is expected to be the last one to include data from the United Arab Emirates, which exited the cartel on May 1.
The International Energy Agency’s on Wednesday also highlighted the impact of the Iran war on oil supply. “More than ten weeks after the war in the Middle East began, mounting supply losses from the Strait of Hormuz are depleting global oil inventories at a record pace,” the IEA said.
Top Stories
Reuters – May 13, 2026
Exxon, Chevron face dissent from proxy firms ahead of annual meetings*
Proxy advisory firms Glass Lewis and Institutional Shareholder Services have recommended that Exxon Mobil and Chevron investors vote against some of the boards’ stances on shareholder proposals, including against Exxon’s plan to redomicile in Texas. Both U.S. oil producers have long been the subject of critical shareholder proposals urging the companies to evaluate climate and human rights risks, and recommendations from proxy advisers are closely watched. The companies will hold their annual shareholder meetings on May 27.
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Exxon investors should vote against the company’s proposal to change its incorporation from New Jersey to Texas because the move could restrict stockholder rights and make it more difficult to seek legal recourse, Glass Lewis and ISS said in reports this month.
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ISS also advised approving a proposal that Exxon add more options to its retail voting program, including an option for retail investors to automatically vote against the board’s recommendations.
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In a filing on Tuesday, Exxon hit back against the New York City Comptroller’s Office, which brought the voting proposal, saying that its criticism of the company was politically motivated.
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Exxon also said Glass Lewis was “ill-informed” in its recommendation against the Texas move.
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Utility Dive – May 13, 2026
2026 Q1 roundup: Utilities divided on data centers as affordability looms large
Related: “Constellation Energy has 5 GW of projects — nuclear uprates, gas-fired generation and battery storage — in the PJM Interconnection’s generation queue, company officials said Monday during an earnings conference call” — Utility Dive
Data centers continue to drive load growth and utility spending outside California and the Northeast, but the triple threat of physics, policy and politics is beginning to constrain some of the industry’s highest aspirations.
Executives from American Electric Power, FirstEnergy, PPL and Vistra were among those who highlighted issues in the PJM Interconnection that are slowing resource development, including uncertainty surrounding the grid operator’s backstop procurement process for data centers. Outside of PJM, the CEO of Eversource flatly declared he is “not interested” in data centers, as they are “only going to drive up the price of energy.”
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The Wall Street Journal – May 13, 2026
OPEC Cuts Oil Demand Forecast As Hormuz Shock Pushes Output Lower*
OPEC’s crude output fell further last month as the near-closure of the Strait of Hormuz forced major Gulf producers to curb production and reroute exports, prompting the cartel to cut its demand forecast. The group of oil-rich countries now forecasts global oil-demand growth of 1.17 million barrels a day this year, from 1.38 million previously. Next year’s growth is projected at 1.54 million barrels a day, up from previous estimates of 1.34 million barrels a day.
Other forecasters paint a far bleaker picture. The International Energy Agency expects global oil demand to contract by 420,000 barrels a day this year, while the U.S. Energy Information Administration projects growth of 200,000 barrels a day. OPEC’s crude production fell by 1.73 million barrels a day to 18.98 million barrels a day in April, while output from the broader OPEC+ alliance declined by 1.74 million barrels a day to 33.19 million barrels a day. Saudi Arabia suffered the steepest decline—even though the kingdom is rerouting more of its crude to the Red Sea port of Yanbu to bypass Hormuz—followed by Kuwait and Iraq.
Despite the closure of Hormuz—a vital pathway for many members to ferry crude to Asian buyers—key nations among OPEC and its allies agreed to proceed with a symbolic increase of their output quotas in June. In afternoon European trading on Wednesday, Brent crude was around $107 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate hovered near $98 a barrel as negotiations between the U.S. and Iran remain deadlocked over the reopening of Hormuz and the future of Iran’s nuclear program, with neither side so far willing to compromise on key demands.
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The Texan – May 13, 2026
Related: A delegation of business and community leaders from Bryan-College Station is in Washington, D.C. this week, meeting with lawmakers about the future of energy in the region — KBTX
The Blanco-Pedernales Groundwater Conservation District (BPGCD) has submitted a resolution calling for “legislative clarity on industrial water rights,” as data center growth looms in their periphery. A groundwater conservation district (GCD) is tasked with managing groundwater resources in the public interest in a particular region, per the Texas Water Code.
The BPGCD stated that it “formally opposes data center developments in water-constrained regions unless developers can prove a sustainable supply and implement robust mitigation.” They requested from the Legislature both “clarification and protection regarding the regulation of data centers and concentrated demand locations,” and urged lawmakers in the 90th Legislative Session to clarify that GCDs have the power to “deny permits where resources cannot sustainably support demand.”
The Latest TERse Tips
Xi Jinping, China’s leader, told President Trump that Taiwan, if handled poorly, could lead to a clash with the United States — The New York Times*
Houston inflation rises as gas prices post biggest two-month surge in nearly 50 years — Houston Chronicle*
“Diesel demand destruction has begun U.S. diesel consumption collapsed from 257 mmb above the 5-year average to 83 mmb below it in just two week” — Art Berman on Twitter
US-based renewable energy company Spearmint Energy has achieved commercial operation for two standalone battery energy storage system (BESS) projects in Texas, adding a combined 200 MW / 400 MWh of capacity to the ERCOT power market — pv magazine
Plains All American has appointed veteran executive Cynthia Taylor to its general partner board — TipRanks
Plains GP Holdings said that Plains All American Pipeline will terminate its $1.1 billion senior unsecured term loan after closing the sale of its Canadian NGL business — Trading View
Plains All American Pipeline, L.P. and Plains GP Holdings has completed the previously announced sale of all of the issued and outstanding shares of Plains Midstream Canada ULC, the PAA subsidiary that owns substantially all of PAA’s natural gas liquids business to Keyera Corp., an Alberta Corporation, pursuant to the terms of a definitive Share Purchase Agreement dated as of June 17, 2025 — see the press release
Venture Global announced a new, binding agreement with TotalEnergies for the purchase of approximately 0.85 MTPA of LNG from Venture Global for approximately five years commencing in 2026 — Separately, Venture Global and Vitol agreed to increase their existing five-year binding LNG agreement to 1.7 MTPA, up from 1.5 MTPA previously agreed and announced in March 2026. Both agreements will be supplied from Venture Global’s portfolio — see the press release
Lake Tahoe residents may soon lose access to their electricity — NV Energy will stop service to homes in the next year, and instead direct that electricity to the growing demand from Nevada data centers — Yahoo! News
Oncor Electric Delivery Company LLC has selected AspenTech Digital Grid Management to “optimize real-time grid operations and strengthen its digital foundation to safely and reliably deliver energy to a growing number of Texas customers and continue to support the state’s economic growth” — see the press release
Natural Gas Services Group, Inc. Reports First Quarter 2026 Financial and Operating Results — see the press release
Oil & Gas Texas
E&E News By Politico – May 13, 2026
Parched Corpus Christi threatens to cut off water to refineries
Refineries and petrochemical plants in Corpus Christi, Texas, could have their water access cut off by a local utility if an emergency is declared and they don’t slash their usage by 25 percent. Stopping service would be a last resort at industrial sites that go over proposed monthly water allotments and can’t cut back, Nick Winkelmann, chief operating officer of Corpus Christi Water, said Tuesday at a City Council meeting in the Texas refining hub.
“If that case is happening and a resolution can’t occur, then we would have to start turning valves and shut the water off to those users,” Winkelmann said. The City Council is working to finalize water curtailment plans for all customers, but the prospect of cutting water off to industrial users in one of the country’s largest petrochemical and refining centers highlights the stark reality facing the Coastal Bend region of South Texas. The crisis also has the attention of leaders across the country as cities debate data centers and other projects that would boost water demand.
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Rigzone – May 13, 2026
ExxonMobil Insists Move to Texas Won’t Erode Shareholder Rights
Exxon Mobil Corp on Tuesday assured shareholders its pending transfer of legal address from New Jersey to Texas is not a downgrade in terms of shareholder participation in governance decisions. This was in response to calls by the New York City Comptroller’s Office and proxy advisory firm Glass, Lewis & Co for shareholders to vote down the proposal at the oil and gas giant’s annual shareholder meeting May 27.
Comptroller Mark D. Levine, on behalf of a New York City pension fund investing in ExxonMobil, called on shareholders to reject the redomicile but vote up the expansion of options under the company’s retail voting program. “Under Texas law, through a simple amendment to its bylaws, the Board could unilaterally opt to impose a 3 percent ownership prerequisite to file shareholder derivative actions, or own $1 million in stock to submit a shareholder proposal”, Levine wrote to shareholders.
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Pipeline & Gas Journal – May 13, 2026
Freeport LNG Takes Export Train Offline in Texas
Freeport LNG said on May 13 that it was taking one of the three liquefaction trains at its liquefied natural gas (LNG) export plant in Texas offline for scheduled maintenance. “We anticipate the train’s safe return to service in the next several weeks,” a spokeswoman for the company told Reuters in an email.
Freeport is one of the world’s most closely watched LNG export plants because the shutdown and startup of the facility have previously caused massive price swings in global gas markets. When Freeport shuts, U.S. gas prices usually drop because the plant’s demand for the fuel declines, and when liquefaction trains at Freeport restart, U.S. prices usually rise as the plant consumes more gas.
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May 7, 2026
Defenders of the Jones Act Have Lost: Scott Lincicome, Cato Institute
For more than a century, the Jones Act has survived on purported economic and security grounds. Its waiver by the Trump administration for Operation Epic Fury reveals serious flaws in both rationales. Section 27 of the Merchant Marine Act of 1920, as it’s formally known, requires that goods shipped between US ports travel on vessels that are US-built, US-flagged, US-owned, and crewed predominantly by US citizens. Because of this legally-enforced domestic shipping monopoly, building and operating ships in America today costs far more than doing so abroad, and domestic coastwise shipping is effectively non-existent outside the few places that have no choice, such as Alaska, Hawaii and Puerto Rico.
Rather than bolstering US commercial shipping capacity and the merchant marine, the Jones Act has presided over the steady degradation of both. Supporters of the law claim it’s essential for national security and has negligible economic costs. They’ve also vigorously opposed waivers of the law, which are permitted in the “interest of national defense,” arguing that exemptions undermine economic and national security and are unnecessary due to sufficient domestic capacity. Their efforts to narrow the waiver conditions have, along with vigorous lobbying, successfully ensured they’re rarely met.
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Santa Fe New Mexican – May 7, 2026
Bureau of Land Management OKs natural gas pipeline for Project Jupiter
Using an expedited review process, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management on Wednesday authorized a nearly 18-mile natural gas pipeline for a controversial proposed data center in Southern New Mexico. The federal agency and Transwestern Pipeline Co., a Texas company owned by Energy Transfer, are now finalizing rights of way for the Green Chile Natural Gas Pipeline, which would cross about 16 miles of federal land in Doña Ana County, according to an announcement from the BLM’s Las Cruces office.
The pipeline, proposed to serve power plants for the massive Project Jupiter data center project near Santa Teresa, was authorized under a 14-day emergency environmental review process, according to the BLM. In April 2025, following President Donald Trump’s declaration of a “national energy emergency,” the Department of the Interior announced it would use emergency permitting processes to speed energy and critical mineral development, including energy transport.
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World Oil – May 13, 2026
Texas regulator links energy security to dollar stability amid global tensions
Texas Railroad Commissioner Wayne Christian warned that rising federal debt, inflation and geopolitical instability surrounding the Strait of Hormuz could pose growing risks to U.S. economic and energy security. Christian said mounting national debt levels and efforts by geopolitical rivals to shift global oil transactions away from the U.S. dollar threaten America’s financial position and long-term energy influence.
“America is facing a financial threat unlike anything in modern history,” Christian said. “Our national debt is exploding, inflation continues to squeeze working families, and foreign adversaries are actively trying to undermine the U.S. dollar and weaken America’s economic power.”
Oil & Gas National & International
S&P Global Platts – May 13, 2026
Limited uptick in Hormuz LNG traffic offers scant relief to global markets
The recent uptick in LNG tanker crossings out of the Persian Gulf is offering only limited immediate relief to international buyers grappling with the sustained loss of about 20% of global supply, market watchers told Platts, part of S&P Global Energy. While a steady trickle of vessels has voyaged via the Strait of Hormuz since the start of the Iran war, LNG tankers have largely eschewed the transitway. No LNG vessels crossed Hormuz in March, compared, for instance, with 26 Very Large Crude Carriers across the month, according to data compiled by analysts with S&P Global’s Commodities at Sea.
The count has since grown slightly, including the first transit of a Qatari LNG shipment on May 9. That tanker, the Al Kharaitiyat, was heading to Port Qasim in Pakistan, CAS data showed. It was shortly followed by a second Pakistan-bound LNG tanker transiting the strait around May 12, according to CAS. Many ships around the strait have obscured their locations throughout the war, making a precise count of tanker voyages across the strait difficult.
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The Wall Street Journal – May 13, 2026
Oil Demand Destruction Is Happening, IEA Says*
The International Energy Agency said today that it expects global demand for oil to contract by 420,000 barrels a day this year, compared with its previous forecast of an 80,000-barrel-a-day decline. The Paris-based energy watchdog again warned that the energy supply shock could keep oil supplies constrained for months even after shipping through the Strait of Hormuz resumes.
Its base-case scenario assumes flows through Hormuz will gradually resume from June. Oil prices fell on Wednesday, with U.S. crude futures dropping 1.1% to $101.02 per barrel, and Brent, the global benchmark, dropping 2% to $105.63.
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gCaptain – May 13, 2026
IEA Warns Hormuz Crisis Could Trigger First Global Oil Demand Contraction Since Pandemic
The International Energy Agency is warning that the ongoing disruption in the Strait of Hormuz is triggering one of the largest oil market shocks in modern history, with global oil demand now expected to contract in 2026 as supply losses accelerate and inventories drain at record pace. In its latest Oil Market Report released Tuesday, the IEA said world oil demand is forecast to decline by 420,000 barrels per day year-over-year in 2026 to 104 million barrels per day — a sharp reversal from pre-war expectations and one of the few annual contractions outside major global crises.
The agency said the biggest hit is expected during the second quarter of 2026, when global demand is projected to plunge by 2.45 million barrels per day compared to last year, led by steep declines in petrochemicals and aviation. At the same time, global oil supply has collapsed as the conflict surrounding Iran and the Strait of Hormuz continues to choke off exports from the Gulf.
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Energy Now – May 13, 2026
US Upstream Oil and Gas Dealmaking Hit Two-Year High in Q1 2026
Shale producer Devon (DVN.N) and smaller rival Coterra closed on their merger last week after announcing plans to combine in February. That deal was valued at $25 billion and took the lion’s share of Q1 dealmaking. Both companies operate across multiple shale formations, with both present in the Delaware portion of the Permian Basin in Texas and New Mexico and Oklahoma’s Anadarko Basin.
Dealmaking slowed sharply in March as crude price volatility surged following U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran in February that triggered a broader Middle East conflict and disrupted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. Since the start of the war on February 28, global benchmark Brent crude futures have swung from a low of $77.74 a barrel to a high of $118.35. However, higher oil prices will likely set the stage for a rebound in dealmaking by enabling more private exploration and production companies to pursue sales while supporting continued consolidation, Enverus said.
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Oil Price – May 13, 2026
BP Buys 40% Stake in Uzbek Oil and Gas Blocks
BP has bought 40% in the production sharing agreement regulating oil and gas exploration and production rights for six blocks in Uzbekistan, setting foot in the Central Asian country as it continues to seek profitable opportunities to boost its oil and gas business. BP has acquired a total 40% participating interest in the production sharing agreement (PSA) – 20% from each of the existing partners, Azerbaijan’s state energy firm SOCAR and Uzbekistan’s national firm Uzbekneftegaz, the UK supermajor said on Wednesday.
After BP’s entry, the participating interests in the PSA are reshuffled as follows: BP holds 40%, Uzbekneftegaz owns 30%, and SOCAR has 30% and remains the operator. SOCAR and Uzbekneftegaz last year started advancing a $2-billion energy project in the six blocks in the North Ustyurt region of?the Republic of?Uzbekistan.
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CNBC – May 13, 2026
Gas tax holiday as Trump promises? Not so fast, trucking, construction industries say
Opposition to President Donald Trump’s plan for a gas tax holiday to ease cost-of-living concerns is coming not just from his political foes, but also from the Republican-leaning trucking and construction sectors. Those industries rely heavily on the road and transportation infrastructure projects funded by the federal gas and diesel taxes.
“A gas tax holiday is a good way to blow a hole in the collection of revenue for funding highway and transit repairs, but it’s a bad way to help drivers who are affected by higher gas prices,” said Brian Turmail, national spokesman for the Associated General Contractors of America, a construction industry trade group. Gas prices are up about 50% since the Iran war began on Feb. 28, clocking in at $4.50 a gallon on Tuesday, according to AAA. Diesel, used in trucks and construction equipment, is higher at $5.64 a gallon. Iran has largely blocked the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world’s oil normally travels.
Utilities, Electricity & Renewables
The Wall Street Journal – May 13, 2026
Geothermal-Champion Fervo Energy’s Shares Soar in Trading Debut*
Shares of geothermal developer Fervo Energy FRVO 35.33%increase; green up pointing triangle soared in their public-market debut, a sign of investor appetite for energy companies as the U.S. faces record amounts of new power demand. Fervo’s stock climbed 35% to $36.54 from its $27 initial public offering price. It trades on the Nasdaq under the ticker FRVO. Houston-based Fervo uses technology pioneered by oil-and-gas drillers to frack rocks, create geothermal reservoirs and crank out electricity. The company is spending more than $2 billion in Utah to build what it expects to be the world’s largest enhanced geothermal project, expected to come online later this year. It has said it can help sate power-hungry data centers, electric vehicles and growing industries.
Fervo boosted the size of its offering and priced its shares above the expected range of $21 to $24 a share. The deal raised $1.89 billion and valued the company at about $7.7 billion. Tim Latimer, the company’s chief executive, said in an interview that he saw the IPO as a decisive moment for the geothermal industry, which historically has struggled to attract as much attention from investors as other renewables. “If we’ve shown that we can make this much progress with as little capital as the sector has attracted to date, you know, what actually happens if we’re capitalized appropriately, and how much faster can we move?”
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Houston Chronicle – May 13, 2026
Fervo’s Wall Street debut highlights Houston’s expanding role beyond oil and gas*
Sarah Jewett, Fervo’s senior vice president of strategy, said in a statement that the company believes it has developed a repeatable way to add clean, firm power to the grid. “Today marks a major milestone for Fervo, the geothermal industry, and our future energy system at large, as the market urgently needs more dependable new power supply,” Jewett said. Fervo’s debut also makes it a rare publicly traded renewable energy company in the city of Big Oil, highlighting the growing diversification of Houston’s energy industry even as the Trump administration hampers other clean-tech sectors.
“For Houston, it’s a chance to have a ringside seat and really drive a whole new industry,” said David Baldwin, a partner overseeing energy transition investments at the private equity firm SCF Partners. Founded in 2017, Fervo attracted much excitement even before AI’s emergence for the startup’s use of oil-and-gas fracking technology to greatly expand geothermal’s potential. ow, as tech companies race to build AI data centers, Fervo’s promise of around-the-clock power without climate-warming emissions is more in demand than ever, Baldwin said. “The market is screaming for this (solution) right now,” Baldwin said. “The AI revolution is a catalyst for Fervo to grow faster, quicker, but they’re going to need capital to do that.”
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Construction Review – May 12, 2026
South Texas Modular Data Center Project Adds 5MW of On-Site Natural Gas Power Integration
A modular data center project in South Texas is moving forward with a 5MW expansion that integrates on-site natural gas power generation, reflecting a growing shift toward energy-backed infrastructure in AI-driven construction developments. AZIO AI Corp. is moving ahead with a new phase of infrastructure development in South Texas after receiving a customer order from Envirotech Vehicles, Inc. to expand a modular AI data center site designed around dedicated on-site power generation.
The project targets approximately 5 megawatts (MW) of high-density compute capacity, but the physical scope goes beyond computing equipment. At its core, the development combines modular data center construction with behind-the-meter natural gas power infrastructure, positioning it as a hybrid energy-and-digital build-out rather than a conventional grid-tied facility.
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The Street – May 13, 2026
Why Renewable Energy in Texas Is Now a Purely Financial Decision
Utility bills across Texas keep rising in 2026, and many households are looking for ways to cut costs. Most Texans still assume that “going green” means paying a premium. That assumption is outdated; globally, 90% of new renewable projects now generate electricity more cheaply than fossil fuel alternatives.
Here’s a quick snapshot of where Texas energy consumers stand right now:
- Average rate: Residential electricity costs about 14¢ per kilowatt-hour in Texas, roughly 28% below the national average.
- Average bill: Texans pay around $163.72 monthly, based on 1,096 kWh of typical usage.
- Grid reliability: Texas saw 263 power outages between 2019 and 2023, more than any other state.
- Renewable growth: Solar generation capacity has surged 800% since 2019.
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KTBC – May 13, 2026
Solar will pass coal in power generation in Texas in 2026
Related: “…[I]f it weren’t for the energy savings quietly embedded into our economy from all those Energy Star-rated appliances, electronics and buildings, we would need a 50% increase in both coal and solar electricity generation to make up for it” — op ed by Ben Evans in Utility Dive
Annual electric power generated from solar will surpass that of coal in Texas for the first time in 2026, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s latest Short-Term Energy Outlook. Utility-scale solar generation is expected to reach 78 billion kilowatt-hours in the Electric Reliability Council of Texas grid in 2026, compared to 60 billion kilowatt-hours from coal. Solar generation is expected to climb to 99 billion kilowatt-hours in 2027. Coal power generation is expected to increase at a much lower rate, up to 66 billion kilowatt-hours.
While solar power generation is increasing in the Lone Star State, it still pales in comparison to the energy produced by natural gas, which accounts for around 44% of all electricity generation in the state. Still, solar’s footprint is increasing and has climbed from 4% of all energy generated in Texas in 2021 to 12% in 2025. Coal’s share of energy generation has dropped from 19% to 13% over the same time period.
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Utility Dive – May 13, 2026
PJM may be ‘too big to function’: FERC Chairman Swett
The PJM Interconnection may be “too big to function” and has an “unacceptable” governance structure, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Chairman Laura Swett said Tuesday at the grid operator’s annual meeting in Baltimore. PJM, the largest U.S. grid operator, faces “a serious legitimacy crisis” as confidence in its decision-making has “completely eroded,” Swett said.
The crisis comes as PJM needs to add generation to its system as soon as possible to serve data centers, according to Swett. “This is not a time for weak leadership or to be crippled by fear — this is a time for difficult, history-making decisions that are not for the faint of heart, decisions that may leave many unhappy, decisions that may make or break part of a nation,” Swett said.
Regulatory
E&E News By Politico – May 13, 2026
Committee clears bill to revive State Department energy bureau
The House Foreign Affairs Committee on Wednesday approved bipartisan legislation that would revive a State Department energy diplomacy bureau dismantled last year by the Trump administration. The panel voted 45-0 for H.R. 7037, the “Developing Overseas Mineral Investments and New Allied Networks for Critical Energies (DOMINANCE) Act,” from Reps. Young Kim (R-Calif.) and Ami Bera (D-Calif.). The bill has more than two dozen bipartisan co-sponsors.
The legislation would reestablish an office akin to the defunct Bureau of Energy Resources, which helped connect U.S. exporters of domestic oil, gas and renewable energy technology to buyers overseas. Its work was folded into an economics and business affairs section at State. The proposal would create the Bureau of Energy Security and Diplomacy to focus on energy security, critical minerals and infrastructure and serve as a hub for strategy.
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Texas Energy Report NewsClips
Wednesday May 13, 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 Wednesday, snapping a three-day rally as investors awaited developments around the fragile Middle East ceasefire and braced for a high-stakes summit in China between U.S. President Donald Trump and President Xi Jinping.
West Texas Intermediate futures fell $1.41, or 1.4%, to $100.77.
Both benchmarks have largely hovered around or above the $100 per barrel mark since the U.S. and Israel began attacks on Iran at the end of February and Tehran effectively shut the Strait of Hormuz.
“Concerns over supply disruptions and uncertainty surrounding the Middle East are keeping oil prices well supported, even as traders struggle to establish a clear direction,” said Priyanka Sachdeva, senior market analyst at Phillip Nova.
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Top Stories
Reuters – May 13, 2026
BP buys 40% stake in Uzbekistan oil and gas blocks*
BP said on Wednesday it has acquired a 40% participating interest in a production sharing agreement (PSA) covering six oil and gas exploration blocks in Uzbekistan’s Ustyurt region, as it refocuses on traditional energy. BP pulled out of exploration in the region in 2021 as it pursued a green push under then-CEO Bernard Looney, who had pledged to cut oil and gas output by 40% by 2030. However, the company is now pivoting back to fossil fuels.
“We believe Uzbekistan has significant resource potential and see this as an opportunity to support the exploration and development of the country’s oil and gas resources,” Gio Cristofoli, BP’s regional president for Azerbaijan, Georgia and Türkiye said on Wednesday. BP purchased a 40% interest in total from existing partners SOCAR and Uzbekneftegaz, which now hold 30% each. SOCAR remains as the operator of the blocks, including the Boyterak, Terengquduq, Birqori, Kharoy, Qoraqalpoq and Qulboy.
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KXAN – May 12, 2026
Texas eyes limits on utility bill transfers as Austin sends millions to city budget
Should a portion of your utility bill go to your city? For decades, Austin Water has given a percentage of what it makes off your water bill to the city’s general fund. It’s a common practice across the nation. But now, amid growing infrastructure needs, the state is exploring making a change.
At the Texas Senate on Monday, members of the Water, Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee took a closer look at this policy across the state. Lawmakers did not focus on any one city during the hearing. Officials testified that delaying infrastructure work can lead to system failures and sharp cost increases when projects are put off. “Our perspective is that utility revenues should be used primarily for utility purposes, and the transfer should be transparent, justified and appropriately structured,” Perry Fowler with the Texas Water Infrastructure Network said. According to the City of Austin’s 2025–2026 budget, around $50 million in Austin Water revenue was transferred to the city in 2025.
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KRIV – May 12, 2026
Saudi Aramco CEO warns oil markets may not recover until 2027 due to Strait of Hormuz disruptions
The CEO of Saudi Arabia’s state-owned oil company is warning that the energy sector will take time to recover from the Iran war’s impact on supply as oil output was slashed due to the ongoing disruptions to shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.
Saudi Aramco CEO Amin Nasser said on an earnings call Monday that the global energy market has lost about 1 billion barrels of oil supply during the crisis, though efforts to reroute shipments to avoid using the Strait of Hormuz and releases from countries’ strategic petroleum reserves have eased some of the supply issues.
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Capital & Main – May 11, 2026
Inside the Texas Water Crisis Pitting Residents Against Industry
May Mendoza is in need of water. But despite the fact that her restaurant, Perrin’s on the Water, is literally on the waters of the Texas Gulf Coast, drinking water is in increasingly short supply. On a sunny Wednesday in late April, she taped up signs in the bathrooms and on the front and back doors, alerting guests to the effects of Corpus Christi’s rapidly accelerating water shortage.
“We’re just going to bottled water in a couple days,” Mendoza told a couple as they found a seat at her New Orleans-style restaurant. Corpus Christi’s city leaders have called for declaring a “Level 1” water emergency at the end of the summer, cutting the amount of water residents, small businesses and big industry can use by 25%. And Mendoza isn’t one to wait for an emergency to hit her. So she’s preparing. “No more free water,” she said. “We’re trying to get ahead of it.”
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The Wall Street Journal – May 12, 2026
Prices at the Pump Are Wiping Out Wage Gains*
For the first time in three years, inflation is outstripping growth in Americans’ paychecks. Blame the gas pump. Americans are currently paying about $4.50 a gallon for regular gasoline, according to AAA, up more than 50% since the initial U.S.-Israeli attack on Iran in late February. Pay increases aren’t keeping up. April marked the first time inflation topped year-over-year growth in average hourly earnings since April 2023, according to the Labor Department. Year-over-year changes offer a broader picture than more volatile month-to-month measures, which have also recently shown Americans’ pay raises aren’t measuring up to the rising cost of living.
Americans are dealing with a math problem. While hourly wages rose a seasonally adjusted 3.6% on the year through April, the pace has mostly slowed over the past four years as hiring cooled from a postpandemic hot streak. Meanwhile, inflation was 3.8% year over year, pushed up by surging fuel costs. After seasonal adjustment and rounding, the Labor Department said this leads to a 0.3% decline in inflation-adjusted hourly wages, also known as real hourly earnings.
The disappearing pay raises might help explain why consumer sentiment is at a record-low level. Also, when inflation erodes households’ spending power, “that makes people a little more hesitant about buying things, which can lead to a ripple effect through the rest of the economy,” said Alfredo Romero, chair of economics at North Carolina A&T State University. On a weekly basis, the drop in earnings was less severe as workers put in slightly longer hours in April. Weekly earnings were down 0.2% on the year for all private-sector workers and up 0.1% for production and nonsupervisory employees, who tend to be the rank-and-file workforce.
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The Latest TERse Tips
The U.S. military is considering officially renaming the war with Iran “Operation Sledgehammer” if the current ceasefire collapses and President Donald Trump decides to re-start major combat operations, according to two U.S. officials — NBC News
President Trump invited the CEOs of Exxon, Boeing and others to join him on his current trip to China
Texas Stock Exchange signs lease at high-profile Uptown Dallas tower — Dallas Morning News*
The city of Alpine has declared stage four critical water shortage conditions after one of its main pumps went into failure — KOSA
Corpus Christi moves toward mandatory 25% cut in water use if emergency is declared — final approval of the curtailment plan is expected at a future City Council meeting. Experts predict that, without significant rainfall, a water emergency could arrive by September — Texas Tribune
Crude oil loaded from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve is heading to Türkiye, the first shipment of U.S. emergency reserve oil to the Mediterranean country, ship tracking data showed — Daily Sabah
The Supreme Court of North Dakota has directed a trial court to enter a narrow anti-suit injunction against Greenpeace International, barring it from proceeding with its action against Energy Transfer in the Netherlands — Texas Law Book*
Waymo recalls entire U.S. robotaxi fleet after vehicle swept away in San Antonio flood — the company is recalling nearly 3,800 robotaxis after an unoccupied vehicle entered floodwaters on a San Antonio road and was washed into a creek — San Antonio Express-News*
Amplify Energy Corp. announced Monday updates to its operating and financial results for the first quarter of 2026 and reaffirmed its full-year 2026 guidance — Amplify Energy
After an extended public comment period, Henderson County commissioners have approved a resolution calling for stronger safeguards and greater state involvement in how and where large-scale data centers can be built — KSST
Oil & Gas Texas
Texas Tribune – May 12, 2026
Candidates for U.S. Senate seat in Texas join call to suspend federal gas tax
In a case of unexpected political bedfellows, James Talarico on Monday aligned himself with President Donald Trump over their calls to suspend the federal gas tax — and took a dig at U.S. Sen. John Cornyn for his previous opposition to the measure. Talarico, the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate, has advocated for temporarily lifting the federal gas and diesel tax to help combat soaring fuel prices since the U.S.-Israel war in Iran began in February. On Monday, Trump said he would move to suspend the 18.4-cents-per-gallon gas tax, which primarily funds federal highway and mass transit programs.
“I applaud President Trump’s support for a federal gas tax suspension,” Talarico said in a statement. “Lowering prices at the pump should be a bipartisan commitment. I urge Senator Cornyn to drop his opposition to suspending the gas tax. He should join President Trump and me in supporting this critical tax relief for Texans.”
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KLTV – May 12, 2026
Republican Texas Railroad Commission candidate Bo French said he is running to push back on what he calls growing regulation and cultural decline. French, a conservative activist and businessman, said he does not view himself as a career politician and entered the race out of frustration with elected Republicans he believes have drifted from campaign promises.
“Republicans my entire life have told us that we should only focus on fiscal issues and avoid all of the social issues, and the left has just taken ground on every social issue that I can think of,” French told “East Texas Now.” A fourth-generation oilman, French argued the commission, which regulates the state’s oil and gas industry, should “rightsize” environmental rules adopted last year, saying one page of regulations expanded to 75 pages and could burden smaller operators, especially in East Texas.
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Washington Examiner – May 11, 2026
Texas firm looking to explore oil in rural Georgia*
A Texas-based oil and gas company is seeking permission to drill exploratory wells in southwest Georgia, reviving the possibility of oil production in a state where commercial extraction has never taken hold. Pilot Exploration, a Texas firm specializing in what the industry calls “frontier basins,” which are areas with little prior drilling activity, has applied to the Georgia Environmental Protection Division for permits to drill two exploratory wells in rural Quitman County near the Alabama border.
The proposed site would sit in one of Georgia’s least populated counties with fewer than 3,000 residents, according to the state’s Department of Community Affairs. The project would mark the first oil and gas exploration wells in the state since 2014 if approved and could reopen a long-running debate over whether the Peach State holds untapped fossil fuel reserves beneath its red clay and farmland. Pilot Exploration filed permit applications in March for wells it calls “Georgia On My Mind Wells #1 and #2,” with plans to drill roughly 8,000 feet, more than a mile and a half underground, to determine whether recoverable oil or gas deposits exist. The company argues that earlier geological assessments are outdated and that advances in drilling and imaging technology could uncover resources missed in past surveys.
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Rigzone – May 12, 2026
USA Oil, Gas Workforce Hits Lowest Level Since 2022
The number of employees in the oil and gas extraction industry has hit its lowest level since 2022, data on the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) website shows. According to preliminary figures included in the data, the number of employees in the sector stood at 115,200 in April 2026. The last time the figure was this low was in August 2022, the data showed.
The number of employees in the oil and gas extraction industry stood at 115,900 in March 2026, 116,200 in February 2026, and 115,500 in January 2026, according to the latest data. The March figures were also preliminary, the data highlighted. Previous data had the number of employees in the sector at 116,100 in March and 116,300 in February.
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World Oil – May 6, 2026
Texas regulator highlights record oil exports, rising production amid Iran disruption
Texas Railroad Commissioner Wayne Christian praised new reports highlighting Texas’ growing role in global energy markets as instability in the Middle East continues to pressure oil and gas supplies. The comments follow a record first quarter for the Port of Corpus Christi, one of the nation’s largest crude export hubs, and recent announcements from Diamondback Energy that it is increasing exports and expanding drilling activity in response to Iran-related supply disruptions.
“The conflict in Iran is a clear reminder of the world’s reliance on Texas oil and gas,” Christian said. “When America and our allies need stability, Texas energy is answering the call.” Christian said the state’s response reflects years of investment in drilling capacity and export infrastructure that now position Texas to respond quickly to shifting global market conditions.
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Popular Science – May 7, 2026
The world’s largest explosion lab is ready for big booms. And yes, it’s in Texas.
Everything is bigger in Texas, and that includes its controlled detonations. Texas A&M University recently revealed what they say is the world’s largest controlled explosion lab, where researchers can fill a nearly 500-foot metal tube with gas and ignite it in the name of science. They are calling it The Detonation Research Test Facility (DRTF). By precisely measuring what it takes to turn a simple flame into a massive, deadly detonation, researchers hope to make discoveries that could better prepare engineers to prevent gas leaks, and potentially inform ways to build explosion-resistant infrastructure. And all of that will require lots and lots of yeehaw inducing bangs.
Located in Southeast Central Texas, the detonation tunnel is about six feet in diameter and stretches nearly the length of two football fields. Its metal exterior consists of three-quarter-inch steel walls and is covered in earth to muffle the sound—or try to, at least. Inside, the tube holds various sensors that can measure the explosion as it intensifies. By containing all the power within the facility, researchers can study explosions strong enough to level entire buildings. The shockwaves that form in the tunnel can apparently reach speeds of Mach 5—or roughly 3,800 miles per hour.
Oil & Gas National & International
KSAT – May 12, 2026
How much money could drivers save if Congress approves a federal gas tax suspension?
President Donald Trump announced plans on Monday to suspend the federal gas tax as fuel prices rise during the ongoing war with Iran. The proposal would still require approval from Congress before taking effect. If approved, drivers could temporarily save 18.4 cents per gallon on gasoline and 24.4 cents per gallon on diesel fuel, according to Patrick De Haan, petroleum analyst for Gas Buddy. The federal tax is separate from state gas taxes, which are often higher.
“Even those few dollars, to some people it makes all the difference,” driver Madison Eubanks said. Eubanks said high fuel prices are already taking a toll on her finances. “Paying more than $5 a gallon is a lot,” she said. “I’m spending at least $100 every time I fill up.”
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Dallas Morning News – May 12, 2026
Related: Suspending the federal gas tax could bring down prices at the pump. But the move may not provide consumers with meaningful relief, experts say, and it could deplete a key federal fund for highway construction and maintenance — CNBC
Critics also say that if you lower the price of gasoline, people are more likely to increase their driving. This could raise demand during a time of lower supply, which in turn could raise prices and limit consumers’ savings from the tax suspension. It’s also possible that instead of consumers reaping the savings from a tax suspension, the oil industry could benefit. Because the tax is collected at the refinery — before it gets to the consumer — there’s no guarantee that the oil company will pass the full benefits of a tax suspension on to consumers.
Each state levies its own taxes on gasoline and diesel, and some also add sales taxes. In recent weeks, a few states, including Indiana and Georgia, have suspended their state gasoline and diesel taxes; others are considering it. Several states enacted suspensions in 2022. In many cases, the state taxes are larger than the federal tax. This means the benefits of a suspension to consumers would be bigger — but the drawbacks would be, too. “A state-level gas tax holiday would have a larger effect on gas prices than a federal tax holiday almost everywhere,” Hugh Daigle, a University of Texas at Austin petroleum and geosystems engineering professor, told us in 2022.
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Bloomberg – May 12, 2026
How Long Can the US Be the Oil Supplier of Last Resort?: Javier Blas*
Can the US sustain [this] level of net exports forever? No — the American shale revolution is extraordinary, but not miraculous. The question, however, isn’t whether the nation can keep up with no end in sight; instead, it’s whether it can do it for long enough to keep oil prices from exploding before it reaches a deal with Iran. Looked through that lens, the US has the ammunition, thanks to its emergency stockpile, to sustain its outsized oil exports for several more weeks, perhaps even a couple of months. The export boom is a key reason why oil prices have tumbled, particularly in the physical market (the portion of the market where real barrels, not swaps or futures, change hands). The collapse in Chinese oil imports has also helped, as have other well-known levers, like the use of bypass pipelines around the Strait of Hormuz.
The US, with its 2.6-million-barrel net export hike, is the biggest driver in an overall surge from the American continent. Others are contributing, too, and when combined, their extra exports do add quite a bit: Canada (400,000 barrels per day); Venezuela, Guyana, Colombia and Argentina (200,000 each); and Brazil (100,000). Together, the Americas are exporting, on a net basis, almost 4 million barrels a day more than they did around this time in 2025. That equates to one-quarter of the shortfall created by the closure of Hormuz.
For the US, the key is the willingness of President Donald Trump to squeeze the country’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) as never before — harder than President Joe Biden did in 2022 after Russia invaded Ukraine. In March, Washington agreed to loan 172 million barrels from the SPR as part of a coordinated release of the emergency stockpiles with other industrialized nations.
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The Wall Street Journal – May 12, 2026
Despite the War, Energy Stocks Are Cheap*
The world is in the middle of a historic oil crisis, yet the biggest bargains on Wall Street can be found in U.S. energy stocks. After the latest round of oil-producer earnings, analysts have raised their profit expectations for the sector. They now expect the energy stocks in the S&P 500 to generate 58% more earnings per share in 2026 than they did before the Iran war began, according to FactSet. Yet energy stocks, just like the rest of the market, have been reacting to every headline suggesting a potential breakthrough in negotiations between the U.S. and Iran. The price of the energy basket in the S&P 500 is just 2% higher than where it was before the war, when oil futures were close to $70 a barrel and the world had a supply glut. Today, oil prices are closer to $100 a barrel and the world has lost roughly a billion barrels of oil supply.
As a result, the sector that most directly benefits from the Strait of Hormuz closure has undergone the biggest earnings-multiple contraction since the start of the war. For investors lacking exposure to energy, this may be a good time to buy the dip. True, the sector was trading at high multiples before the conflict began. Even so, the selloff in energy equities puts the group at less than 14 times forward earnings, making it 36% cheaper than the overall index. That is steeper than its 29% discount on average over the past decade. Energy companies’ latest earnings commentary should have been a bullish sign for the stocks. Despite the surge in oil prices, oil majors and U.S. shale producers aren’t deviating much from their existing spending plans. This means there isn’t going to be a flood of oil supply to damp prices.
Utilities, Electricity & Renewables
Axios – May 12, 2026
CPS Energy eyes more natural gas as demand soars
CPS Energy is looking to rely more on natural gas and solar power, but less on wind, as San Antonio’s electricity needs surge past what the utility forecast just three years ago. Without changes, capacity will begin to fall short of demand by the early part of the next decade, which could mean higher costs for consumers — though CPS officials say they are working to prevent that.
CPS Energy partners with Israeli construction company on San Antonio solar farm*
CPS Energy is partnering with one of Israel’s biggest construction companies to build an 867-acre solar farm on the South Side. The solar project, El Patrimonio, is a collaboration between CPS Energy, Israeli company Ashtrom Renewable Energy and San Diego-based Solv Energy. The 150-megawatt solar project, which began construction in 2025, will be the city-owned utility’s third-largest solar farm.
“CPS Energy is the number one buyer of solar energy in Texas,” said Frank Almaraz, the utility’s chief operating officer. “The partnership with Ashtrom helps maintain our leadership position.” Ashtrom Renewable will begin operating the farm next year under a 20-year power purchase agreement with CPS Energy, selling the utility 70% of the energy it generates. The project will generate enough energy to power about 37,000 homes, with the remaining 30% of generation to be sold on the Texas open electricity market. The utility estimates it will reduce carbon emissions by about 193 tons annually.
Texas county pauses data center construction in rural areas for a year
A rural Texas county on Tuesday approved a one-year pause on the construction of new data centers in unincorporated areas, citing public safety and public health concerns. The 3-2 vote by county commissioners in Hill County, roughly 55 miles south of Fort Worth, appears to be the first by a Texas county to issue a moratorium on the rapidly expanding industry.
Residents and local officials had aired concerns about how a proposed 300-acre development by the Dallas-based developer, Provident Data Centers in north Hillsboro could impact the quality of life in the rural county through noise pollution and consuming large amounts of water and electricity.
ESG Today – May 12, 2026
Google announced that it has signed a 15-year Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with renewable energy developer and independent power producer Linea Energy for the production of 500 MW of energy from a new solar project in Texas, aimed at supporting the company’s data center operations in the state. The announcement marks the latest in a series of large-scale clean energy purchases by Google, including a 1 GW solar PPA signed in February with TotalEnergies in Texas, and a 1.2 GW deal with Clearway in January, to provide power to data centers in Missouri, Texas, and West Virginia.
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Politico – May 12, 2026
Trump signs hydropower licensing bill*
President Donald Trump signed legislation on Monday to extend construction deadlines for hydropower projects, a continued sign of the renewable energy source’s popularity with Republicans and Democrats alike. Lawmakers and prominent industry groups have said S. 1020, the “Build More Hydro” bill, could benefit more than three dozen hydropower projects in 15 states.
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Canary Media – May 12, 2026
Can the US harness old oil and gas wells to produce geothermal energy?
As states seek out much-needed supplies of clean, reliable energy, some are looking to an unconventional source: abandoned oil and gas wells harnessed for geothermal heat. Millions of inactive wells are littered across the United States, the relics of earlier eras of fossil fuel production. A large number of the sites have no official owner, and many are still polluting groundwater and leaking heat-trapping methane. The country has barely scratched the surface in dealing with this problem.
Policymakers in both Republican- and Democratic-led states are exploring whether these sites could instead be converted into new wells for producing geothermal energy. The holes are already drilled in the ground, after all. And regions with widespread oil and gas development have rich subsurface data that geothermal
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Utility Dive – May 12, 2026
Constellation Energy enters 5 GW of nuclear, gas, battery capacity in PJM queue
Constellation Energy has 5 GW of projects — nuclear uprates, gas-fired generation and battery storage — in the PJM Interconnection’s generation queue, company officials said Monday during an earnings conference call. However, the world’s largest independent power producer said potential data center customers are waiting to see how PJM’s pending rules for colocating load and a proposed reliability backstop auction process shake out, according to Joseph Dominguez, Constellation president and CEO.
“Some customers have been willing to continue advancing project discussions and agreement negotiations while others have chosen to pause and wait for regulatory clarity,” Dominguez said. Constellation, based in Baltimore, is also waiting to see what projects it wants to advance in PJM, according to Dominguez.
Regulatory
JD Supra – May 4, 2026
Texas Appellate Court Vacates Jury Award of $15,800,000 In Royalty Dispute: Houston Harbaugh PC
Let’s assume you own a 175 acre farm in Tioga County. In 2020, you negotiated a new oil and gas lease with XYZ Drilling (the “2020 Lease”). During the negotiations you told the landman that the standard royalty clause in XYZ’s pre-printed lease form, which stipulates a 15% royalty “at the wellhead”, was unacceptable. You negotiated an addendum clause which says your royalty of 15% “shall never bear, either directly or indirectly, any cost or expense to dehydrate, compress, gather, process or transport” the raw gas.
Several years later, you receive your first royalty statement from XYZ Drilling. You are shocked, angry and confused. The royalty statement depicts significant deductions for dehydration, compression and gathering. You call XYZ Drilling and tell them there must be a mistake as the 2020 Lease addendum prohibits all deductions. They say there is no mistake – the pre-printed royalty clause still mandates a valuation point at the wellhead. Given that language, XYZ Drilling asserts that the downstream costs (i.e. dehydration, compression and gathering) can be deducted from the sales price to arrive at a so-called wellhead value. How is this possible?
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Texas Energy Report NewsClips
Tuesday May 12, 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 rose Tuesday as U.S. President Donald Trump said that the ceasefire with Iran was on life support after rejecting Tehran’s counterproposal to end the war, signaling the conflict in the Middle East could drag on.
WTI forr June rose 1.10% to $99.15 per barrel.
International benchmark Brent crude futures for July gained 0.96% to $105.21 a barrel.
Trump told reporters that the state of the ceasefire is “unbelievably weak,” calling Iran’s counterproposal to end the conflict “garbage.”
“I would say the ceasefire is on massive life support, where the doctor walks in and says, ‘Sir, your loved one has approximately a 1% chance of living,’” Trump said.
Since the U.S. and Israeli-led war against Iran started on Feb. 28, WTI and Brent are both up more than 40%. “Oil prices have been volatile and can rise further if US-Iran dealmaking remains thorny,” Citi said in a note.
Top Stories
Reuters – May 11, 2026
Blackstone, Halliburton to invest $1 billion in energy startup VoltaGrid*
Energy startup VoltaGrid said on Monday it has signed agreements for $1 billion in equity investment from funds managed by Blackstone Tactical Opportunities and oilfield services provider Halliburton. VoltaGrid said the deal would accelerate the development of power generation solutions for data centers, microgrids and industrial applications.
The investment is composed of a $775 million capital raise and a $225 million secondary purchase from existing investors. VoltaGrid said it had also entered a separate deal to acquire one of its suppliers, Propell Energy Technology, for an undisclosed amount.
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Reuters – May 11,2026
Fervo Energy eyes $7.4 billion valuation in upsized US IPO*
Geothermal power developer Fervo Energy said on Monday it was targeting up to a $7.37 billion valuation in its U.S. upsized initial public offering, underscoring strong investor interest for the listing. The Houston, Texas-based geothermal company is now seeking up to $1.82 billion in its IPO by offering 70 million shares priced between $25 and $26 apiece.
It was earlier seeking a valuation of $6.5 billion, offering 55.6 million shares priced between $21 and $24 apiece. Fervo’s upsized offering comes as surging use of AI and the resulting boom in data centers pushes up electricity usage, pressuring the U.S. power grid and increasing the need for reliable energy.
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Inside Climate News – May 10, 2026
Plugging Away at the Millions of Derelict Oil and Gas Wells in the US
There are a few truisms in the oil and gas industry: It is crowded with prodigious egos, there is always a boom around the corner and some industry operators aren’t above walking away from their mess at played-out well sites. Abandoning wells is a deliberate technique to pad marginal oil and gas operators’ profits by dodging cleanup costs. In December, for instance, the New Mexico attorney general sued three Texas oilmen, accusing them of selling more than 500 unproductive wells to shell companies created for the purpose of declaring bankruptcy to avoid remediation costs.
Many of the millions of wells left derelict throughout oil-producing states are abandoned, often unplugged and polluting, some with owners of record and others, orphans with no known owner responsible for cleaning them up. In 2023 the Environmental Protection Agency estimated that there are around 3.7 million abandoned and orphaned oil and gas wells—AOOG for short—in the U.S., out of about 4 to 5 million that have been drilled since 1859.
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Wired – May 11, 2026
Chevron Wants a School District Tax Break for a Data Center Power Plant
A major oil company is seeking a state tax break in Texas worth hundreds of millions of dollars to build a massive power plant. The energy won’t be going to residential customers, though. Instead, the gas plant will be used to power a data center whose eventual tenant could be Microsoft.
Chevron subsidiary Energy Forge One has filed an application with the State Comptroller’s board to obtain a tax abatement for a power plant it’s building in West Texas. In late January, the comptroller’s office made a recommendation to support the application’s approval—the first such approval under the program for a power plant intended solely for data center use. In March, following news reports that Microsoft was looking into purchasing power from the Energy Forge project, Chevron said that it had entered into an “exclusivity agreement” with Microsoft and Engine 1, an investment fund involved in the project. In January, Microsoft pledged to be a “good neighbor” in communities where it is building data centers, including promising to pay a “full and fair share of local property taxes.”
The Latest TERse Tips
BHP has agreed to a yuan priced iron ore deal with a Chinese state entity and is open to issuing yuan denominated debt — Copper has overtaken iron ore as BHP’s largest earnings contributor, supported by demand from AI related infrastructure — BHP Group lost a UK court appeal over its liability for the 2015 Brazil dam disaster, clearing the way for a major damages trial — Yahoo! News
Amplify Energy Corp. on Monday reported a loss of $38.1 million in its first quarter — see the press release
Kodiak Gas Services Inc. on Monday reported first-quarter profit of $17.8 million — The Woodlands, Texas-based company said it had profit of 20 cents per share. Earnings, adjusted for one-time gains and costs, were 59 cents per share, the results beat Wall Street expectations — KVUE
Think $6 Gas Is Bad? It’s About to Get Even Worse in California — Golden State depends more on crude-oil shipments from Middle East than any other U.S. state — The Wall Street Journal*
War in the Persian Gulf and new Chinese export restrictions have sent sulfuric-acid prices soaring and raised concerns about the availability of a chemical that the world relies on for food, metal, paper, computer chips and clean water — The Wall Street Journal*
President Donald Trump told reporters on Monday that he would support temporarily suspending the federal gas tax “until it’s appropriate — “It’s a small percentage, but it’s still money,” he said — NBC News
The United Arab Emirates has carried out military strikes on Iran, people familiar with the matter said, casting the Gulf monarchy as an active combatant in a war in which it has been Iran’s biggest target — The Wall Street Journal*
Trump says Iran ceasefire is ‘on life support’ after rejecting Tehran’s counterproposal — CNBC
Constellation Energy Corporation reported first-quarter 2026 GAAP net income of $4.49 per share and adjusted operating earnings of $2.74 per share, up from $0.38 per share and $2.14 per share, respectively, in the first quarter of 2025 — City Biz
Reuters Survey Shows OPEC Oil Output At 26-Year Low Amid Iran War — Oil Price
Oil & Gas Texas
S&P Global Platts – May 11, 2026
Golden Pass LNG exports second cargo as ramp-up of Texas facility continues
Feedgas deliveries to Golden Pass LNG reached the highest level to date over the weekend to May 11, as the terminal, undergoing commissioning in Texas, exported its second cargo. The cargo was exported aboard ExxonMobil’s HL Sea Eagle on May 9, three days after the vessel arrived at the terminal in Sabine Pass, Texas, S&P Global Commodities at Sea data showed. The vessel was underway in the Atlantic on May 11, heading toward Asia and awaiting orders, the tracking data showed.
Golden Pass is ramping up the first of three liquefaction trains, which will have a combined production capacity of about 18.1 million metric tons/year when the project is fully online, expected in 2027. Feedgas deliveries to the plant owned 70% by QatarEnergy and 30% by ExxonMobil topped 400 million cubic feet/day for the first time on May 8 and again on May 9, S&P Global Energy CERA data showed. Golden Pass was scheduled to receive less than 300 MMcf/d on May 11. The terminal started receiving small amounts of gas in July 2025.
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Reuters – May 11, 2026
US to loan 53.3 million barrels of oil from Strategic Petroleum Reserve*
The Trump administration said on Monday it will loan energy companies 53.3 million barrels of crude from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve as part of a global agreement to calm oil markets that have spiked on the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran. Nine companies, including Exxon Mobil, Trafigura, and Marathon Petroleum Company, borrowed only about 58% of the 92.5 million barrels the Department of Energy last month had offered to loan from the SPR.
The DOE this spring had already loaned about 80 million barrels from the SPR as it seeks to release a total of 172 million barrels. The U.S. agreed to that larger amount in March in a pact with more than 30 countries in the International Energy Agency to release about 400 million barrels. The agreement was an attempt to relieve oil and fuel prices pushed higher by Iran’s shutting of the Strait of Hormuz, a choke-point through which about 20% of the world’s oil usually passed each day.
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Reuters – May 11, 2026
Syria selects offshore block for first deep-water oil, gas project with Chevron
Syria has identified an offshore site for its first deep-water oil and gas exploration project with U.S. major Chevron and Qatar’s UCC Holding, the Syrian Petroleum Company said on Monday. The move is part of a broader push by Syria’s new government to attract foreign investment into the country’s battered energy sector after years of civil war and sanctions. State-owned SPC said that the company, together with Chevron and UCC Holding, had completed identification of the offshore block, paving the way to finalise contracts and start technical operations this summer.
Chevron signed a preliminary agreement in February with SPC and UCC Holding to evaluate offshore oil and gas exploration in Syrian waters, the U.S. company’s entry into Syria’s eastern Mediterranean offshore sector. Chevron already operates the giant Leviathan gas field off the shore of Israel, that country’s largest energy asset.
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Midland Reporter-Telegram – May 11, 2026
Oilfield employment shows signs of growth in Texas and U.S. services*
Oilfield employment appears to be on an upward track, according to two new reports. Total upstream employment stood at 193,300 jobs in March 2026. Relative to March 2025, employment is down by 7,100 jobs, representing a 3.5% year-over-year decline. The upstream sector includes oil and natural gas extraction as well as support activities for mining. In the U.S. services sector, the Energy Workforce & Technology Council reported modest job growth in April as companies cautiously responded to improving market conditions.
Energy services employment totaled 627,941 jobs in April, an increase of 1,408 positions from March, according to preliminary Bureau of Labor Statistics data and an Energy Workforce analysis. April marked the second consecutive month of employment gains for the sector after a slower start to the year. While hiring remains measured, the data signals further stabilization in the energy services workforce.
“This data underscores the enduring strength and adaptability of Texas’ energy sector despite recent market fluctuations,” said Todd Staples, president of the Texas Oil & Gas Association, in a statement. “Current employment levels remain significantly above historical norms and reflect robust gains since the pandemic-era lows. While it is premature to assume the increased employment will continue, announcements have been made that some companies are expanding production.”
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Reuters – May 11, 2026
Freeport LNG in Texas boosts gas intake over weekend after train shutdown on Friday*
Freeport LNG’s export plant in Texas took in more gas on Saturday and Sunday and was on track to take in more gas on Monday after one of its three liquefaction trains shut on Friday, according to a company report and data from financial firm LSEG. Freeport is one of the world’s most closely watched liquefied natural gas (LNG) export plants because the shutdown and startup of the facility have previously caused massive price swings in global gas markets.
When Freeport shuts, U.S. gas prices usually drop because demand for the fuel from the plant declines, and when liquefaction trains at Freeport restart, U.S. gas prices usually rise as demand for the fuel increases. That is what happened on Friday and Monday. Gas prices eased on Friday when a liquefaction train at the plant shut, and so far on Monday, prices were up about 5% on signs the liquefaction train returned to service over the weekend.
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Egypt Oil and Gas Group – May 11, 2026
Vaalco Energy Expands Egypt Drilling in Q2 2026
Vaalco Energy, the US-based operator, said it began a six‑well drilling program in Egypt in the second quarter of 2026. The campaign was not included in the original budget and will proceed without increasing the company’s total capital expenditure guidance, noted a company statement. Vaalco’s production in Egypt mounted to 11,264 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boe/d) in the first quarter (Q1) of 2026, compared to 10,225 boe/d in Q1 2025. For the second quarter (Q2) of 2026, it expects production to range between 10,400 and 11,500 boe/d.
The company said on May 7 that it completed the drilling of 22 wells as part of a drilling program that kicked off in December 2024, with all wells reaching their targets. The campaign continued throughout 2025, with the final well brought online in January 2026. The well, located in the H-Field in the Eastern Desert, opened a new development area with an initial flow rate of approximately 450 boe/d.
Oil & Gas National & International
CNBC – May 11, 2026
Behind Big Oil’s first-quarter beat: The quiet rise of trading desks
Oil and gas giants benefited significantly from their trading desks through the first quarter, shining a light on a commercially sensitive and often-overlooked unit that tends to outperform during periods of market volatility. Europe’s oil supermajors Total Energy, Shell and BP pointed to robust trading results as they reported stronger-than-expected profits through the first three months of the year. The earnings followed a period of extreme volatility for oil prices, particularly in March, as energy market participants closely monitored severe disruption through the
Oil trading desks are specialized divisions that buy, sell and transport physical oil and gas while managing price risks. These units seek to generate revenue beyond upstream production, particularly during volatile markets. Oil majors typically do not disclose profits from their trading divisions, however.
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The Hill – May 11, 2026
Trump’s crooked ‘art of the deal’ with Big Oil: William S. Becker, former U.S. Department of Energy
The American people have seen several big oil scandals over the last century. We have survived Teapot Dome, the collapse of Enron, windfall profiteering during the 1970s oil crisis, Exxon Valdez, Deepwater Horizon and more. But President Trump’s deal with Big Oil is the most corrupt in our history. Its cost pervades everything from household budgets to public health, national security, the climate, and the future.
During his first term and now in his second, Trump has delivered hundreds of billions of dollars in favors to the industry, including tax breaks and subsidies, access to more federal land and waters, a major rollback of environmental regulations, the suppression of competition from clean energy technologies, access to Venezuela’s oil reserves, and of course the very profitable Iran war. No one has stopped him.
This arrangement is clearly unethical, if not illegal. That became obvious in April 2024 when candidate Trump offered the oil industry a deal, telling its executives that if they gave $1 billion to his campaign, he would deliver their wish list when he recaptured the White House.
He has been delivering ever since.
The deal betrays the middle- and lower-income voters who helped elect him. By cutting important social programs and safety nets to pay for the oil industry’s tax breaks and subsidies and by raising consumer prices, Trump’s energy policies are transferring wealth from American families to one of the world’s most powerful industries.
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Reuters – May 11, 2026
The oil market will lose around 100 million barrels every week, if the disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz continue at the current rate and it remains closed, the CEO of Saudi oil giant Aramco, Amin Nasser, said on Monday.
“We expect demand rationing to continue as long as supply remains disrupted through the Strait of Hormuz. If normal trade and shipping resume, we anticipate a very robust return to demand growth,” he added.
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Alaska Public Media – May 9, 2026
Amid Iran war, Alaska’s oil is selling with an extra premium on global markets
The first month of the American war against Iran caused crude oil prices to skyrocket around the world, and the price of Alaska’s oil has risen particularly far. That rise is making extra millions of dollars available for state services and the Permanent Fund dividend, even as it squeezes the finances of individual Alaskans.
In figures newly compiled by the Alaska Department of Revenue, the average price of a barrel of Alaska North Slope crude was $111.17 in April. That’s $8.70 higher than the average price of a barrel of Brent crude, a standard based on oil extracted from Europe’s North Sea. It was also $13.11 per barrel higher than the average price of West Texas Intermediate, a standard based on oil from America’s second-largest state.
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The Hill – May 9, 2026
America’s energy weakness isn’t overseas — it’s at home: Senator Alan Armstrong
I didn’t come to the Senate from politics — I came from the field. I started as an engineer in Oklahoma’s energy sector and eventually led a company building and maintaining critical infrastructure. That experience taught me a simple lesson: Energy abundance is meaningless if you can’t move it to where it’s needed. Every time tensions rise in the Middle East, Washington sounds the alarm about high gasoline prices. Although these concerns are real, they often obscure a more fundamental truth: The biggest driver of high energy costs for many Americans isn’t foreign conflict; it is domestic failure.
The U.S. is an energy superpower, producing more oil and natural gas than any country in the world. Yet millions of Americans pay prices that resemble those in energy-scarce regions because we lack the infrastructure to deliver that supply. The data illustrate this disconnect clearly. In Pennsylvania, one of the most prolific natural gas regions in the world, supply is abundant and inexpensive. However, just 120 miles away in Massachusetts, they pay 252 percent more than the national average. Consumers there might pay $9.70 per unit versus $2.75 nationally.
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Associated Press – May 11, 2026
Venezuela warns of ‘serious’ environmental impact from alleged oil spill in Trinidad and Tobago
Venezuela says an oil spill that originated in Trinidad and Tobago, two islands just off its coast, had caused serious environmental damage along the coastlines of at least two of its states and in a gulf area near the Caribbean nation. The extent of the spill was disputed Sunday by the government of Trinidad and Tobago, which said only 10 barrels were spilled and it was contained the same day it was detected May 1.
Venezuela’s Foreign Ministry said late Saturday in a letter addressed to the international community that initial assessments found “severe risks” to ecosystems in the states of Sucre and Delta Amacuro and in the Gulf of Paria. It says the spill poses a threat to mangroves, wetlands and the environmental balance of the region. The Venezuelan government requested information about the incident and the action plan for mitigating and containing the spill, and demanded reparations measures in accordance with international environmental law, the official statement added.
Utilities, Electricity & Renewables
Utility Dive – May 11, 2026
Vistra adds 4.5 GW of capacity in line with ‘reasonable’ forecasts for PJM, ERCOT
Vistra has 4.5 GW of capacity additions recently completed or in process — including gas and nuclear uprates, coal-to-gas conversions, and new gas and renewables projects — as the company projects steady load growth in both the PJM interconnection and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas territories. “In ERCOT, we believe annual load growth of at least 5% to 6% through 2030 is reasonable, and in PJM, 2% to 3% annual load growth appears likely to persist,” Vistra’s president and CEO, Jim Burke, said on a May 7 first quarter earnings call.
Burke added that “while these views remain below many third-party forecasts and ISO projections, they reflect what we believe to be the pace of physical development and are consistent with the perspective we shared nearly two years ago on our first quarter 2024 earnings call.”
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PA Environment Daily Blog – May 6, 2026
On May 6, the PJM Interconnection launched an effort to rethink the future of its wholesale electricity markets with the publication of Powering Reliability Through Market Design.
“The Board asked PJM to examine whether the foundational assumptions of the market remain valid – and if not, what a valid set of assumptions would require. The paper that follows is an honest attempt at that examination,” said President and CEO David Mills stated in a forward to the paper. “The current situation is not tenable, Mills noted, and PJM and stakeholders have limited time to act.”
PJM said– “the landscape around PJM’s capacity market, or Reliability Pricing Model (RPM), has fundamentally changed. Where once electricity demand grew slowly and predictably, today data centers can be built much faster than generation can be built to serve them.”
“Building new generation is more expensive and riskier than it used to be: Capital costs have risen sharply, construction timelines have more than doubled, and state and federal policy has whipsawed.”
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Houston Chronicle – May 11, 2026
CenterPoint, Entergy report few outages after overnight storms sweep through Houston area*
Power was on Monday morning for most CenterPoint Energy and Entergy customers after overnight thunderstorms rolled through the Houston region. CenterPoint said 97.5% of its customers had power through the storms. Early Monday, just under 6,000 outages were reported by CenterPoint with the most in the Cypress area. For Entergy, which covers Montgomery County, customers on a few streets lost power but wider outages were shown on Entergy’s outage tracker between Cleveland and Shepherd.
“Since 1 a.m., across CenterPoint’s 150 weather station network, peak rain totals between one to two inches and wind gusts up to 45 mph have been observed,” according to a statement from CenterPoint. Crews for CenterPoint were positioned ahead of the weather to respond to overnight storms and continue to work on localized outages across the city.
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Gizmodo – May 11, 2026
What Will It Take to Modernize the US Power Grid?
Most of America’s power grid infrastructure is 40 to 70 years old. That may not sound ancient, but modern-day pressures are exposing cracks in the system. Across the nation, aging power systems are crumbling under the strain of the AI boom, extreme weather, and policy paralysis. In several regions, operating reserves are tightening, increasing the risk that supply could fall short during peak conditions when routine outages are factored in. As a result, consumers are grappling with rising utility costs and reduced reliability.
For this Giz Asks, we asked experts what it will take to modernize the U.S. power grid. They pointed to numerous challenges but also outlined clear ways to bring each component of this outdated system up to speed, from generation to distribution. Eric Hittinger, department chair and professor of public policy at Rochester Institute of Technology whose research focuses on energy policy:
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NPR – may 7, 2026
A new underground map of the U.S. could help the electric grid avoid catastrophe
AILSA CHANG, All Things Considered: For almost two decades, geologists have been setting up sensors all over the U.S., measuring the deep underground structure of the continent beneath us. Along the way, they discovered relics of a lost continent, mineral deposits and clues to the electrical conductivity of the Earth’s crust. And this month, they finally revealed their new maps and models of the U.S. in the journal Reviews of Geophysics. Paul Bedrosian of the U.S. Geological Survey is part of that team and joins us now…
BEDROSIAN: It also allows us to understand the hazards associated with space weather in particular to critical infrastructure. So when we think of space weather, we often think of things like the aurora, which gives us those beautiful displays in the night sky. But the same phenomena that gives rise to these aurora can also wreak havoc with critical infrastructure – things like the power grid, which we rely on. So one of the things which impacts the effect on things like the electric power grid is the conductivity – that is how well those rocks conduct electricity beneath our feet.
Regulatory
JD Supra – May 5, 2026
Unconventional drilling changed the economics of oil and gas development. It also changed the leases. Where once a simple habendum clause and a shut-in royalty provision could govern a vertical well for decades, horizontal drilling introduced a new vocabulary, and with it, new disputes. The Eighth Court of Appeals’ December 2025 decision in MRC Permian Co. v. Point
Energy Partners Permian LLC tackles one of these disputes head-on: how do you measure the lateral length of a horizontal wellbore?
MRC leased roughly 4,000 acres in Loving County under four identical leases. The leases required continuous drilling after the three-year primary term: spud a new well within 180 days of the prior well or lose everything outside designated production units. MRC drilled five horizontal wells during the primary term, missed the deadline to spud a sixth, and claimed force majeure. The Texas Supreme Court rejected that defense in 2023 and held the lease terminated in May 2017 as to all acreage outside production units.
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Texas Energy Report NewsClips
Monday May 11, 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 jumped Monday after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that the conflict with Iran was “not over,” raising fears that tensions in the Middle East could escalate again and further threatening energy supplies.
U.S. President Donald Trump, meanwhile, rejected Iran’s counteroffer to end the war with the U.S. and Israel. “I have just read the response from Iran’s so-called “Representatives.” I don’t like it — TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE!”
U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures with June delivery advanced 3.08% to $95.42 per barrel, while the international benchmark Brent crude futures with July delivery rose 3.16% to $104.49 per barrel.
“There’s still nuclear material, enriched uranium that has to be taken out of Iran,” Netanyahu said on Sunday in an interview on CBS’s “60 Minutes” that is set to air Sunday night. “There is still enrichment sites that have to be dismantled, there’s still proxies that Iran supports, there are ballistic missiles that they still want to produce … there’s work to be done.”
Asked how the U.S. and Israel would remove the nuclear material, Netanyahu replied: “You go in, and you take it out.”
Top Stories
MSN – May 9, 2026
Western Midstream to buy Brazos Delaware for $1.6 billion
Western Midstream Partners LP has agreed to acquire Brazos Delaware II LLC in a deal valued at about $1.6 billion. Under the terms of the agreement, Western will pay about $800 million in cash and issue about $800 million in WES common units at closing. The transaction is expected to close late second quarter.
Brazos is one of the largest privately held gathering and processing platforms in the Texas Delaware Basin, with natural gas and crude oil assets spanning Reeves, Ward, Pecos, Winkler, Culberson and Loving counties. Brazos’s assets include about 900 miles of pipeline, 460 million cubic feet per day of nameplate natural gas processing capacity at the Comanche processing complex and about 470,000 dedicated acres under long-term, fixed-fee contracts with a weighted average remaining contract life of more than nine years.
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Midland Reporter-Telegram – May 9, 2026
Viper Energy buying Riverbend interests for $522 million*
Viper Energy Inc. has announced a significant expansion of its Permian royalty assets. The company and indirect wholly owned subsidiary Viper Energy Partners have agreed to acquire all equity interests in Riverbend Oil & Gas IX, L.L.C., which owns certain mineral and royalty interests, from Riverbend Oil & Gas IX (AIV), L.L.C. and ROG IX, L.L.C. for $522 million, including $337 million in cash and approximately 3.7 million shares of Viper’s Class A common stock.
The acquisition includes:
- 3,064 net royalty acres, roughly evenly split between the Midland and Delaware basins; approximately 75% overlaps with Viper’s existing acreage position.
- Midland Basin primary operators include ExxonMobil and Diamondback; Delaware Basin primary operators include ConocoPhillips, EOG Resources, Occidental Petroleum and Permian Resources.
- Expected average production over the next 12 months of approximately 2,000 barrels of oil per day or about 4,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day.
- Expected to add approximately 1,000 barrels of oil per day to the midpoint of Viper’s standalone full-year 2026 production guidance range of 64,500 to 66,500 barrels of oil per day.
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Texas Tribune – May 8, 2026
In parched Texas, a state fund to boost water projects falls almost $3 billion short of demand
As Texas struggles to meet the needs of a rapidly growing population, a state fund had $1.28 billion available this year to support projects that could deliver water even in a severe drought. Unfortunately, 23 worthy projects requested a total of $4.2 billion, prompting the state to deny 13 of them — the first time the SWIFT fund had to say no to an applicant in its 11-year history. It was lamentable timing for a state plagued by a brutal drought and aging water infrastructure.
“We have more demand than we actually have the capacity to fulfill this year,” said Marvin Cole-Chaney, director of program administration and reporting for the Texas Water Development Board, which administers SWIFT, the State Water Implementation Fund for Texas. One of the denied projects is a desalination plant with the potential to create 100 million gallons of drinking water a day along the Coastal Bend in South Texas — an area including Corpus Christi, which is in the grips of a devastating drought.
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Midland Reporter-Telegram – May 9, 2026
EPA offers clarification on flaring phase-out deadline*
Oil and gas operators were watching their calendars closely recently, as the May 7, 2026, deadline to halt routine flaring from new oil wells neared. Aware of concern and confusion surrounding the deadline, the Environmental Protection Agency issued new guidance clarifying the matter. It stems from the 2024 Clean Air Act rules for oil and natural gas, commonly known as OOOOb/c, which phased out routine flaring. In the guidance, the agency clarified that current federal regulations allow oil and natural gas producers to continue routine flaring of associated gas at new oil wells in limited circumstances after the phaseout deadline. Producers in both the Permian Basin and Williston Basin said scenarios outside their control could require flaring past that deadline.
“We applaud and appreciate the work of the Environmental Protection Agency to provide guidance on existing rules that come into effect this month,” Ben Shepperd, president, Permian Basin Petroleum Association, told the Reporter-Telegram by email. “This guidance provides much-needed clarity to operators who have struggled with a set of very complex and sometimes conflicting regulations. We appreciate Administrator Zeldin and Assistant Administrator Szabo for understanding the need for this guidance and providing it. Like all things, the details matter, and our members will continue to protect human health and safety while also ensuring we continue to produce the vital natural resources from the Permian Basin, which is America’s oilfield,” he wrote.
The Latest TERse Tips
The national average price of regular gasoline hit $4.558 per gallon Thursday, the highest level since summer of 2022, according to AAA
Devon Energy and Coterra Energy completed their previously announced all-stock merger on 7 May 2026, creating a large-cap shale operator anchored by a position in the Delaware Basin, with the combined company operaing under the Devon Energy name and trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol DVN. It is headquartered in Houston, with a continued presence in Oklahoma City — Drilling Contractor
Corpus Christi is preparing to ease key water-use restrictions even as the city continues operating under a declared drought response plan, raising questions about how officials are balancing conservation demands with everyday water needs — Houston Chronicle*
08 May 2026: Fitch Ratings has affirmed NRG Energy, Inc.’s Long-Term Issuer Default Rating at ‘BB+’ — the Rating Outlook is Stable — Fitch
ProPetro Holding Corp. has announced that its PROPWR business unit has entered into a strategic framework agreement with Caterpillar Inc. to purchase up to 2.1 gigawatts of power generation assets to support the growing energy demands of data center, oil and gas and industrial customers — see the press release
Chubb Ltd. units ended a suit against a Texas wastewater disposal company seeking to avoid defense costs for litigation alleging escaped wastewater damaged underground oil and gas formations — NGL Water Solutions Permian LLC didn’t file an answer to the insurers’ complaint, nor did the wastewater disposal company file a motion for summary judgment, the Chubb carriers said in a Thursday filing in the US District Court for the Western District of Texas — the underlying suit alleged NGL injected more than 100 million barrels of wastewater into four saltwater disposal wells in Loving County, Texas — Bloomberg*
Texas electricity regulators are moving forward with plans to overhaul how the state divvies up the cost of building poles and power lines as a wave of data centers heads for the Lone Star State — staff at the state Public Utility Commission outlined changes Thursday that would require certain large power users — mostly data centers — to pay a minimum amount in transmission and distribution costs — PUC officials also proposed changing the incentive structure for large industrial power customers to lower their power usage during peak demand times — E&E News By Politico
The Iranian ambassador announced a “hybrid” mechanism for financing the gas pipeline from Russia — Institute for Energy and Finance Foundation
‘Landman’ creator grew up in Andrews, a tiny West Texas town — MSN
Oil & Gas Texas
Oil Price – May 8, 2026
US Oil Drillers Continue to Add Rigs
The total number of active drilling rigs for oil and gas in the United States rose this week, according to new data that Baker Hughes published on Friday, bringing the total rig count in the US to 548, down 30 from this same time last year. The number of active oil rigs rose by 2 to 410 during the latest reporting period, according to the data. This is 57 below this same time last year. The number of gas rigs fell by 1. Gas rigs now sit at 129, which is 21 more than this time last year. The miscellaneous rig count stayed at 9.
The latest EIA data showed that weekly U.S. crude oil production fell during week ending May 1. US crude oil production averaged 13.573 million bpd during the reporting period—289,000 bpd under the all-time high. Primary Vision’s Frac Spread Count, an estimate of the number of crews completing wells, rose during the week ending May 1 by 5 to 174 crews.
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The Wall Street Journal – May 9, 2026
Saudi Aramco Profit Jumps Despite War Disrupting Shipping Routes*
Saudi Arabia’s national oil company said its quarterly profit rose 25% as it increased exports via a pipeline that bypasses the Strait of Hormuz, after war in the Middle East disrupted shipping through the vital waterway. Saudi Arabian Oil Co., which is known as Aramco and is the world’s top oil exporter, posted a net profit of $32.5 billion for the three months ending March 31, up from $26 billion in the same period last year. Oil prices have soared since Iran effectively closed Hormuz after the start of the war with the U.S. and its allies in the region on Feb. 28. Around a fifth of the world’s oil and gas passed through the waterway each day before the war. To partially offset the disruption to its traditional export route, Aramco is rerouting more of its crude to the Red Sea port of Yanbu via its East-West pipeline.
The East-West pipeline reached its maximum capacity of 7 million barrels a day during the quarter, proving itself to be a “critical supply artery,” Aramco President Chief Executive Amin H. Nasser said. While higher oil prices are expected to offer an earnings tailwind to Aramco and other oil producers, the extent to which these companies are able to benefit ultimately depends on the reopening of the strait. The East-West pipeline can’t replace all the crude flows carried by tanker ships, but its use is helping prevent an even worse crisis from unfolding. The East-West pipeline network is also tied to domestic refining hubs in the region. Close to 2 million barrels a day of the pipeline’s capacity feeds refineries on the west coast of Saudi Arabia, which supply both Saudi domestic markets and international buyers of refined fuels.
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S&P Global Platts – May 8, 2026
Q&A: US-based Liberty Bay FLNG plans floating LNG project in Mexico or Argentina
Houston-based Liberty Bay FLNG is finalizing plans for a 1.4 million metric ton/year floating LNG project in either Mexico or Argentina, aiming for startup in late 2029 or early 2030 as the developer looks to avoid delays and cost overruns experienced by a similar offshore project, according to CEO Deepak Bawa. Bawa is a former managing director of New Fortress Energy, who worked on the company’s Altamira LNG export terminal in northern Mexico, another 1.4 million mt/year project that came online in 2024. Setbacks that delayed Altamira LNG contributed to New Fortress’ financial difficulties before the company entered a restructuring agreement with creditors earlier this year.
But Bawa told Platts, part of S&P Global Energy, that the proposed Liberty Bay facility would benefit from the lessons learned from the Altamira LNG project. “It’s not a first-of-a-kind thing, and that makes it way stronger,” Bawa said in a recent interview. “We are just trying to be practical and start with one small project, which has already been done before.”
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WWL – May 8, 2026
‘The house shook’: Residents recall loud explosion, fire at Chalmette Refinery
State leaders say they are closely monitoring conditions following an explosion and fire at the Chalmette Refinery earlier Friday, as residents in the surrounding area described hearing a loud noise and seeing smoke from the facility. The incident happened around 1 p.m. Several residents living nearby said they felt their homes shake. …
The Chalmette Refinery is owned by New Jersey-based PBF Energy. The facility was built in 1915 and produces approximately 189,000 barrels of crude oil per day. According to St. Bernard Parish officials, PBF Energy reported that the fire was quickly contained and that air monitoring did not indicate toxic chemicals impacting local air quality. The company has not said whether the incident will affect refinery production. Environmental health advocates note that industrial incidents can raise concerns among nearby communities. “There are certain chemicals associated with gasoline production that are monitored because of potential health risks, including benzene,” said Anne Rolfes of the Louisiana Bucket Brigade, an environmental health and justice organization.
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Reuters – May 8, 2026
Diamondback bets on wider WTI-Brent gap amid US export ban concerns*
U.S. producer Diamondback Energy bought options to sell the price difference between U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude and globally traded Brent crude at around minus $42 a barrel in coming months, according to the company’s quarterly filing, a bet that could pay off if the United States banned oil exports. The unusual hedge signals how oil companies are looking for ways to insure their revenue, and the costs associated with it as the Iran war has caused massive whiplashes in prices that could rapidly change the financial fate of producers.
Oil companies place hedges – the industry’s version of income insurance – to limit the risk of falling oil prices and secure revenues. Diamondback’s hedge, which bets on the difference in the value of two major benchmark prices, is rare among producers. Diamondback, the top Permian Basin-only producer, bought put options for nearly $70 million to sell the spread in price between WTI and Brent for up to 255,000 barrels per day at minus $41.67 a barrel in the second quarter of 2026, and for up to 290,000 barrels per day at minus $42.76 in the third quarter.
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Energy Now – May 8, 2026
Freeport LNG Plant in Texas Expected to Reduce Output for Maintenance in Coming Days, Sources Say
U.S. LNG exporter Freeport LNG is expected to reduce output in the coming days due to unplanned maintenance at the Texas plant, twomarket sources said. The work at the third largest LNG export facility in the U.S. could last through May and have prompted the company to cancel three previously scheduled cargoes, the sources added.
Those shipments were due to go to portfolio players that typically buy from various sources and act as middlemen to optimize arbitrage opportunities, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. The unplanned outage comes at a time when global LNG prices have been elevated, with the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran taking about 20% of supply offline.
Oil & Gas National & International
MarketWatch – May 8, 2026
Enbridge 1Q Profit Falls on Derivative Losses, Softer Operating Results
Enbridge’s first-quarter profit fell as noncash losses on derivative hedging instruments and softer operating performance weighed on results. The pipeline and energy transportation company posted a decline in net income on Friday to 1.67 billion Canadian dollars ($1.22 billion), or C$0.77 a share, down from C$2.26 billion, or C$1.04 a share, in the prior-year period.
The decline was largely due to a noncash, unrealized loss on derivative instruments used to hedge foreign exchange, interest rate, and commodity-price risks, it said, as well as weaker operating performance. Adjusted earnings, which excludes one-off costs and exceptional items, came to C$0.98 a share, topping forecasts of C$0.95 a share, according to FactSet. Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization fell slightly to C$5.81 billion from C$5.83 billion, missing forecasts of a rise to C$5.72 billion.
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Washington Post – May 9, 2026
Iran war is crushing Asia’s farmers, threatening global food supply*
The standoff between President Donald Trump and Iran that has brought shipping to a virtual halt in the Persian Gulf has set off supply chain shocks that are upending lives thousands of miles away in Asia, raising costs for farmers at the start of key planting seasons that will sharply reduce crop yields in the second half of the year and beyond, according to government officials, economists and farming groups. Addressing world leaders in Rome on Thursday, Dongyu Qu, the director general of the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, said the war had created not only a geopolitical crisis but “a disruption at the core of the global agrifood system.”
Iran’s destruction of gas infrastructure in the Gulf and the dueling U.S.-Iran efforts to choke the Strait of Hormuz have prevented crucial supplies of fuel and its derivatives like urea — a potent source of nitrogen that enhances harvests — from leaving the Middle East. Because fuel infrastructure takes years to build, there is no ready replacement for these supplies. In effect, 30 percent of the world’s urea has been “wiped out,” said Pranshi Goyal, senior analyst at the market intelligence firm CRU Group. China, a major fertilizer producer, has restricted exports to ensure its farmers have enough. Russia, another big manufacturer, is seeing demand soar, potentially boosting its economy and aiding its war in Ukraine. On what is known as the spot market, urea prices are up 40 percent since February.
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The Wall Street Journal – May 10, 2026
Higher Gas Prices Are Seeping Into the Produce Aisle*
Stefanie Katzman’s celery is starting to feel the pinch of $5.66-a-gallon diesel. Her food-distribution company buys fresh stalks from farmers in California and trucks them nearly 3,000 miles to a maze of chilled warehouses in New York City’s Bronx borough. That journey costs $11,000—46% more than it did last year. Workers at the three-million-square-foot New York market, the largest food-distribution center in the country, unload the celery and drive it into the city, paying for even more diesel along the way. By the time the celery sleeve arrives at the corner store, it is around 40 cents pricier than it would be otherwise.
The Hunts Point Produce Market, perched on a peninsula jutting into the East River, has morphed into a battleground in the food industry’s scramble to react to the past year’s economic challenges: tariffs, stretched consumers, abnormal weather and, now, climbing costs to get their lettuce and lemons from point A to point B triggered by the surge in diesel prices. The rise in fuel prices affects “every part of the supply chain, because fuel is used everywhere,” said Katzman, chief executive of a distributor that operates out of the market. “That’s where you really feel a change.” Vendors at the market are watching their profit margins dwindle and weighing just how much they can raise prices, aware that many of their customers are also struggling to get by. Some are choosing to pass their costs along, resigned to the fact that they have little choice.
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The Conversation – May 4, 2026
Oil refineries are catching fire in war or by accident. How does this worsen the energy crunch?
But while the spate of accidental refinery fires around the world only affect a small percentage of global output, they amplify the impact of the bigger supply shocks flowing from the Iran war. This year’s unprecedented energy crunch has exposed deep structural weaknesses in how the global oil system operates – and how easily it can be disrupted. Refineries have become targets in war, while poor maintenance or accidents point to systemic stresses.
This year, oil refineries have become targets in two wars. Refineries and energy infrastructure have been targeted in previous conflicts. But advances in drone technology and intelligence have made attacks cheaper and more effective. It’s now possible to hit specific distillation columns or fuel storage tanks within a refinery. The Russia-Ukraine war is now well into its fourth year. Ukraine has relied heavily on drones for defence and, increasingly, attack. Successive drone strikes on Russia’s Black Sea Tuapse refinery have done significant damage. Earlier strikes hit refineries in Perm and Orsk.
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Energy Now – April 30, 2026
Australia Is Struggling to Meet Asia’s Rising LNG Needs, Chevron Says
Australia’s liquefied natural gas exporters are missing out on meeting rising Asian demand because of a lack of capacity that’s partially down to an uncertain investment environment, according to Chevron Australia Corp. Demand for Australian LNG, particularly from Japanese buyers, is outstripping operational supply limits, said Chevron Australia’s Managing Director Balaji Krishnamurthy.
“The first question from buyers always is, can you do more? And right now, we are facility constrained,” he said in an interview at the Committee for Economic Development of Australia’s Climate and Energy Summit in Melbourne. “If we are able to sell more, people would absolutely like to buy it,” he said.
Utilities, Electricity & Renewables
Yahoo! News – May 9, 2026
CPS Energy pilot could help data centers connect more quickly to Texas grid
The rapidly increasing pressure to provide electricity for data centers and other high-demand users could be eased by a CPS Energy pilot program that encourages energy-hungry customers to bring their own generation. The program – and others under consideration by the statewide electric grid operator – is a response to demand that’s projected to increase nearly 400% across Texas by the end of the decade as the state attracts more of the computing power needed for artificial intelligence and other aspects of today’s digital world.
“We’ve been anticipating that we may need some new tools to help customers’ desire, as well as things that are being contemplated at the state level,” said Elaina Ball, CPS Energy’s chief strategy officer. “This pilot is one of the solutions that we’ve been pursuing.” The effort by San Antonio’s city-owned utility is a microcosm of trends in the energy sector, she said, which have state grid operator the Electric Reliability Council of Texas also grappling with sharp growth in both commercial and residential demand.
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Politico – May 7, 2026
The data center clean energy debate gets granular
What does 24/7 clean energy really mean? The artificial intelligence boom is putting that question to the test. Tech companies, including Google and Microsoft, have set 2030 goals to offset their energy consumption, hour-by-hour, with carbon-free power. But as Bloomberg reported this week, Microsoft is considering delaying or abandoning its hourly pledge, while sticking to annual offset goals.
That technical change could mean a lot in terms of planet-warming emissions. The potential switch demonstrates the clean energy challenge as companies rush to build power-hungry data centers connected to a grid still reliant on fossil fuels. The boom has led to the U.S. leading the world in planned natural gas projects, which could increase the country’s gas capacity by 50 percent, according to the nonprofit Global Energy Monitor.
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NPR – May 8, 2026
AEP expects to double total power needed by 2030, largely due to data centers in Ohio and Texas
American Electric Power’s President and CEO Bill Fehrman expects the total amount of power the company will generate nationwide by 2030 will nearly double what AEP already uses, and that will largely be driven by more data centers in Ohio and Texas. Fehrman made the remarks during AEP’s earnings call for the first quarter of 2026 on Tuesday. The announcement comes as data centers and rising utility bills spark grassroots backlash in Ohio and around the country.
According to Fehrman, AEP will generate 63 gigawatts nationally by 2030, or enough to power tens of millions of homes. The company currently generates only 32 gigawatts of power across 11 states. Fehrman added that 90% of that new power will come from data centers with much of the remaining 10% coming mostly from other industrial growth.
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Area Development – May 8, 2026
SEG Solar Expands Houston, Texas, Manufacturing Operations
Solar module manufacturer SEG Solar plans to establish a new manufacturing facility in Houston, Texas. The more than $200 million project is expected to create up to 800 jobs. The investment will include the construction of a 500,000-square-foot facility which will produce up to four gigawatts of solar modules annually. Operations are scheduled to begin in the third quarter of 2026..
“This new facility marks an important milestone for SEG,” said Timothy Johnson, Vice President of Operations for SEG Solar. “It will further strengthen our U.S. manufacturing capabilities while supporting ongoing technology innovation. The plant is designed with the flexibility to integrate next-generation technologies as the industry evolves.”.
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San Antonio Report – May 9, 2026
Done right, data centers can help keep San Antonio’s power bills in check:
As anyone who lost power during Winter Storm Uri or watched a neighbor’s home threatened by wildfire smoke drifting in from a drought-dried Hill Country knows, Texas must harden, upgrade and modernize its grid to meet basic safety and reliability standards. These investments are not optional. And they carry real risk of raising electricity bills for households and small businesses in a city where rate pressure is already a live political issue.
The debate in San Antonio right now centers on a startling set of numbers. The roughly two dozen data centers operating in far western Bexar County already consume around 324 megawatts of power. By the end of 2028, an influx of new centers could add another 2,700 megawatts of demand, and by 2033, that figure could top 3,300 megawatts. To meet that growth, CPS Energy expects to spend approximately $1.3 billion on transmission projects over the next five years, adding roughly one gigawatt of load-serving capacity.
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RFD TV – May 2, 2026
Clean Power Installations Hit Record Levels in 2025
U.S. clean power developers posted a record year in 2025, even as policy setbacks and investor uncertainty began to build. A report from the American Clean Power Association said utility-scale solar, wind, and battery storage additions topped 50 gigawatts for the year, the first time annual deployment has cleared that mark. The fourth quarter alone accounted for 18.6 gigawatts of new capacity. The report said that was enough to push the annual total to 50,344 megawatts, up 3 percent from 2024, and to power more than 6.9 million homes.
Storage was one of the strongest segments. Installations ran 41 percent above the previous record year, and the storage development pipeline continued to expand, indicating that demand remains strong despite policy questions ahead. The longer-term pipeline still grew to 187,514 megawatts, but the pace slowed. The report said power purchase agreement announcements fell 27 percent from a year earlier, raising concern about weaker project deployment in the 2028 to 2030 window.
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Bloomberg – May 1, 2026
Iran War Revives a Decade-Old African Gas-Pipeline Dream*
Some pipe dreams can come true after all. When Morocco in 2016 came up with the idea of a 4,300-mile (6,900-kilometer) conduit to transfer natural gas from West Africa to the Mediterranean, few thought it feasible. In the decade since, however, the Nigeria-Morocco Gas Pipeline has become a real proposition. A dozen countries have signed on, while energy discoveries in the waters off Senegal and Mauritania have added impetus. The estimated $25 billion project took another step forward this month.
A Moroccan state-controlled firm said it’ll begin looking at raising some of the funds. Other nations are expected to join a pact later this year to establish a company that would structure financing and development. With the Iran war in its third month and Europe seeking alternative energy supplies from outside the Middle East, the pipeline looks like a concept whose time has come. Comprising several segments both offshore and onshore, it will link gas deposits in Nigeria, Senegal and Mauritania with 10 African nations. From Morocco it will connect to the existing Gas Maghreb Europe pipeline to Spain.
The plan envisages combined total capacity of 30 billion cubic meters, although Nigeria’s gas deposits will need massive investment to reach that level. For now, the piece from Senegal onward may be the most immediately doable. The Moroccan firm ONHYM says the first gas from there could arrive in 2031. It may not be all plain sailing. Morocco is mired in a long-running feud with Algeria, which proposes a rival pipeline across the Sahara. Mauritania, key to the Moroccan project, will need to avoid angering either of its powerful neighbors. Also, a recent footballing dispute has strained ties between Morocco and Senegal and Dakar has yet to show it’s as enthused by the plan as Rabat. But at least the region is waking up to the possibilities.
Regulatory
May 10, 2026
An Ethanol Extortion Play: The Wall Street Journal*
House Republicans got their act together last month to pass a five-year farm bill, though the ethanol lobby exacted a high price. Lo, the House is set to hold a stand-alone vote this week on legislation that would benefit the ethanol industry at the expense of consumers and small refiners. Consider it political compensation for the damage caused by President Trump’s tariff blitz.
The $390 billion farm bill reauthorizes existing farm programs and $66 billion in subsidies that Republicans stuffed into last year’s tax bill. That payoff was intended to alleviate pain for farmers who have lost access to foreign markets, especially China, as a result of retaliation in response to Mr. Trump’s tariffs. But the ethanol lobby and its friends in Congress weren’t satisfied. They threatened to hold the farm bill hostage to obtain a long-sought change in law that would also permit the year-round sale of E15 fuel (which consists of 15% ethanol and 85% gasoline) and limit waivers from the Renewable Fuel Standard—aka ethanol mandate—for small refiners.
Most gasoline contains 10% ethanol as an octane booster. But the Renewable Fuel Standard requires ethanol and other so-called advanced biofuels to be blended in increasing quantities into the nation’s fuel supply. The Trump Environmental Protection Agency recently raised these quotas, which it estimated would entail $20 billion a year in compliance costs. These costs are passed along to drivers at the pump. One problem is that ethanol blends greater than 10% can increase smog during warm weather, which is why the EPA restricts its sale during the summer. Higher ethanol blends can also corrode gasoline pumps, storage tanks and other infrastructure unless retailers and distributors make upgrades. Some have, but most haven’t.
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Texas Energy Report NewsClips
Friday May 8, 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 resumed its rally Friday after the U.S. and Iran exchanged fire in the Strait of Hormuz, fanning fears that the fragile ceasefire between the two countries was unraveling and threatening continued disruption to shipping via one of the world’s most critical oil route.
West Texas Intermediate futures for June delivery added 0.88% to $95.64 per barrel
International benchmark Brent crude futures for July delivery rose 1.20% to $101.26.
Washington and Tehran accused each other of initiating attacks in the Strait of Hormuz, further straining a ceasefire agreement already weakened by repeated allegations of violations. The flare-up came as Iran is reportedly reviewing a U.S. proposal to end the war.
U.S. President Donald Trump, in a call with an ABC News reporter later Thursday, insisted that the ceasefire remains in effect, saying the strikes were “just a love tap.”
Top Stories
Dallas Morning News – May 7, 2026
Democrats offer plans for easing pain at the pump as they eye midterms*
Drivers are paying more at the pump than before President Donald Trump launched military operations against Iran over two months ago, as hostilities in the Middle East have disrupted oil supplies and driven up fuel prices. Sensing political opportunity, Democrats have embraced populist proposals to pause state and federal fuel taxes as a way of easing pressure on consumers.
State Rep. James Talarico of Austin, the Democratic Senate nominee, has called for suspending the federal gas tax of 18 cents per gallon, a move he said would provide immediate relief for consumers struggling with inflation. “The people who started this war in Iran don’t feel it the way we do,” Talarico said last month in promoting his plan. “They’re not worried about the price of gas. They don’t fill up the tank halfway and then stop because they see the price climbing.” He said voters want their elected leaders to end “forever wars” and focus on affordability. Talarico will face the winner of a May 26 Republican runoff between Sen. John Cornyn and Attorney General Ken Paxton.
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AOL – May 7, 2026
NYC comptroller criticized for opposing Exxon’s New Jersey exit
Legal reform groups are criticizing New York City’s top bean counter for asking federal regulators to block a move by ExxonMobil to relocate its New Jersey headquarters to Texas. In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Comptroller Mark Levine urges Exxon’s shareholders to reject the company’s proposal to move its corporate offices to the Lone Star State, which he claimed is a jurisdiction with “less robust” shareholder rights.
He cited a recent Southern Methodist University analysis suggesting that the move to Texas would make it harder for shareholders to hold the company’s board accountable. “I believe Exxon’s proposed move to Texas, as well as the current implementation of its retail voting program, are not in the long-term interests of shareholders and will only serve to entrench company leadership and ultimately disenfranchise shareholders,” he wrote.
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Texas Tribune – May 7, 2026
Gas power leapfrogs wind for first time in 10 years in Texas’ grid connection queue
A decade ago, wind power was surging in popularity and attracting huge investments that made Texas a national leader in renewable energy. But today, gas generation is making a big comeback, driven by a wave of data centers flooding into the state.
For the last six months, the volume of gas generation in the Texas grid’s interconnection queue — the yearslong waiting list for electric generators wanting to connect to the grid — has surpassed wind. It’s the first time since January 2016 that gas has overtaken wind in the queue, a shift that reflects the policy and economic headwinds facing the wind industry and data centers favoring gas power as they seek to cash in on the artificial intelligence boom.
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Odessa American – May 7, 2026
PUCT adopts rule for Texas Backup Power Package Program
The Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) on Thursday adopted a new rule establishing the Texas Backup Power Package (TBPP) Program. The program will help fund installation of TBPP systems at critical facilities such as hospitals, nursing homes, emergency response centers, and water utilities to supply emergency power during extreme weather and other emergencies. The TBPP Program is one of four programs established under the Texas Energy Fund (TxEF) to strengthen electric reliability.
“Texans depend on critical facilities to stay up and running during emergencies,” PUCT Chairman Thomas Gleeson said in a news release. “This program helps make sure nursing homes will have the power to care for residents, hospitals can treat patients, and emergency services will remain available when Texans need them most. Put simply, the TBPP will save lives.”
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Reuters – May 7, 2026
Atmos Energy raises annual profit forecast on strong natural gas demand*
Atmos Energy raised its annual profit forecast on Wednesday after reporting a rise in second-quarter earnings, as it expects robust demand for its natural gas distribution and pipeline facilities. With Big Tech pouring billions of dollars into artificial intelligence technologies and the infrastructure needed to develop them, utilities have witnessed a huge surge in demand for power. U.S. power consumption, which hit its second straight annual record high in 2025, is expected to rise further in 2026 and 2027, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA).
For the second quarter, Atmos’ operating income from its distribution segment rose 17% to $565.9 million, while its pipeline and storage unit earned $198.9 million, 37% higher than a year earlier. The company distributes natural gas to more than 3.3 million customers across Colorado, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia.
The Latest TERse Tips
Fitch Ratings has upgraded Expand Energy Corporation’s Long-Term Issuer Default Rating and unsecured issue ratings to ‘BBB’ from ‘BBB-‘ — the Rating Outlook is Stable — Fitch
Research Update: Caturus Energy LLC Upgraded To ‘B’ From ‘B-‘ On Increased Scale; Ratings Removed From CreditWatch; Outlook Stable — S&P Global
Amid heavy spring rainfall, parts of Texas are now drought-free, here’s where — San Antonio Express-News*
James Talarico opposes billionaires’ influence in politics. Several are helping boost his campaign — San Antonio Express-News*
Vistra Corp. Thursday reported its first quarter 2026 financial results and other highlights — see the press release
Texas Republicans have a data center problem — data center construction is unpopular among locals, and a majority of the facilities are being proposed in red, rural counties, and that puts Texas Republicans in a tough spot, as the White House has encouraged states to let the centers flourish — Texas Tribune
A pipeline that ships crude oil between the Permian basin in West Texas and Houston was fully operational on Thursday after a brief outage due to a leak, operator ONEOK said — Reuters*
Targa Resources Corp. on Thursday reported first quarter 2026 results — see the press release
Kimbell Royalty Partners, LP Thursday released financial and operating results for the quarter ended March 31 — see the press release
Crescent Builds Out Texas Oil & Gas Assets — Vital Energy’s nine Permian Basin stations now part of company’s assets, with $1.3 billion of Eagle Ford developments set for 2026 and 2027 — see the profile
U.S. Steel says it will invest $1.9 billion to build a modern and lower-carbon ironmaking plant in Arkansas — marking a key expansion beyond the company’s coal-based steel mills — Canary Media
The Pentagon is holding up the development of more than 250 new onshore wind farms on private lands by failing to complete its national security reviews, according to an industry group — the Pentagon evaluates wind energy projects during the Federal Aviation Administration review process. But in recent weeks, it has stopped sending any projects back to the FAA, grinding the process to a halt, the American Clean Power industry association said — KVUE
China Is Still Supplying Drone Factories in Iran, Russia Despite U.S. Sanctions — obscure Chinese companies are openly shipping dual-use goods such as engines and batteries, defying American controls — The Wall Street Journal*
China is embracing styles of passenger vehicle typically associated with the U.S.—the big SUV and brawny pickup truck — at the Beijing auto show, which kicked off Friday, Chinese electric-vehicle brands such as Xpeng, Aito and Li Auto showed off the kind of three-row sport-utility vehicles American families often buy — The Wall Street Journal*
Oil & Gas Texas
The Wall Street Journal – May 7, 2026
Frackers Are Finally Ready to Drill. Trump Won’t See a Return of the Go-Go Days.*
Since the Iran war began, U.S. shale companies have been resisting President Trump’s call to add more barrels of oil into a deprived marketplace. Now, some companies are starting to do just that, most notably Diamondback Energy, one of the top drillers in the Permian Basin. The company told investors this week that the market is sending a clear signal to start cranking out more barrels. EOG Resources and Chord Energy have similarly announced plans to produce slightly more crude than they previously anticipated. … “We’re two months into the world’s largest oil-supply disruption in history,” Diamondback Chief Executive Kaes Van’t Hof told analysts. But he added, “I don’t think there’s a lot of appetite for something like the go-go days of 2017, 2018,” referring to an era when producers spent with abandon to grow at a fast pace.
The planned increases from Diamondback, EOG and Chord are modest and won’t do nearly enough to help the world backfill its lost supply from the Middle East. They amount to between 20,000 and 30,000 barrels of oil a day—a drop compared with the 13 million barrels a day that the closure of the Strait of Hormuz has removed from the global economy. The additions won’t do much to tamp down the steady rise in gasoline prices, either. The average gallon of unleaded was $4.54 on Wednesday, the highest level since 2022. Thus far, Trump has given his oil allies a break. Although his team has repeatedly discussed ways to increase production with oil executives, the administration understands shale companies need more certainty before they bring barrels online, oil lobbyists say. Yet with the summer driving season only weeks away and no reprieve in sight for drivers, Trump might be tempted to put more pressure on oil producers.
The shale companies’ tepid reaction to the jump in crude prices is further proof that firms once known to grow helter-skelter have become disciplined. Although they acknowledge the global economy is facing a historic dearth of crude, they are happy to use their cash to beef up their balance sheets and wait to see where markets land. Executives at Occidental Petroleum and Devon Energy, two of the largest U.S. oil producers, expressed caution this week about adding new rigs. They noted that a dollar spent today wouldn’t translate into production until next year—and they need to see how the war unfolds before they make a decision to pick up rigs or hire crews that frack wells. Some noted they now expect higher prices for longer, a signal that they might add more production in the future, but even then, they cautioned that growth wouldn’t be explosive.
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Reporting from Alaska – May 7, 2026
House Republicans pitch new Hilcorp gas subsidy to ‘save Anchorage’
Hilcorp, owned by Texas billionaire Jeff Hildebrand, could qualify for a new state subsidy for gas drilling in Cook Inlet under a plan approved by the House Finance Committee Wednesday. The vote was 7-4, but don’t expect this provision to survive in the final version of HB 271. Fairbanks Rep. Will Stapp said his proposed reduction in the state’s royalty share from all Cook Inlet natural gas leases was the “Save Anchorage” or “Save Southcentral” amendment.
It would give Hilcorp, the company that produces 85 percent of the natural gas in Cook Inlet, a chance to earn more millions for natural gas production. The GOP amendment to reduce the state royalty rate to 5 percent would be “under the condition that the producers, the companies can demonstrate to DNR that a reduction in royalty will result in a cost savings for the end users of natural gas,” Stapp said.
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Shreveport Bossier Advocate – May 7, 2026
Estimates released for natural gas found in Bossier formation. It could supply the U.S. for years.
The U.S. Geological Survey has released numbers that even some of their staff members refer to as “sizable” – a 10-year quantity of natural gas trapped in rock under northwest Louisiana and east Texas. In January, USGS issued an estimate of 47.9 trillion cubic feet of gas they believe could be present in the Gulf Coast Haynesville formation.
On Wednesday, it was the Bossier formation’s turn: 343.5 trillion cubic feet of “undiscovered, technically recoverable” but perhaps not economically viable gas believed to be in the Bossier formation through to the Western Haynesville, an area that generally comprises Leon, Freestone, Limestone, and Robertson counties in east Texas.
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MSN – May 7, 2026
Comstock outlines 5.2-gigawatt Texas power hub plan with gas supply reaching nearly 1 Bcf/d by 2031
Management View:
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“Lower production, partially driven by production impacts from significant winter weather in the first quarter drove the lower financial results” (Chairman and CEO Miles Allison).
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“On March 19, the United States Department of Commerce selected our Western Haynesville site to host a new 5.2 gigawatt natural gas-fired power generation hub” and “Comstock will provide the natural gas supply for the facility, which could reach almost 1 billion cubic feet per day by 2031” (CEO Allison).
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“Our production in the first quarter averaged 1.1 Bcfe per day” and “Oil and gas sales after hedging in the quarter were $339 million” (President and CFO Roland Burns).
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“We spent a total of $343 million on our drilling program” and “We turned 13 wells to sales” (CFO Burns).
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Reuters – May 7, 2026
Pemex says oil sheen observed in Houston Ship Channel at Deer Park refinery, Texas*
Mexico’s state oil company Pemex said on Thursday an oil sheen was observed in the Houston Ship Channel from activities at its 312,500-barrel-per-day Deer Park refinery in Texas, according to a community alert.
The company said it had contained the oil sheen and was taking steps to mitigate any environmental impact.
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Houston Chronicle – May 7, 2026
Guyana’s president discusses Exxon, Venezuela tensions at Houston energy conference*
A global energy crisis, a contentious and competitive neighbor and a corporate feud have not dimmed Guyana’s enthusiasm for becoming a resource giant and the economic potential it offers, the nation’s president told the Houston Chronicle in an exclusive interview. Mohamed Irfaan Ali, the Guyanese president, discussed his hopes for global “energy balance” during the keynote speech and in an interview Monday at the Offshore Technology Conference, an annual meeting in Houston of the most prolific energy companies, engineers, scientists and investors. The conference comes during the biggest oil crisis in history, as war in Iran continues to hold the global energy industry hostage.
Guyana has quickly become one of the fastest-growing economies, thanks in large part to the tapping of its vast oil and gas reserves since 2019. The South American country’s offshore oil fields, known as the Stabroek Block, are a more than 6 million-acre area once caught in a lengthy legal battle that ended last year between Houston’s two largest oil giants, Exxon Mobil and Chevron.
Oil & Gas National & International
MarketWatch – May 7, 2026
Traders point to suspicious activity in the oil market on Wednesday
Related: The Department of Justice is investigating a series of suspiciously timed trades in the oil market just ahead of major announcements by President Donald Trump and a top Iranian official about the war in Iran, sources told ABC News.
Trading volume in U.S. crude-oil futures suddenly spiked early Wednesday in the hour before a media report sent prices tumbling — the latest in a pattern of suspicious activity in the market for oil futures that has emerged since the start of the conflict in Iran. At around 4:50 a.m. Eastern time, Axios published a report, citing U.S. officials, that the White House believed the U.S. and Iran were nearing a deal on a one-page memorandum to end the fighting and set a framework for future talks toward a nuclear deal.
President Trump has repeatedly said that the U.S. and Israel decided to attack Iran in late February in an effort to ensure Iran would never be able to develop a nuclear weapon. Beginning roughly one hour before the report hit the newswires, trading in front-month West Texas Intermediate crude-oil futures suddenly spiked. Roughly 17,300 contracts with an estimated value of more than $1.7 billion changed hands during this time, with the bulk of activity occurring before 4:10 a.m. Eastern, according to Dow Jones Market Data. Trading volume spiked again shortly after the Axios report hit the newswires at around 4:50 a.m. Eastern.
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The Wall Street Journal – May 7, 2026
Shell CEO on Oil Market: ‘Volatility Has Created Opportunities’*
Related: Shell continues to have conviction in the long-term role of LNG given its importance in energy security and its contribution to a diverse energy supply, CEO Wael Sawan said May 7 — S&P Global Platts
Shell’s traders took advantage of whipsawing oil prices sparked by the Iran war to power the British energy major’s earnings to the best quarter in two years. Adjusted profits at Shell’s chemicals and products division, which houses its oil traders, surged to $1.93 billion in the first quarter, up from $449 million in the same period last year. “Take crude and [refined] products trading,” said Chief Executive Wael Sawan. “The volatility in the month of March has created opportunities for our traders to create some value there.”
Shell traders who built up long positions in crude oil, refined products and gas were able to deliver those cargoes to the most profitable markets, Sawan said. The Iran war—and the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz—has sparked a huge rally in oil and gas prices. Hour-to-hour news about the latest developments in the conflict has also fueled big intraday swings in energy markets. Major oil companies are now capitalizing on those higher prices, while energy traders have been able to exploit volatility to deliver bumper profits.
However, the war is also having a negative impact on Shell’s operations in the Middle East. Iran’s attacks on Qatar damaged one of two units at the company’s Pearl gas-to-liquids plant that will require a year’s worth of repairs. Shipments from a liquefied natural gas facility, of which Shell owns 30% in a joint venture with Qatar Energy, have also been shut down while the strait remains largely logjammed. Sawan said work to repair the damaged gas-to-liquids unit has already begun, while the undamaged unit and its LNG plant are “startup ready.”
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Alaska Beacon – May 7, 2026
Amid Iran war, Alaska’s oil is selling with an extra premium on global markets
The first month of the American war against Iran caused crude oil prices to skyrocket around the world, and the price of Alaska’s oil has risen particularly far. That rise is making extra millions of dollars available for state services and the Permanent Fund dividend, even as it squeezes the finances of individual Alaskans. In figures newly compiled by the Alaska Department of Revenue, the average price of a barrel of Alaska North Slope crude was $111.17 in April.
That’s $8.70 higher than the average price of a barrel of Brent crude, a standard based on oil extracted from Europe’s North Sea. It was also $13.11 per barrel higher than the average price of West Texas Intermediate, a standard based on oil from America’s second-largest state. “The differential is the largest monthly value since the year 2000 and may be the highest value in history,” said the Department of Revenue, referring to the gap between Brent and North Slope crude.
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Bloomberg – May 7, 2026
China’s Invisible Hand Is Rebalancing the Oil Market: Javier Blas*
Facing an unprecedented shortage, the oil market is pulling every available lever to rebalance supply and demand. Some are well known: bypassing the Strait of Hormuz using pipelines, releasing emergency stocks and allowing high prices to kill consumption. But there’s another force that’s equally important and largely unmentioned: China. Quietly, Beijing has slashed its oil imports by about a quarter from prewar levels. The impact is clear: Unexpectedly, more crude is available to the wider market, reining in oil benchmarks close to the key $100-a-barrel level despite 60-plus days of conflict in the Persian Gulf. But the mechanics behind the import swing — crucial to assessing its sustainability — are far from clear.
Deciphering the vast Chinese energy industry is difficult, even when the fog of war isn’t obscuring the picture further. Oil traders fill the gaps left by patchy official statistics by tracking tankers offloading and uploading in the country, measuring stocks using satellite imagery and by talking to their own on-the-ground contacts for clues. Over recent weeks, industry executives have noticed something odd: Chinese state-owned oil companies have been reselling some of their oil cargoes to European and Asian rivals. The behavior suggests surpluses — odd during a supply shortage. The shift has not only capped benchmark oil prices, but also helped to trigger a collapse in the premia that traders pay above them to secure physical crude. Barrels that in early April went for $30 above benchmark prices are now changing hands at premiums as low as $1. Talk of discounts has even started to emerge.
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NPR – May 7, 2026
Gas prices keep rising, but do big oil companies plan to drill more? Not so far
On a call with investors last week, Chevron CEO Mike Wirth summed up his plans for oil production in four words: “Steady as she goes.” Not much about oil markets have been “steady” for the past few months. The war in Iran caused an unprecedented disruption to global oil flows, as traffic through the Strait of Hormuz dropped to a near standstill and some production in the Persian Gulf had to shut down. Markets in Asia are facing increasingly dire shortages of fuel. Worldwide, crude oil prices have been on a roller coaster.
But some of the world’s biggest oil companies, in their quarterly reports to investors, are signaling that their planned response to this upheaval is to stay the course. They’re largely sticking with the production and investment plans they charted before the war began — even though producing more oil might let them profit even more off higher-than-normal prices and help bring down gasoline costs for drivers.
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Oil Price – May 4, 2026
Equinor Signs $1.8 Billion in Drilling Deals to Keep Oil and Gas Output High
Equinor has extended $1.8 billion worth of drilling and well services supplier contracts as the Norwegian energy major looks to keep high oil and gas production offshore Norway and deliver stable energy volumes to Europe. Equinor is extending key supplier agreements worth a total of $1.8 billion (17 billion Norwegian crowns), by exercising one-year options under three contracts for integrated drilling and well services, as well as two-year options under 18 corporate framework agreements for specialist services linked to these deliveries, the company said on Monday.
The local units of top oilfield services providers Baker Hughes, Halliburton, and SLB have been awarded the contracts for integrated drilling and well services. These firms and 15 other suppliers have also been awarded corporate framework agreements for specialist services. “New wells are expected to account for around 70 percent of Equinor’s production in 2035,” said Rune Nedregaard, Equinor’s senior vice president for Wells.
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Argus Media – May 2, 2026
Hunt, Crossover sign Orinoco exploration deals
Two independent US oil and gas producers have agreed to work with Venezuela’s state-owned PdV in the Orinoco heavy oil belt. Representatives for privately held Hunt Oil and Crossover Energy Holdings signed memorandums of understanding in Caracas on Thursday in a ceremony with acting Venezuelan president Delcy Rodriguez. Details of the projects were not released, but Rodriguez said they were in Monagas state and were rich in both oil and natural gas. Jarrod Agen, executive director of the White House’s National Energy Dominance Council, said at the event the deal would include up to $2bn in investments. Agen arrived in Venezuela with a delegation on Thursday.
US charge d’affaires for Venezuela John Barrett also attended the signing event. The agreements are the latest in a series of deals with energy companies including Eni, Repsol, Chevron and BP in recent days. The US has controlled the flow and funds of Venezuela’s energy trade since it seized former leader Nicolas Maduro and his wife on 3 January and is now working closely with the remainder of his administration.
Utilities, Electricity & Renewables
KXAN – May 6, 2026
Texas data centers could amount to 9% of the state’s water use by 2040, study finds
Researchers from the University of Texas at Austin are calling for transparency in data center water use after new studies suggest the industry could potentially account for up to 9% of the state’s water usage within the next 20 years. The white paper, “Water Use Requirements for Data Centers in Texas,” examines water issues related to the state’s growing data center industry. Right now, it uses less than 1% of the state’s water, but could increase depending on the industry’s growth, the cooling technologies used and the electrical power source.
“There’s a lot of uncertainty surrounding the water use for data centers,” Mariam Arzumanyan, a postdoctoral fellow at the Bureau of Economic Geology and a research unit of the UT Jackson School of Geosciences, said. “People don’t know the scale of how much water is going to be needed. There is not a unified understanding of the technologies used for cooling, or how much water that technology would use.”
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Austin American Statesman – May 7, 2026
Austin weighs ‘once-in-a-generation’ Texas Gas deal as customers face rising bills*
Paul Williams remembers when his natural gas bill was so cheap it barely seemed worth paying. Williams, who has owned his modest North Austin home near Interstate 35 and East Rundberg Lane since 1985, said he used to send Texas Gas Service a check for several months at a time just to avoid dealing with tiny balances. “The gas bill was so small, it was a nuisance to write a check for $8.23 or something,” he said.
Now retired and living alone with his dog, Coco, Williams says those days are long gone. His January gas bill totaled $133. During the same month in 2023, he paid $76 — about a 75% increase in just two years. “My gas bill was extraordinarily high this winter,” Williams said. As gas bills climb across Austin, the City Council approved on first reading Thursday what advisers are calling a “once-in-a-generation” franchise agreement with Texas Gas Service, the utility that serves roughly 95% of Austin’s natural gas customers. But members of the city’s Resource Management Commission have said the proposed 10-year deal does not go far enough to shield customers like Williams from escalating costs.
The commission, which advises the council on energy and sustainability issues, says city staff left out several major recommendations intended to strengthen oversight of Texas Gas’ infrastructure spending, expand low-income bill assistance and place tighter restrictions on how the utility passes costs on to ratepayers.
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Houston Chronicle – May 7, 2026
Nearly 219,000 Tesla vehicles have been recalled. Here’s why.*
Nearly 219,000 Tesla vehicles have been recalled due to a software issue that disables the rearview camera for up to 11 seconds upon starting the car, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. When the issue arises, the rearview camera won’t display when people put the car in reverse during that 11-second period. “Loss of the rearview camera image may affect the driver’s rear view and increase the risk of a collision. The driver may continue to reverse the vehicle by performing a shoulder check and using their mirrors,” the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said in its recall report.
Tesla has released a software remedy to fix the problem, according to the administration. The recall report also claims that “more than 99.92% of the affected vehicle population have successfully loaded the remedy firmware.” The vehicles affected are Tesla’s Model 3 with model years of 2017, 2021, 2022 and 2023; the 2020 and 2023 Model Y; the 2021 and 2023 Tesla Model S; and the Tesla Model X of 2021 and 2023.
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Utility Dive – May 6, 2026
Xcel Energy: Google deal sets template for large load tariff strategy
Leaders at Xcel Energy say a deal with Google for a nearly 1 GW data center in Minnesota, announced earlier this year, will serve as a model for large load tariffs the company will pursue in Colorado, Texas, New Mexico and Wisconsin.
The agreement with Google, which is pending regulatory approval from state utility regulators, would require the tech giant to cover the entire cost of infrastructure to serve its new data center, according to Bob Frenzel, chairman, president and CEO of Xcel Energy. The company has already filed for a large load tariff in Colorado with similar terms that include long-term contracts with termination fees, credit requirements, and incremental cost tests, Frenzel said.
Sempra reports ‘great start’ with 15% rise in first-quarter earnings
San Diego-based Sempra reported a 15% increase in first quarter earnings on Thursday and raised earnings guidance for the full year. The utility company that is the parent of San Diego Gas & Electric earned $1.04 billion, or $1.58 per share, compared to $906 million, or $1.39 per share, in the same quarter last year. Revenue declined slightly to $3.655 billion from $3.802 billion.
Sempra’s California utility businesses, which include SDG&E and Southern California Gas, earned $720 million in the quarter, down from $ 724 million a year ago. Profits from Sempra’s Texas utility Oncor jumped to $171 million from $146 million. “At Sempra, our first quarter results represent a great start to the year,” said Jeffrey W. Martin, chairman and CEO. “We remain focused on executing our strategy to modernize and extend the reach of our utilities and complete our capital recycling initiatives as we continue to the grow the business.”
More semiconductor and power plants are breaking ground or coming online after receiving millions in taxpayer funds through grants or loans established by the state legislature and governor. Two major projects include Texas A&M University expanding semiconductor research in College Station and a new natural gas power plant coming online in Freestone County.
Gov. Greg Abbott announced Thursday that Texas A&M is the latest university to receive a Texas Semiconductor Innovation Fund (TSIF) grant for semiconductor research and development. Its Cyclotron Institute, which has provided high-energy heavy-ion particle testing for more than 30 years, received a $13 million TSIF grant.
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The US Department of Energy is considering providing financing to a group of US utilities for billions of dollars’ worth of long-lead equipment destined for up to 10 future AP1000 power reactors to be built in the US, two nuclear company officials have said.
The proposal involves five or six US utilities considering building AP1000 units supplied by nuclear vendor Westinghouse joining together to place orders for large components, Grant Isaac, president and chief operating officer of Canadian uranium company Cameco, said during an earnings call May 5. Cameco is a co-owner of Westinghouse with Brookfield Renewable Partners. This effort is in “very advanced stages” of getting loan guarantees from DOE’s Office of Energy Dominance Financing, Isaac said in response to a question during the call.
A global investment firm that manages about $22 billion in assets said it has acquired a majority of the equity interests in New Frontera Holdings, which includes a 530-MW natural gas-fired combined-cycle generation station in Mission, Texas. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Strategic Value Partners (SVP), founded in 2001 and with its main offices in Greenwich, Conn., New York City, and London in the UK, announced the deal on May 7. SVP, which also has presence in Tokyo, Japan, and Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, said its SVP Funds managed funds portfolio completed the acquisition. SVP has invested more than $57 billion in capital over the past 25 years.
Regulatory
May 7, 2026
ERCOT’s Batch Zero Proposal and What It Means for Large-Load Projects in Texas: Michael G.Szymanski, Seyfarth
- ERCOT is tightening the large-load interconnection process in response to unprecedented demand, particularly from data centers and other power-intensive digital infrastructure projects.
- ERCOT’s proposed Batch Zero framework would move large-load interconnections toward a more structured process that gives greater weight to project maturity, readiness, and system impacts.
- ERCOT has not imposed a blanket freeze on large-load interconnections, but it is already revising study assumptions and adding process controls before the final framework is in place.
- Projects with credible site control, defined load assumptions, real commercial progress, and a supportable interconnection strategy are likely to be better positioned under the new framework.
- For developers, sponsors, utilities, and investors, interconnection readiness in Texas is now a front-end development issue, not a downstream technical detail.
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Texas Energy Report NewsClips
Thursday May 7, 2026
Asterisk (*) denotes news stories that may be inaccessible because portions are behind a paywall
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Good morning! Here are today’s Texas Energy Report NewsClips
Oil prices rose Thursday in volatile trading as investors continue to assess the latest developments in the Middle East amid concerns over renewed tensions between Iran and the U.S.
WTI for June rose 0.65% to $95.70 per barrel at 2:30 am ET Thursday.
International benchmark Brent crude futures for July gained 0.67% to $101.95 a barrel.
Scott Chronert, Citi U.S. equity strategist, said that the duration of the conflict will affect the wider economy.
“The duration of the conflict and the implication that has for higher oil prices for longer is a big deal as it pertains to future growth expectations for many parts of the market, as well as how it influences the Fed thinking in terms of the interest rate dynamic,” Chronert said on CNBC’s Squawk Box.
Despite reports that Washington and Tehran are nearing an agreement to end the war, President Donald Trump said Wednesday Iran will be bombed “at a much higher level” if it doesn’t agree to a peace deal, raising market concerns that Iran-U.S. negotiations to end the war remain fragile.
Top Stories
Bloomberg – May 6, 2026
Western Midstream to Pay $1.6 Billion for Permian Pipelines*
Western Midstream Partners LP agreed to acquire closely-held pipeline operator Brazos Delaware II for about $1.6 billion. The deal, which is expected to close by the end of June, includes 900 miles (1,450 kilometers) of pipes as well as natural gas processing plants and related equipment in the prolific Delaware region of the Permian Basin, according to a statement from the buyer Wednesday.
Under the terms of the deal, Western will pay for the deal with about $800 million in cash and the rest in the form of company shares. Occidental Petroleum Corp. is Western’s largest investor, having acquired the business during its blockbuster takeover of Anadarko Petroleum in 2019. Greenhill provided financial advice to Western, while Jefferies served as Brazos’ financial adviser.
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E&E News By Politico – May 6, 2026
Spiraling energy costs may tighten Texas governor’s race
Higher prices at the pump and rising electric bills could be Gina Hinojosa’s path to the Texas governor’s mansion — if voters decide to elect a Democrat for the first time in more than 30 years. Hinojosa, a state representative from Austin, is blaming three-term Republican Gov. Greg Abbott for a surge in electric costs. And she is urging him to suspend the state’s 20-cents-per-gallon gasoline tax to give motorists some relief, saying she hears concerns about spiking energy costs on the campaign trail.
“People are like, ‘Yes, that’s right. That’s happened to me,’” Hinojosa said in an interview. Abbott has presided over an economic boom for most of his 11-plus years as governor. Texas’ unemployment rate trails the national average, and the state’s population is growing at the expense of high-priced states on the East and West coasts. But Texas hasn’t been able to escape the nationwide inflation, and Republicans are being dragged down by President Donald Trump’s flagging approval ratings and the rising cost of gasoline in the wake of the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran. Abbott’s campaign argues that Hinojosa’s proposals are unworkable and that Texas is succeeding because of consistent Republican leadership. At $3.98 per gallon, regular gasoline in Texas was up more than $1.20 from a year earlier Tuesday while still 11 percent below the national average, according to AAA.
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Reuters – May 6, 2026
Texas off-grid power build soars as data centers bridge grid delays*
The development of behind-the-meter (BTM) power generation is booming in Texas as data center developers seek to deploy facilities faster than grid connections can be completed. Over 20 GW of BTM power projects for data centers were announced in Texas in 2024-2025, compared with 56 GW nationwide, according to data provider Cleanview. A further 10 GW was announced in Texas in January-April 2026, press releases show. In March, Fermi America pledged to add 5 GW of gas-fired capacity to its Project Matador BTM private grid, resulting in 17 GW of total campus capacity including 11 GW of natural gas and 4.4 GW of nuclear energy, solar and battery sources.
Most of the BTM projects in gas-abundant Texas will use gas-fired power, with some combining renewables with battery storage in hybrid configurations to ensure reliability, according to public announcements. Gas-fired plants provide reliable dispatchable power and do not require large land areas like solar and wind farms. Traditionally, data center operators have relied on the power grid, using dual utility feeds, backup diesel generators and other strategies to enhance reliability and resilience. As AI demand surges, hyperscalers are working to faster timelines than grid expansion projects, requiring significant amounts of BTM capacity, Matthew Herpich, CEO of power generation developer Conduit Power, said.
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Houston Chronicle – May 6, 2026
Why wind energy is big at Houston’s oil-loving Offshore Technology Conference: Michael E. Webber*
The Offshore Technology Conference is back in town, and that means one thing: tens of thousands of people at NRG Park trying to make America energy-dominant by battling storms, waves and saltwater with rugged technologies. Technologies like offshore wind. Yes, talk about offshore energy and you’re likely to summon visions of deep-sea rigs drilling for oil and gas, but wind is increasingly part of the energy mix both on land and at sea. In fact, one of OTC’s keynote sessions is dedicated to offshore wind.
Unfortunately for the industry, President Trump seems to hate offshore wind. The White House has targeted seaward turbines with unlawful permit cancellations, blocking new leases for future offshore wind farms, and using taxpayer money to pay companies to stop development. That’s too bad, because offshore wind is good for Houston and good for Texas.
Demand for electricity is growing faster than we’ve seen in decades. Though data centers capture the headlines, they’re not the only ones that want more power. The oil and gas industry is rapidly electrifying its extraction, processing, pipelines and export-facing liquefaction trains to reduce emissions, lower costs and improve productivity. In parallel, electric appliances, cars and factories are increasingly popular. If we’re going to meet the moment — supplying power to win the AI arms race while helping Texas oil and gas remain globally competitive — then we need to expand the power sector as quickly as possible. That means an all-of-the-above strategy for new power plants. And offshore wind should be allowed to compete for a spot in that mix.
The Latest TERse Tips
U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters on Wednesday that he met with top officials at Chevron and ExxonMobil a day earlier to discuss Venezuela — US News
U.S. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum toured oil and gas operations in the Permian Basin and New Mexico to observe industry practices firsthand, visiting a Diamondback Energy site in Reagan County to learn about the company’s operations — KOSA
The US shale patch is finally responding to President Donald Trump’s call to “Drill, baby, drill.” — Diamondback only increased its prewar production guidance 3%. But across the Permian Basin of Texas and New Mexico, the company expects drillers to add as many as 30 rigs, equating to a 10% jump in activity — Bloomberg*
The Texas Energy Fund, a controversial $10 billion taxpayer-backed program, has officially produced its first natural gas power plant for the state’s power grid after some initial hiccups — the power plant, dubbed Pin Oak Creek, was announced in 2023 by Houston-based Calpine, a company that has since been acquired by Baltimore-based Constellation — Houston Chronicle*
Houston’s EOG Resources is reallocating funds from natural gas to oil-weighted assets to capitalize on robust crude prices, management said in a first quarter earnings call — Natural Gas Intelligence*
Moment Energy, the architect of the next generation of power infrastructure, today announced a $40 million Series B funding round, bringing its total capital raised to over $100 million — see the press release
California Braces for Oil Shortfall After Gulf Shipments Halt — with no pipeline access and declining refining capacity, the state faces growing supply risks — Governing
Delfin Midstream Inc. and Gunvor Group announced that Gunvor International B.V. Amsterdam, Geneva Branch, has entered into a long-term LNG Sale and Purchase Agreement with Delfin LNG LLC, a subsidiary of Delfin — see the press release
Saudi Arabia’s state oil producer Saudi Aramco has held official selling prices steady for liquefied petroleum gas in May, while Algeria’s Sonatrach has cut them by 2% to 18% due to higher global supply and weaker demand, traders said on Monday — Reuters*
Battalion Oil Corporation has announced the signing of a letter of intent with an industry partner to develop an up to eight-well program in Monument Draw, Ward County — see the AI summary
China demonstrates microwave beam that recharges drones in flight, continues power delivery — this could significantly expand how long drones remain in the air, supporting continuous surveillance, strike missions — Interesting Engineering
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FINANCIAL RESULTS
Natural gas producer Comstock Resources missed Wall Street’s revenue expectations in Q1 CY2026, but sales rose 8% year on year to $419 million, its non-GAAP profit of $0.15 per share was 34.4% below analysts’ consensus estimates — Stock Story
Excelerate Energy came out with quarterly earnings of $0.37 per share, missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $0.39 per share — Zacks
Par Petroleum came out with quarterly earnings of $0.78 per share, missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.05 per share, compared to a loss of $0.94 per share a year ago — Zacks
Oil States International, Inc. reported net income of $1.1 million, or $0.02 per share, and Adjusted EBITDA of $16.7 million for the first quarter of 2026 on revenues of $145.4 million — see the press release
USA Compression Partners, LP announced Tuesday its financial and operating results for first-quarter 2026 — see the press release
Murphy Oil Corporation on Wednesday announced its financial and operating results for the first quarter ended March 31 — see the press release
Riley Exploration Permian, Inc. on Wednesday reported financial and operating results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2026 — see the press release
Oil & Gas Texas
Texas Public Radio – May 6, 2026
Oilfield theft in Texas grows more organized — and more dangerous
Oil theft has been part of the Texas oil patch since the earliest days of wildcatters. But officials say today’s version of “oil rustling” has become more organized, more sophisticated and far more dangerous. In March 2025, that danger lit up the night sky in Reeves County, when a pipeline caught fire and exploded after what investigators described as an attempted theft of petroleum products.
The fire was contained before it spread to populated areas or to a nearby natural gas pipeline. Tim Murphy with the Texas Department of Public Safety described the incident during recent testimony before the Texas House Energy Resources Committee. “They cut into the pipeline and tried to tap directly into the main pipeline,” Murphy said. “It sparked and it blew. They blew up everything in the area, but the pipeline burned for several days.”
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Center Square – May 6, 2026
Reports: As record crude production increases in Texas, flaring intensity drops
Another report shows a consistent pattern: as record oil production occurs in the Permian Basin and other key oil fields in Texas, flaring intensity continues to drop, improving environmental outcomes. In its annual flaring report, Texans for Natural Gas is pointing to consistent findings in recent years: as oil production increases, flaring and methane emissions are decreasing, and by record amounts.
“The level of flaring reductions the industry has been able to accomplish over the past five years is very significant, in some regions it’s been nearly halved,” said Ed Longanecker, president of the Texas Independent Producers & Royalty Owners Association, which launched the Texans for Natural Gas campaign. “Achievements to that degree don’t just happen. It’s proof that the industry’s commitment to the environment wasn’t just a talking point, but rather clear action in the way it operates and invests in its business.”
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ABC News – May 1, 2026
Are oil companies profiting from the Iran war? Experts explain
“This quarter demonstrated that ExxonMobil is a fundamentally stronger company than it was just a few years ago, built to perform through disruption and across market cycles. Events in the Middle East tested that strength with the safety of our people remaining our top priority,” Exxon CEO Darren Woods said in a statement. Roughly 15% of Exxon’s production has been impacted by the Iran war, Woods told CNBC on Friday.
“If you had to reduce the amount of product that you’re selling, you’re not going to be able to take advantage of the higher prices,” Tom Seng, a professor of energy finance at Texas Christian University, told ABC News. Exxon also temporarily lost out on billions in earnings as a result of “timing effects” tied to financial hedges, the company said. Oil companies sometimes take such financial positions to lock in a buyer at a minimum price and avoid pain from potentially volatile price drops. The approach, however, risks losses in the event of an unanticipated jump in prices. “It’s like paying a premium on an insurance policy and you don’t end up having to make a claim,” Fitzgerald said.
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Reuters – May 1, 2026
Woodside struggles to sell LNG volumes at Louisiana LNG plant, sources say*
Australia’s Woodside Energy is struggling to sell liquefied natural gas volumes from its planned Louisiana LNG export facility because it is seeking liquefaction fees above prevailing U.S. market rates, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters. The Australian energy producer has so far announced only one long-term sales and purchase agreement for the project, a deal with Germany’s Uniper covering up to 2 million metric tons per year. That is equivalent to about 25% of Woodside’s share of the plant’s output, outside of the 8 million tons of LNG it has decided to keep for its own portfolio.
Liquefaction fees are charged by producers on top of the base energy price to turn natural gas to liquid for transport. They have been rising amid labor shortages, increasing construction costs, and strong demand that’s been further boosted by the ongoing Iran conflict, but the resistance Woodside is facing could signal a ceiling on what buyers are willing to pay for U.S. LNG. “The problem Woodside has is the price of its liquefaction fees, which are above what others in the U.S. are charging,” one of the sources said.
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Offshore Engineer – May 6, 2026
Chevron Expands Mediterranean Push with Malta Exploration
Chevron said on Tuesday it would search for oil and gas south of Malta, which lies between producing Mediterranean nations Libya, Italy and Tunisia but has not got any production itself yet. Exploration studies will be based on existing data rather than newly drilled wells.
Chevron’s portfolio in the Mediterranean includes operating stakes in Israel’s Leviathan and Tamar gas fields and the Aphrodite field being developed offshore Cyprus. Chevron also has exploration blocks offshore Greece and Egypt.
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San Antonio Express-News – May 5, 2026
Corpus Christi water crisis triggers credit rating downgrade. What we know.
Corpus Christi’s looming water crisis has prompted the nation’s largest credit rating agencies to downgrade the city’s credit ratings or put it on notice that a downgrade could be forthcoming. But how has the Coastal Bend’s longstanding drought impacted Corpus Christi’s creditworthiness, and what does it mean when a city’s credit score worsens? Turns out, a lower credit score can impact everything from a resident’s monthly water bill to whether or not a new business chooses to open its doors somewhere else.
Right now, the three major credit rating agencies — Moody’s, Fitch Ratings and S&P Global Ratings — are all keeping a close eye on Corpus Christi as the city stares down a potential level one water emergency. Moody’s first announced its downgrade in December. Last month, it announced it was placing the city “under review” for another potential downgrade, depending on how the water crisis plays out. On April 8, Fitch Ratings — which is owned by MySA’s parent company, Hearst — said it was downgrading its outlook from “Stable” to “Negative.” And on Monday, May 4, S&P Global downgraded the city’s credit rating by “two notches,” from “A” to “AA-” while also placing the city on a so-called “CreditWatch with negative implications.”
Oil & Gas National & International
The New York Times – May 6, 2026
Trump’s U-turn and hopes of a deal ease tensions in energy markets.*
Oil prices fell sharply on Wednesday after President Trump announced that the United States was pausing a days-old U.S. operation to escort ships through the Strait of Hormuz and claimed there had been “great progress” toward a deal with Iran. Markets had been uneasy after a sharp increase in oil prices on Monday, when Mr. Trump announced the naval operation in the crucial oil and gas shipping route, prompting Iran to escalate its threats and putting further pressure on the already fragile truce. Mr. Trump made the sudden reversal on Tuesday, a day after the U.S. Navy began efforts to guide ships through the vital waterway, which remains effectively closed. Iran has effectively blocked transit through the strait since the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran in late February, and the United States imposed a blockade of Iran’s ports after a cease-fire took effect in early April.
Mr. Trump said that the naval escort mission would be paused while negotiators try to finalize a deal with Iran to end the war. He said the decision followed requests from Pakistan, a key mediator, and from other countries that he did not name. He did not elaborate on what he meant by progress in the efforts to reach an agreement. Still, the decision helped ease the mood in energy markets, which rose sharply after the war began and have been fluctuating in response to disruptions to energy supplies and the effects on economies around the world. The price of Brent crude, the global benchmark for oil, was down 2 percent to about $108 a barrel on Wednesday. West Texas Intermediate crude, the U.S. benchmark, dropped 2 percent to around $100 a barrel. The United States and Iran both claim to have control over the Strait of Hormuz. Iran announced a new mechanism on Tuesday to oversee traffic through the channel, Iranian state news reported. These reports did not say how the new system would work and what new rules would be enforced.
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The Wall Street Journal/MSN – May 6, 2026
High gas prices wreak havoc on America’s army of supercommuters
Nicole Smith fills the gas tank of her 2021 Jeep Compass three times a week to keep up with her long commute, 50 miles each way, three times a week, from her Fredericksburg, Va., home to a graduate program in the nation’s capital. Smith, 35, and her husband moved there from a town closer to Washington, D.C., in 2023 for more-affordable housing. Now she is being stung by higher gasoline prices, with fill-ups costing about $200 more each month compared with earlier this year.
“One of the biggest things that I have been forgoing is just less fun activities, less weekends out, less traveling,” said Smith, who is retired from the D.C. Army National Guard and studying public health. She and her husband live off his Army paycheck and her disability benefits. “It’s mostly frustrating because you go from one month budgeting for a certain amount, and the next month it’s another amount,” said Smith, who can spend up to two hours fighting traffic in each one-way commute. The ranks of America’s marathon commuters have grown since the pandemic, with many workers moving farther away from city centers for cheaper housing and more space. The work-from-home era, meanwhile, has shifted to more of a full-time and hybrid-schedule mix. These days so-called supercommuters, often defined as people who travel 90 minutes or more each way to work, are paying an especially heavy price if they have to drive.
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Yahoo! News – May 6, 2026
US-backed pipeline proposal targets global reliance on Strait of Hormuz amid Iran threats
A new U.S.-backed proposal to build a network of overland energy pipelines bypassing the Strait of Hormuz is gaining attention as tensions in the region expose a critical vulnerability in the global energy system. A policy memo reviewed by Fox News Digital outlines the concept, known as “ARAM Express,” a proposed consortium between the United States and Gulf partners to develop a multidirectional overland network for oil, gas and petrochemicals, originating with Richard Goldberg of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
The plan envisions pipelines extending westward to the Red Sea and Mediterranean, as well as southern routes toward the Arabian Sea, creating multiple export pathways that would reduce reliance on the strait, through which roughly one-third of the world’s seaborne oil currently flows.
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Reuters – May 6, 2026
Occidental scraps new oil hedges as Iran war fuels price volatility*
https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/occidental-scraps-new-oil-hedges-iran-war-fuels-price-volatility-2026-05-06/
Most producers hedge their sales of crude, natural gas and refined products to mitigate the risk of price changes during the time it takes to ship cargoes to customers. Most producers hedge their sales of crude, natural gas and refined products to mitigate the risk of price changes during the time it takes to ship cargoes to customers
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The Wall Street Journal – May 6, 2026
Jet-Fuel Prices Are Spiking and Trump’s Advisers Are Worried*
Former New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu delivered a warning to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent during a recent visit to Washington: Already-high airfares will surge if the war in Iran doesn’t end soon. Sununu, a Republican who represents some of the biggest airlines as the president of the industry group Airlines for America, has for weeks sounded the alarm to Trump administration officials about the economic fallout from high jet-fuel prices. The war, Sununu has argued, must come to a close soon, or things will get worse. Administration officials have gotten the message.
Privately, President Trump’s advisers are increasingly worried that Republicans will pay a political price for the rising fuel costs, according to people familiar with the matter. Many of those advisers are eager to end the war in hopes that prices will begin moderating before November’s midterm elections. The fallout from the U.S.-Israeli attack in late February has slowed traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, a vital shipping lane, triggering a sharp increase in oil, gasoline and jet-fuel prices. That means consumers are grappling with high costs ahead of the summer travel season, as they consider vacation plans. Sixty-three percent of Americans said they put a great deal or a good amount of blame on Trump for the increase in gas prices, according to a new poll conducted by NPR, PBS and Marist. More than 8 in 10 Americans said struggles at the gas pump are putting strain on their finances.
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S&P Global Platts – May 5, 2026
US LPG exports hit record high in April on curtailed Hormuz Strait traffic: CAS
US LPG exports climbed to a record high of 3.3 million barrels/day in April, led by propane, as the continued effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz has boosted demand for US barrels, S&P Global Commodities at Sea data showed on May 5. China and Japan were the single largest buyers of US LPG in April — the US exported 457,000 b/d of LPG to China and 460,000 b/d to Japan.
The growing interest from buyers in Asia — which also includes India, which in late 2025 signed its first deal to import 2.2 million metric tons of LPG in 2026 — comes at a time when substantial volumes of LPG exports out of the Middle East are impacted by curtailed movements through the Strait of Hormuz. “We have not seen the supply disruption that we see now, and that creates various opportunities that Enterprise is working to capture,” Enterprise co-CEO Jim Teague said on the company’s earnings webcast in late April.
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The New York Times – May 6, 2026
If OPEC Falls Apart, It’ll Cost Us All: Jason Bordoff, Columbia University*
Over the past decade, OPEC and a Russian-led bloc of other producers have restrained their oil output to prop up Brent crude prices, which, save for a crash during the Covid-19 pandemic, have hovered between $65 and $80 per barrel, occasionally spiking. Helped by that price floor, U.S. oil output has surged by around five million barrels per day, a more than 50 percent increase. By contrast, when OPEC chose not to cut production in 2014, oil prices collapsed, and so did U.S. investment in extracting its own petroleum. U.S. producers know that if OPEC didn’t exist to stabilize prices, someone would have to invent it. …
The greater oil price volatility that might be in store would be costly. When oil prices swing sharply, consumers become less confident about what they will spend on gasoline, heating oil or air travel. Businesses shorten planning horizons and postpone investments. Energy producers may delay drilling, while companies that use a lot of energy hesitate to expand when future fuel costs are more uncertain.
The best response is to make the U.S. economy less vulnerable to oil price shocks. That starts with refilling the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which has been drawn down by both political parties yet remains an important source of crude in times of need. America’s leaders should also think more creatively about how the government could help smooth the effects of boom-and-bust oil price cycles. For example, fuel taxes could rise when oil prices fall and decline when prices spike, or oil company taxes might increase when prices soar and ease when they slump.
Even more effective would be reducing the economy’s exposure to oil. America’s high levels of oil production help the country better withstand price shocks, but even more important have been moves to cut its dependence on oil. Imposing stronger fuel economy standards on cars and trucks, offering more incentives for buying electric vehicles and building transportation alternatives like high-speed rail and public transit are economic security necessities, not just climate ones.
When oil shocks hit, Washington inevitably scrambles to ease the pain. But the most effective defenses take time to build. Energy security should not be measured by whether OPEC is weaker, or by whether politicians have someone to blame when prices spike, but by whether the next inevitable swing in oil prices hurts less than the last one.
Utilities, Electricity & Renewables
Houston Chronicle – May 6, 2026
As water shortages loom in Texas, the fast-growing data center industry is under intense public scrutiny for the large amount of water many of these facilities use to stay cool. In response, data center companies have pledged to move to less water-intensive cooling technologies. But cooling is only part of the picture. A new report from the Sierra Club points to a more substantial burden on the state’s water systems: power plants. The analysis illustrates how the electricity source for a data center project can be more consequential to the facility’s water footprint than the cooling technology it uses, according to Margaret Cook, a water expert with the Houston Advanced Research Center.
Earlier this year, Cook published a report finding that by 2030, Texas data centers could consume up to six times more water than they need today. “If data centers push for natural gas as their supply, or even small modular nuclear reactors … that will increase our water use. That’s what pushes the demand,” Cook said. Nuclear, coal and natural gas power plants — also known as thermal plants — are the most water-intensive types of power generation. In Texas, these plants require between 200 gallons and nearly 700 gallons of water to generate a megawatt-hour of electricity, according to the Sierra Club’s analysis of federal data. In contrast, a typical data center consumes 95 gallons of water for every megawatt-hour of electricity used to cool the computer servers inside, according to national estimates.
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Zacks/Yahoo! News – May 6, 2026
NRG Energy (NRG) came out with quarterly earnings of $1.48 per share, missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.78 per share. This compares to earnings of $2.62 per share a year ago. These figures are adjusted for non-recurring items.This quarterly report represents an earnings surprise of -16.85%. A quarter ago, it was expected that this power company would post earnings of $1.01 per share when it actually produced earnings of $1.03, delivering a surprise of +1.98%.
Over the last four quarters, the company has surpassed consensus EPS estimates three times. NRG, which belongs to the Zacks Utility – Electric Power industry, posted revenues of $10.26 billion for the quarter ended March 2026, surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 44.21%. This compares to year-ago revenues of $8.59 billion. The company has topped consensus revenue estimates four times over the last four quarters.
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San Antonio Express-News – May 6, 2026
CPS Energy hit with separate lawsuits over gas explosion and transformer fire*
CPS Energy is facing lawsuits over two unrelated residential disasters in San Antonio — one involving an alleged natural gas explosion on the North Side and another involving a transformer fire on the West Side — with plaintiffs accusing the utility of failing to properly maintain infrastructure. The latest lawsuit, filed Tuesday by Mayte Reeves and Jose Ochoa, significantly expands on an earlier complaint tied to an April 21 explosion and fire in the 15000 block of Preston Hollow Drive. The petition accuses CPS Energy of ignoring long-standing problems within its natural gas system despite prior explosions, lawsuits and warning signs.
In a separate lawsuit filed Monday, Johnny and Irene Sanchez allege a CPS Energy transformer exploded outside their home in February, sparking a fire that destroyed the house and injured the couple. Together, the cases add to mounting scrutiny of the city-owned utility’s handling of aging infrastructure and emergency response practices following a series of high-profile explosions and fires in San Antonio neighborhoods. Each complaint seeks more than $1 million in damages. … Reeves and Ochoa allege a natural gas leak from CPS Energy’s infrastructure caused an explosion and fire after they were told it was safe to return to their home. Their revised lawsuit stems from the April 21 explosions on Preston Hollow Drive, which injured five people, severely damaged homes and prompted a federal investigation. The explosions also prompted City Council members to question whether emergency crews and CPS properly handled evacuations after the first blast.
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Utility Dive – May 6, 2026
TXU Energy EV charging program could work in other competitive markets: ChargeScape CEO
A TXU Energy program that allows Ford electric vehicle owners in Texas to fill up at home without paying energy charges during off-peak hours shifted the vast majority of charging to lower-demand parts of the day, Ford said on April 23. In 2025, the TXU Free EV Miles program pushed 94% of enrolled customers’ charging activity between the hours of 10 p.m. and 1 p.m., when congestion and wholesale energy pricing tend to be lower on the Electric Reliability Council of Texas grid.
Ford said the program shifted 515 MWh of energy to off-peak periods, enough to power about 39 average Texas homes for a year. Enrolled customers receive a $100 prepaid card from Ford at sign-up and $250 each year from TXU Energy as long as they remain in the program, Ford said.
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Utility Dive – May 6, 2026
AEP eyes exit from PJM, SPP over slow generation interconnection
American Electric Power is considering its options for how its utilities participate in the PJM Interconnection and the Southwest Power Pool due to the grid operators’ slow pace of interconnecting generation to meet customer demand, Bill Fehrman, AEP chairman, president and CEO, said Tuesday during a quarterly earnings conference call.
Those options include leaving PJM and SPP, staying in them or adopting “alternative structures,” Fehrman said. “We’re committed to participating in a market that’s responsive to the customer needs, but we also know that we have to figure out a way to get it to move more efficiently and more effectively.”
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San Antonio Express-News – May 6, 2026
Tesla invests $300K in Texas Hill Country projects with apparent Buc-ee’s ties
Two major Texas brands, one known globally for electric vehicles and the other for mega roadside travel adventures, may be intersecting along one of the state’s busiest highway corridors. New filings with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation indicate Tesla is planning a pair of small-scale construction projects along the I-35 corridor in Central Texas, both at locations that appear to be associated with Buc-ee’s.
The filings outline two nearly identical entries in New Braunfels and San Marcos. Each project is listed as new construction, privately funded and located on private land for private use. Each carries an estimated cost of $150,000, totaling at $300,000, and is described only as “electrical infrastructure.” Each filing also notes a relatively small footprint of 120 square feet, with no additional technical details included. According to the documents, construction for the Tesla-related project in New Braunfels is expected to begin May 18, while work in San Marcos is scheduled to start May 25. Both projects list a projected completion date of May 31, 2027. Tesla did not immediately respond to MySA’s request for comment.
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S&P Global Platts – May 6, 2026
Surging US data center power demand tests sustainability targets
The US data center building boom is putting the sustainability ambitions of power-hungry hyperscalers to the test, with capital expenditures climbing, natural gas deals proliferating and demand for electricity outpacing even some of the most bullish forecasts.
US grid power supplied to hyperscale, leased and crypto-mining data centers increased 25% in 2025 to reach about 64.4 gigawatts and has nearly tripled since 2020, according to data from 451 Research, part of S&P Global Energy Horizons. That amount exceeded the group’s June 2025 forecast of 58 GW needed by the end of last year to power data center IT equipment, cooling, lighting and other applications. Fueled by the emergence of artificial intelligence, the digital infrastructure expansion shows no signs of slowing down.
Regulatory
Austin American-Statesman – May 6, 2026
Waymo, Zoox and AV leaders ask Ted Cruz for national self-driving car rules*
The CEOs of Waymo, Avride and other major players in the autonomous vehicle industry want a clear, unified federal framework, and are calling on Sen. Ted Cruz to assist. In a letter sent to the Texas senator, who is Chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, the CEOs ask Cruz to prioritize federal autonomous vehicle rules while they develop policies for the upcoming surface transportation reauthorization legislation. The legislation, commonly known as the highway bill, is Congress’ periodic reauthorization of federal transportation programs, including highway, transit and safety funding.
The last reauthorization was folded into the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure law passed in 2021. With that authorization expiring in 2026, lawmakers are beginning work on the next package, giving autonomous vehicle companies an opening to push for national rules. The bill could total $500 billion to $550 billion and focus more heavily on roads and bridges, Politico reported. The CEOs who sent the letter lead companies that are members of the Autonomous Vehicle Industry Association, or AVIA. That includes those at the helm of several companies operating in Austin and other parts of Texas, such as Tekedra Mawakana of Waymo, Dmitry Polishchuk of Austin-based Avride, Chris Urmson of Aurora and Aicha Evans of Zoox. Others include Bot Auto, Gatik, Kodiak, Nuro, Rivian, PlusAI, Stack AV, Torc, Volvo, Waabi, and Volkswagen’s MOIA America.
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Texas Energy Report NewsClips
Wednesday May 6, 2026
Asterisk (*) denotes news stories that may be inaccessible because portions are behind a paywall
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Good morning! Here are today’s Texas Energy Report NewsClips
Oil prices fell Wednesday after President Donald Trump said the U.S. would pause its naval escort effort in the Strait of Hormuz, raising hopes of a potential deal with Iran.
West Texas Intermediate crude lost 6.5% to $95.65 per barrel as of 5:25 am ET
Futures for international benchmark Brent crude for July delivery slid 6.54% to $103.33 per barrel as of 5:25 a.m. ET.
Trump on Tuesday announced in a Truth Social post that the U.S. would temporarily halt “Project Freedom,” a military effort launched just a day earlier to escort commercial vessels through the Strait of Hormuz, citing progress in negotiations with Iran toward a final agreement.
The Trump administration said roughly 23,000 seafarers across vessels from 87 countries have been stranded in the Persian Gulf following Iran’s effective shutdown of the strait.
Surging oil and energy costs were already creating demand destruction globally, Azimut Group’s co-head of fixed income Nicolo Bocchin warned, adding that even if the waterway reopens, normalization in shipping and trade flows would still take “weeks and weeks.”
Top Stories
Zacks – May 5, 2026
Energy Transfer Q1 Earnings Lag Estimates, Revenues Increase Y/Y
Energy Transfer reported first-quarter 2026 adjusted earnings of 35 cents per unit, which missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 38 cents by 7.9%. The bottom line also decreased 2.8% from the year-ago figure of 36 cents. Revenues of $27.77 billion lagged the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $29.29 billion by 5.2%. Total revenues rose 32.1% from the year-ago figure of $21.02 billion.
Energy Transfer LP price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | Energy Transfer LP Quote — Total costs and expenses were $24.79 billion, up 33.8% year over year. This increase was due to the higher cost of products sold, operating expenses, depreciation, depletion and amortization, as well as a rise in selling, general and administrative expenses. Operating income totaled $2.98 billion, up 19.8% year over year. Interest expenses, net of interest capitalized, amounted to $947 million, up 17.1% from the prior-year level.
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Reuters – May 5, 2026
Sentinel Midstream to begin construction of Texas deepwater oil export port*
Oil transportation and storage company Sentinel Midstream said on Tuesday it would immediately begin construction of its deepwater oil export project off the Texas coast, marking the first development of a large-scale export project in the United States in years. Sentinel expects to begin commercial operations of the Texas GulfLink system by the fourth quarter of 2028, said Bruce Heine, the company’s senior VP for public affairs, adding the company will begin excavation activities soon and commit to acquiring equipment that has a long-lead time.
Construction of the project commences at a time when the United States has become a net exporter of crude oil for the first time since World War Two as the war in Iran has increased European and Asian demand for American oil. U.S. President Donald Trump vowed last year to accelerate approvals of energy infrastructure projects to bolster the oil and gas industry and expand the country’s production.
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Reuters – May 5, 2026
Morgan Stanley sees US gasoline inventories falling to historic lows*
U.S. gasoline inventories are drawing down sharply, heading toward historical summer lows, as a collapse in imports and shifts in refinery yield tighten supply, Morgan Stanley said in a Monday note. In their base case, analysts at the bank see U.S. gasoline inventories falling to around 198 million barrels by the end of August, below the trough reached during the 2022 energy shock and the lowest level for this time of year in modern data.
The tightening comes as the global oil supply shock linked to disruption around the Strait of Hormuz increasingly feeds into U.S. gasoline markets. Imports fell to an all-time weekly low in the week to April 10, with May arrivals from Europe set to stay well below the typical 3-4 million barrels, the bank said.
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Financial Times – May 5, 2026
The growing risk of a ‘non-linear spike’ in oil prices*
The Strait of Hormuz remains closed, with the flimsiest of ceasefires looking flimsier by the hour. Oil prices have jumped back above $100 a barrel. At times like these, it’s important to remember that things can still get much, much, much worse. The main reason why the impact of the Strait of Hormuz’s closure hasn’t been even more grievous is a record-breaking drawdown in strategic oil reserves in the US, Europe and Asia, myriad privately owned commercial inventories around the world, and the steady arrival of tankers that had escaped the chokepoint before the conflict erupted.
Together, these have acted as a powerful shock absorber for the global energy market, keeping the price increases a little bit contained. As Barclays’ Ajay Rajadhyaksha wrote this week, it’s like the world has lost its job but has kept living reasonably comfortably off its crude oil nest egg and unemployment benefits. Unfortunately this nest egg will now soon be spent, and the government cheques are set to run out, unless the Strait reopens pronto. And while stock markets have proven surprisingly resilient so far — largely thanks to a bumper quarter for corporate earnings — some analysts are sounding increasingly worried. Natasha Kaneva, head of commodities strategy at JPMorgan is one of them. She thinks that the “illusion of plenty” could shatter soon, with “operational stress levels” looming and potential “broader system instability” by the autumn if the Strait remains closed. While the world began the year with the equivalent of over 8bn barrels of oil in tankers, pipelines, depots, and salt caverns, in practice . . .
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So how quickly will this begin to truly bite? Kaneva argues that oil inventory drawdowns are a bit like an onion, with layers peeled off according “speed of access, economic cost, political willingness, and logistical ease” rather than simply who has the most oil. The first layer to be unpeeled are tanker cargoes and storage vessels, which are easy to redirect where they’re needed. Then comes other commercial inventories — refinery tanks, oil terminal depots and storage facilities in places like Cushing. After that we begin to peel off government oil reserves, like the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve in Louisiana and Texas. Kaneva says we are now at the fourth layer, where higher prices begin to de facto ration oil for consumers — “demand destruction”, as it’s often called.
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Monroe News Star – May 5, 2026
Louisiana coastal damage lawsuits shift to federal court
Louisiana’s long-running coastal damage lawsuits are shifting into federal court after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling opened a new path for oil and gas companies to move the cases out of state court. Recent filings include nine Cameron Parish cases in the Western District of Louisiana and two Plaquemines Parish cases in the Eastern District. Dozens of related cases involving Jefferson, Plaquemines, St. Bernard and other parishes already are pending in federal court or before the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, according to court records.
In several cases, some defendants, including BP and Chevron, have been dismissed, though both remain involved in other coastal litigation. It is unclear from the filings whether those dismissals are final or could be refiled. The lawsuits, filed by local governments, allege oil and gas companies and their predecessors damaged Louisiana’s coast through decades of exploration, production, canals and pipeline activity that contributed to pollution, wetland loss and habitat destruction.
The Latest TERse Tips
Gas prices rising in all 50 states as average nears $5 — USA Today
Exxon never pressured probability analysts — “Former Exxon Chief Executive Rex Tillerson testified Monday that the company’s top brass never pressured employees to make the company’s holdings seem more profitable than they were, telling a jury in a Texas federal court that he stood by the reports the company sent to investors” — Law 360*
INEOS Energy and Shell Offshore Inc., a subsidiary of Shell plc, Tuesday agreed to “jointly invest in exploration and development opportunities, strengthening their collaboration and supporting long-term energy security, from areas in tieback distance to the Appomattox platform in the Gulf of America” — see the press release
Sentinel Midstream LLC on Tuesday announced the commencement of its Texas GulfLink deepwater port, marking a significant milestone enabled by funding received pursuant to the U.S.—Japan Trade Agreement — see the press release
Archrock, Inc. on Tuesday reported results for the first quarter 2026 — Yahoo! News
Texans file thousands of complaints over solar panel deals; state oversight promised — KXAN
Iran has told International Maritime Organization member states that “non-hostile vessels” may transit the Strait of Hormuz if they coordinate with Iranian authorities, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday, citing a letter — Energy Now
American Electric Power on Tuesday reported first-quarter 2026 GAAP earnings of $874 million or $1.61 per share, compared with GAAP earnings of $800 million or $1.50 per share in first-quarter 2025 — see the press release
Electric turbine giant GE Vernova is partnering with the nuclear startup Blue Energy to supply an unspecified Texas data center project with gas-fueled electricity and nuclear power as part of a single energy station — the announcement Tuesday that the companies are partnering to generate 2.5 gigawatts of power — see the press release
Russia’s second-largest oil refinery, the Kirishi refinery in Leningrad Oblast (400,000 bpd, about 7% of Russia’s total refining), halted processing on 5 May after being struck by Ukrainian drones — Pravda translation (Russian Communist Party media)
Texas-New Mexico Power Co. Assigned ‘A-2’ Short-Term Rating; $300 Million Commercial Paper Program Rated ‘A-2’ — S&P Global
Fitch Ratings has assigned a ‘BBB-‘ rating to Patterson-UTI Energy, Inc.’s proposed senior unsecured notes due 2036 — “Fitch anticipates that higher oil prices, driven by the Strait of Hormuz closure, will lead to increased drilling in the U.S., especially by private operators. The active U.S. oil and gas drilling rig count has been broadly stagnant since mid-2025, mostly due to drilling efficiency gains and declining oil prices. Fitch expects the oil-focused rig count to increase in 2026 due to higher prices, while the number of active gas-focused rigs may keep growing due to incremental demand from liquefied natural gas plants and data centers” — Fitch
Permian Player MPLX LP Reports First-Quarter 2026 Financial Results — see the press release
Enverus and Xpansiv Tuesday announced “an expanded partnership that brings Xpansiv CBL spot exchange transaction data and Evolution Markets forward indicative pricing for energy and environmental commodity markets into MarketView®, creating a consolidated price discovery and workflow platform across energy and environmental commodity markets” — see the press release
Construction has begun on Iron Spur Solar, a 140-MWDC utility-scale solar project in Snyder — Iron Spur is being developed by utility-scale solar company Levona Renewables, with financial backing from Energea, a renewable energy developer, operator and investor — Solar Power World
Oil & Gas Texas
Reuters – May 5, 2026
The gap between supply and demand is widening as global energy systems face strain, Guyana’s President Irfaan Ali said on Monday, with the Iran war in its third month and continuing to drive up oil and gas prices amid supply shortages. “What is happening on the Strait of Hormuz is teaching us an important lesson,” Ali said in a keynote address at the Offshore Technology Conference in Houston, adding that fossil fuels would continue to play an essential role in the global energy mix, even as renewables capacity is built out.
Markets have been reeling since the start of the war, which has caused damage to infrastructure across the Middle East and led to the effective closure of the waterway, a key trade chokepoint that typically handles nearly a fifth of global energy supplies. Oil prices have climbed above $100 a barrel and global trade flows have shifted as some nations scramble to secure supplies of basic commodities including crude and liquefied natural gas. Ali said the widening gap between supply and demand is not a short-term fluctuation, but a structural problem. Amid increasing electrification, he said that critical minerals – and their skewed geographic distribution – also would become increasingly important to energy security.
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News from the States – May 5, 2026
Corpus Christi to begin talks on privately built desalinization plant
Seven months after axing their own seawater desalination plant project — and five months from when a water crisis is expected to surface — Corpus Christi City Council voted 6-2 Tuesday to begin preliminary talks with a new company to build a desalination facility for the Coastal Bend area. AXE H20, a 2-month-old private company based in Houston, is seeking to build a plant that could produce 150 million gallons of drinking water a day. According to a presentation Tuesday, the city could pay $6.50 per 1,000 gallons — about 30% cheaper than a controversial plan to revive a city-built desalination plant known as the Inner Harbor Project.
John Olson, the company’s chairman, said using natural gas rather than electricity enables it to offer a cheaper rate than other proposals. He said the company would need two years to build the facility. “It involves no public funds, no debt, no bond rating issues,” he told council members. “No taxpayer risks, no operating expenses. This is absolutely a private venture.”
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KBMT – May 1, 2026
Dow Chemical, Port Neches plants among three Southeast Texas companies fined by TCEQ for pollution
Three Southeast Texas industrial companies and a wastewater treatment facility near Beaumont have been fined a combined total of nearly $140,000 by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality for violations ranging from illegal air emissions to unsafe water discharges.
The Dow Chemical Company received the largest penalty: $65,375 for its facility at 3055 Farm-to-Market Road 1006 in Orange. TCEQ determined the company released tens of thousands of pounds of volatile organic compounds as fugitive emissions during three separate incidents between April 2022 and March 2023. Half of the fine, $32,688, was paid directly to the state. The remaining $32,687 was offset by a contribution to the Southeast Texas Regional Planning Commission to fund air quality monitoring in Jefferson and Orange counties.
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KSAT – May 5, 2026
Dan Patrick picks sides in Texas attorney general, Railroad Commission GOP runoffs
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick on Tuesday threw his support behind state Sen. Mayes Middleton in the GOP primary for Texas attorney general, giving the Galveston Republican a boost in the final weeks of his May 26 runoff against U.S. Rep. Chip Roy. Patrick also endorsed Railroad Commissioner Jim Wright in his contest against Bo French, the GOP activist and energy investor whose controversial comments have drawn Patrick’s past ire.
In a pair of social media posts, the lieutenant governor said Middleton had “established a record as one of the most conservative senators in Texas history” and that Wright had the experience needed to guide the agency that regulates the oil and gas industry, amid high gas prices and a rocky energy market. The endorsements from the state’s second-highest elected official came several hours after a new statewide poll found Middleton leading Roy by nine points among likely voters. The Galveston lawmaker has served in the Senate under Patrick, the chamber’s presiding officer, since 2023.
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Pipeline & Gas Journal – May 2, 2026
Scout Energy Sells $1 Billion Anadarko Basin Assets with 7,200 Miles of Pipelines
Scout Energy Partners has completed the sale of more than $1 billion in oil and gas assets in the Western Anadarko Basin, including a large portfolio of midstream infrastructure, according to a company announcement. The assets include both upstream production and associated midstream systems spanning approximately 3 million acres. The portfolio produces about 250 million cubic feet equivalent per day from natural gas, natural gas liquids and helium.
The midstream footprint includes three gas processing plants, more than 7,200 miles of gathering pipelines, and roughly 400,000 horsepower of compression capacity, making it one of the more extensive integrated positions in the region. Scout said the assets were built over more than a decade through multiple acquisitions and operational integration efforts.
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Reuters – May 5, 2026
Exxon using AI for faster analysis of Guyana’s oil fields, VP of exploration says*
Exxon Mobil is using artificial intelligence and new technology to interpret seismic data from Guyana in days rather than months, John Ardill, the company’s vice president of exploration, said on Tuesday. High‑performance computing and AI‑driven algorithms have accelerated seismic imaging, Ardill said at the Offshore Technology Conference in Houston.
“We’re using what was called deep learning, classification and so reinforced learning. … We can turn those tools around in just a few days, and then the interpreter can get a prioritized list of anomalies to go effectively validate,” he said. Exxon Mobil leads the consortium that controls all crude and gas production in the South American country, which has boosted output capacity to more than 900,000 barrels per day since crude production started there six years ago.
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KUHF – May 5, 2026
Environmental advocates call for increased enforcement against Dow Freeport plant
Environmental advocates are calling on state and federal regulators to take enforcement actions against Dow for violations of the Clean Air Act at its Freeport chemical plant. In a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), the Environmental Integrity Project – a national watchdog group – outlined pollution emitted at the chemical plant over the last five years. About 200 Freeport residents have signed the letter.
“This is the biggest chemical plant in America,” Mary Greene, the project’s director of enforcement, said. “Yet state records show that Dow continues to release ton after ton of illegal pollution into the air, threatening the health of all of those that live downwind.” In 2021, the EPA and Louisiana environmental regulators took action against Dow Chemical Company for violations of the Clean Air Act. The company and two of its subsidiaries agreed to pay $3 million in fines and spend $294 million to reduce flaring at its plants, which creates air pollution.
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Houston Chronicle – May 5, 2026
Texas oil boom explodes as war sends tankers flocking to Corpus Christi*
Crude oil exports through the Port of Corpus Christi—the world’s third-largest oil export terminal—have surged amid the war in Iran. As uncertainty continues over Middle East oil production and exports, all eyes have shifted to Texas. The Port of Corpus Christi had the strongest first quarter in its history this year, according to an April news release from the maritime hub. While primarily driven by liquified natural gas, farm exports, refined products and dry bulk, crude oil shipments rebounded sharply in February.
In March alone, crude oil exports topped 2.4 million barrels per day, marking one of the market’s highest monthly totals. “It’s a constant parade of tankers coming in and out,” Port CEO Ken Britton told CNBC. In the last three months, crude oil exports from the Port of Corpus Christi rose by about 300,000 barrels per day. “Since the Iran conflict began, crude oil exports moving through the Port of Corpus Christi have increased to 2.5 million barrels per day (mbpd), compared with 2.2 mbpd in 2025,” Omar Garcia, Chief External Affairs Officer for the Port of Corpus Christi told Chron in a statement Monday.
Oil & Gas National & International
The Wall Street Journal – May 5, 2026
Trump Halts the Blockade of U.S. Ports*
President Trump has temporarily called off America’s legal blockade of its own ports, and the White House says the results are positive. Under the 1920 Jones Act, waterborne cargo between two U.S. points must travel on ships that are built, crewed, and owned by Americans. Because that constricts supply and raises costs, Mr. Trump waived the law after attacking Iran. So far, about two dozen waiver voyages have been reported complete as of April 30, according to the Maritime Administration. A ship flying the Singapore flag took 322,000 barrels of gasoline blend stock from Texas to California. A Maltese-flagged tanker brought 300,000 barrels of Bakken crude oil from Texas to a refinery in Pennsylvania. A second Singaporean vessel carried 300,000 barrels of gasoline from Louisiana to Florida. Useful commerce, amid Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.
Mr. Trump’s initial suspension of the Jones Act was for 60 days, but late last month he extended that for another 90 days, with the White House calling it a great success. “New data compiled since the initial waiver was issued revealed that significantly more supply was able to reach U.S. ports faster,” a spokeswoman said. “This extension will help ensure vital energy products, industrial materials, and agricultural necessities are maintained.” Funny, it also sounds like a good argument for permanent Jones Act relief. In a crisis, such as a hurricane in the Caribbean or a menacing in the Persian Gulf, the archaic law becomes an acute problem, because it limits the flexibility of American supply chains to respond. Yet the Jones Act is always an economic drain, since it increases shipping costs and distorts markets for all sorts of products.
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The Wall Street Journal – May 5, 2026
China Steps Up US Sanctions Fight, Defying Blacklisting Over Iranian Oil*
China escalated its fight against the U.S. over Iranian oil, defying American sanctions in a show of resistance ahead of President Trump’s visit to Beijing planned for next week. Beijing has typically been wary of being seen to openly violate U.S. sanctions, even as privately run Chinese refiners, known as “teapots,” buy nearly every barrel of oil Iran exports. But China’s Commerce Ministry on Saturday told companies not to comply with the U.S.’s blacklisting of several Chinese refineries over alleged purchases of Iranian oil, invoking for the first time a 2021 “blocking rule” designed to counteract foreign laws it believes violate international norms or restrict trade.
“It sends a broader message that China is willing and can resist what it views as unilateral and unfair sanctions that hurt Chinese interests,” said Dylan Loh, a professor at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University who studies China’s foreign policy. The U.S. in recent weeks has taken new steps to target Chinese refineries. In April, it imposed sanctions on a unit of Hengli Petrochemical, a major industrial company in China that the U.S. said has purchased billions of dollars of Iranian oil. It also warned financial institutions that they could be targeted for facilitating transactions for Chinese refiners using Iranian oil.
Utilities, Electricity & Renewables
Midland Reporter-Telegram – May 2, 2026
PUC issues wildfire mitigation plan blueprint for Oncor, other utilities*
Texas — including West Texas — has experienced its share of destructive, even deadly wildfires over the years. The Public Utility Commission requires electric utilities to prepare wildfire mitigation plans to protect consumers, electric reliability and critical electric equipment from wildfire risk and damage. The PUC announced a new standardized blueprint and guidelines for utilities to use when preparing those plans.
Each electric utility, including municipally owned utilities and electric cooperatives, must submit a wildfire mitigation plan that meets the standards outlined in the rule and is tailored to its own service territory, equipment and wildfire risk. “Oncor recognizes that mitigating wildfire risk is a critical part of our responsibility to provide safe, reliable electric service,” officials with the state’s largest energy delivery company told the Report-Telegram by email.
They wrote that the company has maintained such a plan for more than a decade, with proactive practices embedded into day-to-day operations to reduce the risk of electric infrastructure igniting or contributing to wildfire conditions.
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S&P Global Platts – May 5, 2026
Renewable energy curtailment offers a surplus opportunity for Texas data centers
With hyperscalers chasing all the energy they can to fuel their AI ambitions, the rising levels of curtailed solar and wind power within the Electric Reliability Council of Texas represent an electricity surplus opportunity for the sector. Curtailment, the intentional reduction of electricity production, is often a symptom of a region’s transmission constraints.
Therefore, strategies to absorb curtailed energy should focus on colocation, adaptable load operations and siting in zones particularly affected by the phenomenon. Although not a silver bullet, data centers pursuing these strategies could lower their power expenditures, contribute to decarbonization and help sustain renewable energy development.
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KCEN – May 5, 2026
New Constellation Pin Oak power plant opens in Freestone County to support Texas grid
Over 460 megawatts of electricity will be added to the Texas power grid from the newest Central Texas power plant, Gov. Greg Abbott announced Tuesday. The Constellation Pin Oak peaking power plant is expected to provide dependable and cost-efficient power to Central Texas homes, according to the governor’s office.
“Texas is by far the largest electrical power generator in America,” said Governor Abbott. “Today, we expand on that leadership by opening a new peaking power plant that adds 460 megawatts of electricity to our grid. This project ensures that the power grid is going to have extra power during times of peak demand.” Abbott, joined by state Rep. Angelia Orr and Fairfield Mayor Bobby Nichols, thanked Constellation Energy for its role in bringing the facility online, citing its investment in Texas and support for future energy needs.
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KSAT – May 5, 2026
San Antonio couple sues CPS Energy, 2 others after transformer explosion damages West Side home
A San Antonio couple is suing CPS Energy and two electrical equipment companies after a transformer explosion damaged their home and seriously injured both. Johnny and Irene Sanchez filed the lawsuit on May 4 in Bexar County’s 166th District Court. The suit seeks more than $1 million in damages from CPS Energy, KBS Electrical Distributors Inc. and JSHP Transformer USA Corporation.
The couple is represented by Falcon Law Group, PLLC, a San Antonio-based law firm. Attorneys are requesting a jury trial for this case. According to the lawsuit obtained by KSAT, an explosion erupted outside the couple’s home on Feb. 8, 2026, in the 1000 block of Fillmore Drive.
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Daily Commercial News – May 5, 2026
Elon Musk’s multiple Texas enterprises continue to transform Bastrop County
so many years ago, the County of Bastrop southeast of Austin was a quiet, rural area characterized by farms and ranches. While a tranquil, bucolic foil to nearby Austin populated by long-term residents and retirees, it was beginning to experience some growth pressure due to Austin’s expansion. However, it retained a small-town atmosphere.
And then Elon Musk arrived. Musk made his first major investment in Bastrop County in July 2021, setting up his cutting-edge tunneling venture, The Boring Company, on 73 acres of land. The company today employs around 200 people. Musk’s next move came in 2023 when SpaceX opened its nearby Starlink manufacturing facility that produces ground-based receivers for Musk’s satellite internet venture. The factory has since doubled its size, creating at least 1,000 fulltime jobs, while boosting the economy and supporting local construction firms.
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Reuters – April 30, 2026
Iran war is supercharging the clean energy transition, UN climate chief says*
The Iran war is “supercharging” the world’s shift to renewable energy, as countries scramble to reduce their exposure to volatile oil and gas markets, the U.N. climate secretary said on Thursday. The U.S.-Israeli war with Iran has upended oil and gas supplies, prompting some countries to ration fuel and others to roll out subsidies and tax cuts to shield consumers from surging prices.
Early signs indicate the war, which began two months ago, is speeding up some countries’ low-carbon transition. Demand for rooftop solar systems across Europe has surged, while countries including Pakistan have reported a jump in electric vehicle sales. Chinese President Xi Jinping called this month to speed up the construction of a new energy system to safeguard energy security, emphasising hydropower development and the expansion of nuclear power.
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Texas Public Radio – May 1, 2026
How well can EVs handle the heat — and the cold? AAA put them to the test
Electric vehicle batteries are a lot like people, in one important respect: They’re most comfortable in temperatures around 65 to 75 degrees Fahrenheit. When the weather gets much colder or hotter than that, a battery works less efficiently. It has to work harder, too, to keep the vehicle’s cabin comfortable for its equally picky human occupants.
The result? Electric vehicles can’t drive as far or as efficiently in extremely hot or cold weather. AAA has been testing exactly how big an effect temperatures have on modern EV batteries. In its latest research, shared exclusively with NPR, it found that hot temperatures reduced range by an average of 8.5%. Cold weather cut vehicles’ range by a whopping 39%.
Regulatory
The New York Times – May 4, 2026
More Than 150 Wind Projects Stall as Pentagon Delays Reviews*
The Trump administration is blocking more than 150 onshore wind farms across the United States by delaying military reviews that were once considered routine, according to a leading industry trade group. The delays, which companies said worsened significantly in recent weeks, are the latest escalation in President Trump’s efforts to stop wind power, a technology he detests. Several of the administration’s moves to thwart the construction of wind farms on land and in the ocean have been struck down by courts over the past few months.
Now the administration has held up a large number of onshore wind projects under development on private land, citing national security concerns. These wind farms typically have to undergo a review by the Pentagon before being built to ensure that their turbines won’t interfere with military radar or flight paths. In the past, those reviews have been fairly straightforward, but they have ground to a halt in recent weeks, and the Pentagon has canceled some meetings with developers. “The Department of War is currently making it almost impossible to build a new wind project in the United States,” said Jason Grumet, chief executive of the American Clean Power Association, which represents renewable energy companies, using the administration’s preferred name for the Defense Department. “It’s a challenging moment to be blockading domestic energy,” he added, noting that demand for electricity is rising fast.
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Texas Energy Report NewsClips
Tuesday May 5, 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 eased more than 1% on Tuesday after climbing by as much as 6% in the previous session on signs the U.S. Navy is loosening Iran’s grip on the Strait of Hormuz, potentially opening up supply from the Middle East.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude fell $2.02, or 1.9%, to $104.40, after gaining 4.4% in the previous session.
Brent oil futures for July fell $1.22, or 1.1%, to $113.22 per barrel at 0323 GMT after settling up 5.8% on Monday.
The U.S. on Monday launched a new operation aimed at reopening the strait to shipping. Maersk (MAERSKb.CO), opens new tab later said the Alliance Fairfax, a U.S.-flagged vehicle carrier, exited the Gulf via the strait accompanied by the U.S. military, easing some supply disruption fears.
“The successful escorted exit of the Maersk-operated vessel has helped ease some immediate supply disruption fears,” said Tim Waterer, chief market analyst at KCM Trade.
“It shows that limited safe passage is possible under current conditions and helps chip away at some of the worst-case supply disruption fears. However, it’s still very much a one-off event rather than a full reopening,” he said in an email.
Top Stories
E&E News By Politico – May 4, 2026
AI boom sparks rare warning of ‘significant risks’ to grid
Related: Utilities pledge affordability while spending billions on grid upgrades — E&E News By Politico*
North America’s grid watchdog is slated to issue its highest level of warning Monday about threats to the power system from large data centers, underscoring the challenges facing utilities and grid operators grappling with a surge in electricity demand. The move signals a new chapter where major technology companies like Amazon and Microsoft may face stricter rules on how they use power. The Level 3 alert from the North American Electric Reliability Corp., the grid’s not-for-profit security monitor, was developed after reports of data centers abruptly going offline in Virginia and Texas, raising concerns about blackouts.
“Computational loads, such as data centers, could increase exponentially in the next four years,” NERC said in a draft of the alert, adding that “significant risks” to the bulk power system “need to be addressed through immediate industry action.” Lee Shaver, a senior energy analyst at the Union of Concerned Scientists, called NERC’s action a “big deal,” noting it is only the third time in history that the organization has issued a Level 3 alert.
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Yahoo! News – May 4, 2026
ConocoPhillips Q1 2026 earnings fall 21% to $2.2bn
ConocoPhillips has reported first-quarter 2026 (Q1 2026) earnings of $2.2bn, a 21% decline compared to $2.8bn in the same quarter of the previous year. Earnings per share (EPS) for the US-based oil and gas major in the reported quarter ended 31 March were $1.78, down 20% compared to $2.23 in Q1 2025.
Adjusted earnings for Q1, excluding special items mainly related to pending claims, settlements, and a loss on a contingent liability measurement, were $2.3bn, or $1.89 per share. This compares with $2.7bn, or $2.09 per share, in the same period last year. ConocoPhillips’ total production for the reported quarter was 2.31 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (mboe/d), 80,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) less than in Q1 the previous year.
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Oil Price – May 2, 2026
Inside BP’s Dramatic Pivot Back to Oil and Gas
As she sat down to pen her first email to BP’s 100,000 staff, Meg O’Neill opted against sparing the radical rhetoric. To the American oil and gas thoroughbred, who had just become the first ever female chief executive of a British energy major, there was only one course available to her new employer should it wish to avoid extending its more-than-decade-long spell of financial mediocrity.
“Right now, we’re operating in an environment of significant complexity: geopolitical tension; conflict; rapid technological change; and shifting global energy demand,” she told BP employees. “I’m committed to providing clear direction and consistency so we can move forward together with confidence.”
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Wired – April 22, 2026
New Gas-Powered Data Centers Could Emit More Greenhouse Gases Than Entire Nations
New gas projects linked to just 11 data center campuses around the US have the potential to create more greenhouse gases than the country of Morocco emitted in 2024. Emissions estimates from air permit documents examined by WIRED show that these natural gas projects—which are being built to power data centers to serve some of the US’s most powerful AI companies, including OpenAI, Meta, Microsoft, and xAI—have the potential to emit more than 129 million tons of greenhouse gases per year.
As tech companies race to secure massive power deals to build out hundreds of data centers across the country, these projects represent just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the potential climate cost of the AI boom. The infrastructure on this list of large natural gas projects reviewed by WIRED is being developed to largely bypass the grid and provide power solely for data centers, a trend known as behind-the-meter power. As data center developers face long waits for connections to traditional utilities, and amid mounting public resistance to the possibility of higher energy bills, making their own power is becoming an increasingly popular option. These projects have either been announced or are under construction, with companies already submitting air permit application materials with state agencies.
The Latest TERse Tips
An oil terminal in the United Arab Emirates city of Fujairah was hit in an aerial attack amid an up-tick of Iranian strikes on Monday in the vicinity of the Strait of Hormuz — the strike on the VTTI facility — jointly owned by IFM Global Infrastructure Fund, Vitol Group and Abu Dhabi National Energy Co. — was confirmed by people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified — Bloomberg*
Bulk carrier attacked near Strait of Hormuz, UK military reports — the U.K. military’s Maritime Trade Operations center said the crew was believed to be safe, and no environmental damage was reported — WBIR
Israel is on high alert with Ben Gurion Airport preparing for potential closures and the relocation of civilian aircraft due to escalating regional conflicts, several sources reported late Monday night
ONE Gas, Inc. on Monday announced its first quarter 2026 financial results, affirmed its 2026 financial guidance and declared its quarterly dividend — see the press release
S&P Global Ratings lowered its rating two notches to ‘A’ from ‘AA-‘ on Corpus Christi, Texas’ outstanding utility system revenue debt and placed the rating on CreditWatch with negative implications — S&P Global
ExxonMobil expects the next two trains at Golden Pass LNG to reach key construction milestones over the next year, positioning the Texas export project to add substantial US supply as global natural gas markets tighten — Natural Gas Intelligence*
Entergy Corporation is considering expanding its use of nuclear energy in Arkansas, Chairman and CEO Drew Marsh said Monday, while Entergy Arkansas President and CEO Laura Landreaux pledged that new data centers will pay for their fair share of the costs — TB&P
A Russian hacker accused of damaging critical oil and gas infrastructure in multiple countries, cinluding the US, has agreed to plead guilty in a U.S. federal case that could carry a sentence of up to 27 years in prison — Kyiv Independent
Crescent Energy Company on Monday announced financial and operating results for the first quarter 2026 — see the press release
The PJM Interconnection Board of Managers has appointed David Mills to serve as PJM’s fifth permanent president and CEO effective May 1, 2026 — Mills has served on the PJM Board of Managers since 2021 and as chair of the PJM Board since May 2025 — he has also served as Interim President and CEO of PJM since January 2026 — American Public Power Association
EagleRock Land, which collects royalties and fees from energy production on land owned in the Permian Basin, announced terms for its IPO on Monday — the Houston-based company plans to raise $320 million by offering 17.3 million shares at a price range of $17 to $20 — Renaissance Capital
Fervo Energy, which is developing next-generation geothermal energy projects, announced terms for its IPO on Monday — the Houston-based company plans to raise $1.2 billion by offering 55.6 million shares at a price range of $21 to $24. Cornerstone investors intend to purchase $350 million worth of shares in the offering (28% of the deal) — Renaissance Capital
Oil & Gas Texas
Reuters – May 4, 2026
US extends protection of Venezuela-owned Citgo from creditors*
The United States has extended a license that protects Venezuela-owned refiner Citgo Petroleum from creditors through June 19, according to a statement on the U.S. Treasury Department’s website on Monday. The general license, issued by the Office of Foreign Assets Control, is meant to encourage investment and boost oil output in Venezuela. It also reinforces U.S. protection of Houston-based Citgo and its parent companies overseas, which are the crown jewels of Venezuela’s foreign assets. Citgo is the eighth-largest U.S. refiner.
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Zacks/Yahoo! News – May 4, 2026
Viper Energy (VNOM) Q1 Earnings: Taking a Look at Key Metrics Versus Estimates
For the quarter ended March 2026, Viper Energy Partners (VNOM) reported revenue of $511 million, up 108.6% over the same period last year. EPS came in at $0.55, compared to $0.54 in the year-ago quarter. The reported revenue represents a surprise of +0.92% over the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $506.33 million. With the consensus EPS estimate being $0.43, the EPS surprise was +27.91%.
While investors scrutinize revenue and earnings changes year-over-year and how they compare with Wall Street expectations to determine their next move, some key metrics always offer a more accurate picture of a company’s financial health. As these metrics influence top- and bottom-line performance, comparing them to the year-ago numbers and what analysts estimated helps investors project a stock’s price performance more accurately.
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Reuters – May 4, 2026
Williams beats quarterly profit estimates on higher natural gas demand*
U.S. pipeline operator Williams Companies surpassed Wall Street expectations for first-quarter profit on Monday, helped by higher service revenue as the company expanded capacity amid increasing demand for natural gas. The Tulsa, Oklahoma-based firm has spent the last year positioning itself as a leading energy provider to companies building out artificial intelligence infrastructure, supplementing its traditional pipeline business with new power-generation capabilities.
During the quarter, the company upsized the Power Express project on the Transco pipeline, increasing its capacity to 750 million cubic feet per day, a major expansion of the network to address energy demands from the growing data center market in Virginia. Williams’ service revenue rose to $2.21 billion during the first quarter from $2 billion a year earlier, also benefiting from Transco’s higher net rates.
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Reuters – May 4, 2026
Chevron CEO says shortages in oil supply will begin appearing*
Chevron Chairman and CEO Mike Wirth said on Monday that physical shortages in oil supply would begin appearing around the world because of the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20% of global crude supply passes. Economies will begin shrinking, first in Asia, as demand adjusts to reduced supply with the strait still closed because of the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran, Wirth said during a discussion sponsored by the Milken Institute.
“We will start to see physical shortages,” Wirth said, noting that surplus supply in commercial markets, tankers in so-called shadow fleets avoiding sanctions, and national strategic reserves were being absorbed. “Demand needs to move to meet supply,” he said. “Economies are going to have to slow.” Asia is most heavily dependent on the Gulf’s oil production and refineries, with Europe likely to be affected next, Wirth said.
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Bloomberg – May 4, 2026
Diamondback Lifting Shale Oil Output Immediately on Rally*
Diamondback Energy Inc., one of the biggest shale oil producers, is boosting crude output in response to rising prices caused by the Iran war. The company that operates in the Permian Basin of West Texas and New Mexico is pumping more than 520,000 barrels a day, 3% more than its original full-year guidance, and plans to sustains those levels, Chief Executive Officer Kaes Van’t Hof wrote in a letter to shareholders on Monday.
“We believe there is a legitimate supply-demand imbalance and that the associated price signal is the catalyst to begin to grow production,” he wrote. “Because of our positioning, our preparation and this price signal, we are bringing incremental barrels to the market immediately.” Van’t Hof’s comments come just days after supermajors Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp. told investors they wouldn’t significantly alter production plans in response to the unprecedented war-drive disruption to Persian Gulf energy supplies. Diamondback isn’t the first shale specialist to see the Middle East conflict as an opportunity to bolster production. Billionaire Harold Hamm’s Continental Resources Inc. made a similar pledge last month.
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Marketplace – May 1, 2026
Amid war, business booms at America’s biggest energy port
Both dolphins and ships carrying crude oil, jet fuel and other oil and gas products cut through the turquoise waters of the Corpus Christi ship channel. The port has never been busier. “March was the busiest month in the history of the Port of Corpus Christi,” said CEO Kent Britton. “And by all accounts, April is actually going to be even busier.” This deepwater ship channel connects the Permian Basin, the engine of the U.S. oil and gas industry, to the global energy marketplace. And business is booming.
“So our customers here have overproduced to fill a gap for what’s not being allowed to flow through the Strait of Hormuz,” Britton said. During the most significant oil and gas supply disruption in history, the flurry of activity at this port matters. Corpus Christi ships out about 2.5 million barrels a day, roughly half of all U.S. crude oil exports.
Oil & Gas National & International
Reuters – May 4, 2026
Goldman says global oil stocks approaching eight-year low, depletion speed a concern*
Global oil stocks are approaching their lowest level in eight years, Goldman Sachs said on Monday, warning that the speed of depletion was becoming a concern as supplies through the Strait of Hormuz remained restricted. Oil prices jumped about 6% on Monday after Iran hit several ships in the Strait of Hormuz and set a UAE oil port ablaze, as President Donald Trump’s attempt to use the U.S. Navy to free up shipping provoked the biggest escalation since a ceasefire was declared four weeks ago.
The bank estimated total global oil stocks stood at 101 days of global demand and could fall to 98 days by the end of May. Goldman added that while total global stocks are “unlikely to hit minimum operational levels this summer, the speed of depletion and supply losses in some regions and products is concerning.”
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S&P Global Platts – May 4, 2026
Mexico’s upstream sector shows managed decline amid falling drilling activity
Mexico’s upstream sector is entering a phase of managed decline, as a sharp drop in drilling activity, weaker exploration outcomes and a shrinking well base point to mounting pressure on future production capacity, according to newly released operational data. Total wells initiated in 2025 fell to 78, down from 138 in 2024 and 217 in 2023, with both development and exploratory drilling contracting sharply, Pemex said in its 2025 annual filing to the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
Only 18 exploratory wells were initiated in 2025, down from 61 two years earlier, while discovered fields dropped to just two from eight in 2024, Pemex said in the filing. Although the exploratory success rate rose to 39%, the improvement reflects a smaller number of wells rather than a step-change in geological outcomes, with productive exploratory wells declining to seven from 17 in 2023, the report said.
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Fortune – May 4, 2026
Call it the FedEx of energy. Calgary-based Enbridge has grown into the largest oil and gas pipeline company in the world by market cap—$120 billion—delivering vital energy supplies across the globe. Just don’t simplify Enbridge to only putting pipe in the ground. With assets that span renewables to utilities, Enbridge boasts a broad array of businesses that’s matched by the lofty role it sees itself playing on the world stage. Enbridge—whose name is a contraction of energy bridge—is committed to keeping the economic and cultural bonds between North America’s neighbors strong and healthy; it doesn’t hurt that CEO Greg Ebel, a dual citizen, is an unofficial diplomatic whisperer to the White House and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney helping to ease tensions between the two.
Enbridge is positioning itself to help power the AI data center boom and to lead oil and gas exports for the world as the war in the Middle East places more emphasis on secure American supplies—capturing all the key facets of the industry’s growth. For good measure, Enbridge even develops offshore wind farms in Europe. Apart from becoming the preeminent pipeline player, Enbridge is the fourth-largest Canadian company by market cap, trailing Shopify. Enbridge ranks one spot above Netflix in the Fortune Global 500. And, to complete the delivery circle, Enbridge exceeds both FedEx and UPS in market cap. In fact, its market value is on par with Big Oil giant BP. Splitting his time between Calgary and Houston, Ebel has helped Enbridge expand to 43 U.S. states and eight of the 10 Canadian provinces. Enbridge also pipes U.S. natural gas directly to Mexico. Enbridge moves nearly one-third of North American oil and 20% of U.S. natural gas.
Oil Price – May 2, 2026
Pemex Faces a Reckoning After Major Oil Spill
Following a recent oil spill, Mexico’s state-owned oil firm Pemex has come under fire again, particularly due to its poor health and safety track record. The highly indebted oil firm has been repeatedly criticised over the years for not doing enough to improve safety standards, and the latest spill has, once again, drawn attention to its practices.
During the first half of February, Pemex repaired a pipeline running from one of the oil platforms in the Cantarell field to the Dos Bocas plant, after identifying a slick of suspected oil covering 19 square miles. After its detection, the oil slick spread more than 370 miles along the Gulf of Mexico coast, from Tabasco through Veracruz to its northern border with Tamaulipas. Coastal communities that depend on fishing and tourism said the spill negatively affected their earnings and caused extensive environmental damage.
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Reuters – April 28, 2026
Oil executives’ real battle is terminal decline: Yawen Chen*
Meg O’Neill has taken charge of BP at a time when her strategy looks unusually straightforward. Surging oil prices and a strong set of results have handed the $125 billion oil major’s new chief executive a supportive backdrop. The catch is that markets are not convinced it will last. A geopolitical jolt has lifted crude prices and energy stocks alike. BP’s shares have risen about 40% this year, alongside peers like TotalEnergies and it beat expectations by a wide margin: net income of $3.2 billion came in about a fifth ahead of forecasts. Refining and trading led the way, benefitting BP from huge commodity price swings triggered by the Iran conflict.
The future playbook looks simple from here. BP is focusing investment on upstream production, trimming costs and starting to reduce hybrid debt. Jefferies analysts expect its troubled balance sheet to improve notably by year-end, possibly overshooting the company’s own debt reduction target. In a tight market, pumping more oil and returning cash to shareholders looks like the obvious call. Yet the share price reflects a different question: what happens after this cycle? In a standard discounted cash flow model, much of a company’s worth sits in its “terminal value” — the free cash flows expected beyond the next few years. Run that logic in reverse, starting from today’s valuation, and it reveals what sort of long-term growth investors are implicitly assuming. For BP, things look underwhelming. Breakingviews calculations suggest the value today of the group’s free cash flows to 2030, using analyst estimates compiled by Visible Alpha and a 7% discount rate that reflects the wider sector’s weighted average cost of capital, is $75 billion. Given the group’s overall value including debt is $175 billion, that implies BP’s terminal value is worth $100 billion today, or $142 billion in five years’ time. Making the numbers work implies that free cash flows after 2030 shrink 4% a year.
Utilities, Electricity & Renewables
KUT – May 4, 2026
Does not compute: 4 Austin-area community leaders consider the future of data centers
Across Hays and Williamson counties, community activists like [Carrie D’Anna, a Taylor resident and community organizer] have effectively ended some data center projects over such water and electricity concerns. D’Anna said she’s noticed data center projects “strategically” planned out of the public eye. She created a Facebook group to keep people informed about the BPP data center proposal in Taylor, and with the help of other plugged-in community members, passed out flyers protesting a data center development in Hutto.
D’Anna said people in her neighborhood are “terrified” of how data centers could reshape Taylor. “People who are building data centers, union workers, electricians, they want to sign our petition because they see the value in guidelines,” D’Anna said. “They love the technology. We don’t like how it’s being capitalized. We don’t like how it’s replacing us.”
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Oil Price – April 26, 2026
The Green Hydrogen Dream Is Slipping Further Out of Reach
Green hydrogen gained significant traction during the post-pandemic period, as governments worldwide pledged to decarbonise their economies and energy companies looked to diversify their portfolios. Hydrogen produced using renewable energy as an input looked like the best way to provide a clean alternative to traditional fuels, as it can be used for a range of applications, including decarbonising hard-to-abate industries. However, many green hydrogen projects are now lagging behind as energy companies scale back their climate plans and governments fail to achieve decarbonisation goals.
Green hydrogen is produced using renewable electricity to power an electrolyser, which splits water into hydrogen and oxygen. The gas is then burned to produce power, emitting only water vapour and warm air, making it carbon-free. This contrasts with grey and blue hydrogen production, which are powered by natural gas.
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Politico – May 4, 2026
A grid spending spree — with no hangover?
Utilities are pledging to keep power bills from rising — even as they spend billions of dollars on grid upgrades. The new era of affordability politics was apparent in a series of earnings calls last week, as utility CEOs laid out plans to build new power plants, poles and wires — some to accommodate the boom in energy-hungry data centers. Such costs are often passed on to consumers — in the form of higher power bills — but that’s not the message utilities are sending to Wall Street analysts, writes Jeffrey Tomich.
Take DTE, a utility that serves Detroit and the surrounding area. The utility plans to invest $30 billion over the rest of the decade on more power generation and transmission. CEO Joi Harris told analysts and investors last week that the move would actually keep prices lower for residential customers because it would allow the grid to accommodate more data centers.
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Louisiana Illuminator – April 30, 2026
Data centers, pricey power await candidates for Public Service Commission
This year’s elections for two replacements on the state Public Service Commission unfold as utility regulation in Louisiana approaches a crossroads. The rapid development of artificial intelligence data centers and their high demand for electricity have put a spotlight on the regulatory board. The current commissioners attempted to strike a balance between granting utilities approval to meet the immense power needs of AI infrastructure while ensuring the cost of building new power plants isn’t eventually borne by household and small business ratepayers.
This data center dilemma awaits the election winners, as does the perennial quest for lower utility bills and the pressing need for more resilient and reliable power transmission networks. These issues have prompted increased discussion of utility deregulation in Louisiana, where Entergy and Cleco, both stockholder-owned utility corporations, provide power to the large majority of customers. The alternative would be to open the door to more utility competition, with Texas as an example of an open marketplace.
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ProPublica – April 24, 2026
Unfounded Health Concerns Are Powering a Solar Backlash
Kevin Heath had hoped there would be solar panels by now on his family farm in southeastern Michigan, roughly 50 miles outside Detroit. About six years ago, he agreed to lease part of his land for a solar project. It would help him pay off debt and keep the farm in the family, he said. But the opportunity was thwarted when, in 2023, following pushback from some local residents, his township passed an ordinance that banned large solar projects from land zoned for agriculture.
In the fight over solar development, Heath said he was bombarded by just about every argument from critics — including claims that solar fields are a health hazard. “I’ve heard them say that, but I’ve never heard anybody prove that,” Heath said. “The health and safety issue,” he added, “that is just a joke.”
Regulatory
JD Supra – April 29, 2026
After decades of relatively static consumption, U.S. electricity demand is sharply rising. The scale of this demand is hard to overstate: In Texas, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (“ERCOT”) estimated in 2025 that 205 gigawatts of “Large Load”—defined as customers with a demand threshold of 75 MW —are currently in the ERCOT interconnection queue, of which approximately 70% is attributable to data centers alone. The queue held just 56 gigawatts only one year prior, representing an increase of more than 227% in a single year.
This rapid load growth is placing pressure on both the transmission system and resource adequacy. In some instances, new Large Loads outpace available transmission capacity, requiring customers to wait for transmission system upgrades. In others, demand growth is exceeding anticipated additions of generation Co-locating Large Loads with generation has emerged as one approach to mitigate both transmission constraints and resource adequacy challenges. Consistent with this trend, natural gas is forecasted to become “the major source of generation and the fuel of choice for data centers and manufacturers, supplying around 40% in both 2026 and 2027[.]” Texas alone has an estimated 58 gigawatts of natural gas generation in various stages of planning and construction, with nearly half of those projects dedicated exclusively to data center campuses rather than serving the broader ERCOT system.
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Texas Energy Report NewsClips
Monday May 4, 2026
Asterisk (*) denotes news stories that may be inaccessible because portions are behind a paywall
Good morning! Here are today’s Texas Energy Report NewsClips
Oil prices were mixed in choppy trade Monday, as market participants assess U.S. President Donald Trump’s announcement to “free” ships that have been trapped due to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, amid lingering tensions between Tehran and Washington.
WTI futures for June wereup 0.15% at $108.33 per barrel.
As the Hormuz Strait continues to face a blockade, traffic via the critical energy waterway that saw about a fifth of the world’s energy supplies transit through it prior to the war, has come to a near standstill.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations agency said Monday that a tanker was hit by projectiles north of the city of of Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates, underscoring the dangers for ships navigating the Mideast region.
Top Stories
The Wall Street Journal – May 3, 2026
Trump Says U.S. Will Guide Stranded Ships Through Strait of Hormuz*
President Trump said Sunday that the U.S. would start guiding commercial ships out of the Strait of Hormuz where they have been trapped by the war between the U.S. and Iran, in an arm’s-length effort to unblock the vital supply route. “Countries from all over the World…have asked the United States if we could help free up their Ships, which are locked up in the Strait of Hormuz,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Sunday. “For the good of Iran, the Middle East, and the United States, we have told these Countries that we will guide their Ships safely out of these restricted Waterways, so that they can freely and ably get on with their business.”
The new mechanism, which Trump dubbed “Project Freedom,” is effectively a coordination cell to move traffic through the Strait, involving countries, insurance companies and shipping organizations, according to two senior U.S. officials. It doesn’t currently involve U.S. Navy warships escorting vessels through the strait, the officials said. But European diplomats and shipowners recalled previous failed attempts by the president to get shipping moving, including his call for NATO allies to send warships, a request that went unheeded. Without warship escorts, a coordination cell is unlikely to markedly change the situation in the strait, they said.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps recently deployed naval mines in the strait, posing new dangers for commercial shipping traffic through the waterway, according to an official. Before the conflict, some 20% of the world’s oil supply passed through the strait. The latest Trump proposal will involve locating the mines and passing along that information to ships transiting the waterway so they can avoid danger, according to senior U.S. officials, as well as identifying generally the safest routes to navigate. The U.S. is seeking the support of other nations to provide information that would help identify those navigable routes, officials said.
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KEYE – May 1, 2026
Economic impact of Iran war will get worse, top US oil execs warn
The U.S. consumer could be in for a painful summer if oil trade in the Middle East doesn’t normalize soon, CEOs of two of America’s largest oil companies cautioned Friday as gas prices hit a four-year high. “It’s obvious to most that if you look at the unprecedented disruption in the world supply of oil and natural gas, the market hasn’t seen the full impact of that yet,” Exxon Mobil CEO Darren Woods told investors in an earnings call.
“There’s more to come” if the Strait of Hormuz remains closed, Woods added. Before the war, the strait was used to transport about 20% of the world’s oil. The Iranian regime has blocked nearly all shipping traffic from crossing, a tactic of economic warfare that has upended global energy supply. In return, President Donald Trump ordered the Navy to block ships attempting commerce with Iran.
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Reuters – May 1, @026
While Asia and Europe scramble for natural gas, the US glut has nowhere to go*
The war with Iran has boosted prices of globally traded natural gas by throttling exports from the Gulf. In West Texas, gas is so abundant that some producers must pay to have it taken away. The war and Iran’s attacks on Gulf energy producers have halted 20% of global liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply. Qatari LNG facilities have been damaged and tankers have been unable to sail through the Strait of Hormuz waterway at the Gulf’s entry because of Iranian threats to fire on them.
The crisis has exposed a major split in the global gas market: Import-dependent countries across Europe and Asia are scrambling for scarce supplies, but the United States – the world’s largest gas producer, consumer and exporter – remains awash in fuel, with prices near 17-month lows. But U.S. pipelines are full and LNG export plants are at capacity, so that cheap U.S. gas cannot reach overseas buyers, creating a bifurcation much more stark than in the oil markets.
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E&E News By Politico – May 1, 2026
EPA offers exceptions to impending flaring deadline*
See the press release: EPA Clarifies When Oil and Natural Gas Producers Can Flare After Phase Out Deadline
EPA released a guidance Friday afternoon stating that next week’s deadline for newer oil wells to stop burning off associated gas does not apply in areas where pipelines are still being built. The guidance, which came in the form of a letter from EPA Air Chief Aaron Szabo to regional EPA administrators, provides “a clarification” of the terms of the Biden-era methane oil and gas methane standards. In addition to allowing routine flaring to continue in areas where insufficient sale lines have been built — perhaps, the letter says, because gas supply exceeds demand in those areas and gas prices could be negative — the guidance also reminds operators of the rule’s provision for a temporary waiver to flare for up to 30 days if there is a disruption or maintenance problem downstream of the wellhead.
One example of this that Szabo offered was in cases where multiple production sites are connected to the same gathering or sales line and it is temporarily at capacity. The four-page guidance document came after EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin promised lawmakers at a House budget hearing Tuesday that EPA would address concerns raised by some producers about a May 7 deadline to stop flaring outside of emergencies. The ban applies only to operations that came online after May 7, 2024.
ProPublica – May 1, 2026
Event With Links to Oil Industry Teaches Judges “Healthy Skepticism” of Climate Science
For many months, conservative lawmakers and political operatives have been targeting the scientists and lawyers behind the Climate Judiciary Project, a program meant to educate the courts about climate science, alleging that their effort constitutes a conspiracy to influence federal judges and persuade them to rule against the oil industry.
Now, just as congressional investigators are escalating a formal inquiry into the project, a separate program closely aligned with the fossil fuel industry and free-market conservatives is hosting a symposium for 150 judges in Nashville, Tennessee. The program, run by the Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University, also aims to educate judges, but in a way that prioritizes American business interests and questions climate science.
The Latest TERse Tips
Ukraine on Sunday launched a wave of strikes against Russian oil targets, hitting a key loading port on the Baltic Sea and two tankers that Ukraine alleges were illegally used to transport Russian crude — the nighttime drone strike sparked a blaze at Russia’s largest oil exporting port on the Baltic Sea, the port of Primorsk, according to Russian regional governor — Associated Press/KENS
The Texas Supreme Court agreed on May 1, 2026, to decide if crude oil stored in coastal tank farms while awaiting export is exempt from local property taxes, reviewing lower court rulings that favored exporters — the case focuses on whether the oil is in the “stream of export” and thus protected by the U.S. Constitution’s Import-Export Clause — the San Patricio County Appraisal District is challenging rulings that exempted millions of barrels of oil stored by Devon Gas Services and Gunvor USA from local taxes.– Law 360*
Data shows Texas economy had strong start to 2026, but polling shows most Texans don’t feel that way — KVUE
Pedernales Electric Cooperative CEO Julie Parsley has stepped down after more than eight years, a tenure defined by the coop’s major growth and expansion — the search is on for another CEO — Highland Lakes Daily Tribune
Fitch Ratings has assigned a ‘AA-‘ rating to the utility system revenue bonds, series 2026, to be issued by the city of Georgetown, TX (the city) — Fitch
Houston’s Greenland Energy Company Announces Closing of $70 Million Public Offering — see the press release
A new 250-megawatt utility-scale solar development has been announced for West Texas after NextEra Energy Resources and Graphic Packaging Holding Company revealed plans for the Selenite Springs Energy Center under a renewable energy agreement unveiled on April 29 — Construction Review
Spirit Airlines shuts down as company says it can’t keep up with higher oil prices — Associated Press
After the driest winter on record, officials this spring want to raise the level of badly depleted Lake Powell on the (national) Colorado River to keep its hydropower humming, and to do so, they plan to eventually let out as much as a third of the water in Flaming Gorge Reservoir upstream on the Green River in Wyoming and Utah, which would exceed a record 2022 surge that kept electricity flowing — Associated Press/KXAN
With data center construction accelerating, unions are expanding training centers and seeing their ranks grow faster than many union leaders have ever seen — Associated Press
Oil & Gas Texas
Midland Reporter-Telegram – May 2, 2026
ExxonMobil to shoulder Permian oil production growth in 2026*
As they reported their year-end 2025 results, Permian Basin exploration and production companies detailed expectations for modest growth in 2026. East Daley Analytics’ survey of guidance from 14 public operators pointed to growth of 183,000 barrels per day, or 2.7%, in oil production in 2026. The clear outlier is ExxonMobil, which projected growth of 113,000 barrels per day this year.
“It boils down to the depth of our inventory, high return inventory,” said Rich Dealy, ExxonMobil’s vice president for the Permian Basin. With 1.5 million acres, he told the Reporter-Telegram, the company has room for longer laterals, cube development to mitigate parent-child well interference and testing of new technologies. The company has not changed its Permian Basin growth plans since last year’s completion of its merger with Pioneer Natural Resources, he said. The company’s goal remains to reach 2 million barrels a day from the Permian by the end of 2030.
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Upstream – May 1, 2026
ExxonMobil profits fall as derivatives obscure upstream strength
ExxonMobil posted first quarter 2026 net earnings of $4.2 billion, down sharply from $7.7 billion a year earlier, as unfavourable timing effects linked to derivatives and Middle East disruption weighed on the US supermajor’s performance. The Texas-based group said earnings equated to $1.00 per share, compared with $1.76 per share in the first quarter of 2025.
Stripping out identified items and an estimated $3.9 billion of unfavourable timing effects that are expected to unwind in later quarters, underlying earnings were a stronger $8.8 billion, up from $7.6 billion a year ago. Chief executive Darren Woods said the quarter underlined ExxonMobil’s ability to perform through volatility, pointing to the ongoing disruption in the Middle East and its impact on physical flows and derivative settlements.
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Midland Reporter-Telegram – May 2, 2026
Collide helps operators use AI to improve workflow
Artificial intelligence is helping energy companies monitor drilling rigs and measure injection pressures and emissions. Now the technology is being used to automate regulatory reports. One example is the partnership between Winn Resources and Collide, an AI-powered platform for energy professionals. The partnership automated the process of filing monthly W-10 and G-10 forms with the Railroad Commission, reducing a task that once took hours to less than 30 minutes. “We’re working with a handful of Midland operators,” said Todd Bush, chief operating officer at Collide.
“It’s fun to see them learn AI,” Bush told the Reporter-Telegram in a telephone interview. Beyond gathering data for regulatory reports, he said Collide’s platform could search drilling reports and help landmen review lease contracts to make sure their companies are meeting lease obligations. Operators and midstream companies can also use the platform to organize data and make investment decisions, such as whether to add gathering lines or distribution points.
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The Wall Street Journal – May 1, 2026
Big Oil Stays the Course Despite Historic Dislocation in Energy Markets*
The oil giants that for years reined in fossil-fuel spending and showered investors in cash are warning the Iran war is severely tightening global oil supplies—and they are in no hurry to change course. The energy shock is manifesting in the U.S. Nationally, the average price of gasoline jumped 33 cents to $4.39 a gallon this week, one of the biggest jumps in the past 20 years and the highest price since the summer of 2022. Refiners and exporters are pulling oil at a rapid clip from U.S. stockpiles to feed global demand. And analysts are warning the supply crunch stemming from the blockage of the Strait of Hormuz will last months, if not a year or more—longer than the closure of the Middle Eastern waterway itself.
Still, the Western world’s biggest publicly traded oil companies—Exxon Mobil, Chevron, Shell, ConocoPhillips and others—signaled this week that they are sticking to prewar spending plans and effectively dismissing President Trump’s call to boost oil-and-gas production. Markets, some executives said, are too volatile to make new investments and it is too early to say the world’s long-term supply outlook has changed. For now, the companies are reaping the benefits of higher oil prices, which have surged nearly 80% since the start of the year. Prices slipped Friday after Iran put forth a new peace proposal.
“The macro environment remains volatile and pretty impossible to predict,” Conoco CEO Ryan Lance told investors Thursday. “Amid such uncertainty, it’s critical our priorities remain steadfast. They are clear, consistent, and they are durable.” Since 2022, when Russia’s invasion of Ukraine sparked another war-induced energy crunch, Exxon, Chevron and Conoco have spent a combined $301 billion on dividends and share repurchases. Their capital expenditures over the same period came to $222 billion.
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S&P Global Platts – May 1, 2026
Middle East crisis to have longer-term impact: Chevron CEO
Chevron, along with ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips., is among the leading US companies with existing assets in the Middle East that have been impacted both directly and indirectly by the current crisis. A common line among the trio of US producers is that, while there is no early solution visible on the horizon, the companies will maintain a policy of focusing on other short-cycle, high-return assets elsewhere globally while awaiting clarity on energy prices.
For ConocoPhillips, focus will be on its South Texas’ Permian Basin and Alaska assets as it awaits a price equilibrium, CEO Ryan Lance said on the company’s earnings webcast April 30, while in 2026, ExxonMobil will remain focused on growing output in 2026 from its advantaged assets in the Permian Basin and offshore Guyana, as the industry navigates the current market disruption, CEO Darren Woods said May 1 on its earnings webcast.
Oil & Gas National & International
The Wall Street Journal – May 1, 2026
Americans Spent $125 Million More on Gas Friday Than They Did a Week Ago*
Americans are pouring a lot more money into their gasoline tanks than they were even a week ago. The average price for a gallon of regular gasoline was $4.39 on Friday, according to AAA, a jump of 33 cents over where it was a week earlier. That is an unusually large move: The only times in recent years when gasoline prices have shot up like that over seven days were back in March, shortly after the Iran war began, and in March 2022, shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine.
The U.S. is far more insulated than many parts of the world from the falloff in supplies from the Persian Gulf. But it isn’t immune to global supply shocks: Recent data shows U.S. gasoline inventories falling at a quick clip. With it looking unlikely that the Strait of Hormuz will reopen soon, and with the busy summer driving season fast approaching, supplies could tighten further in the weeks ahead. The 33-cent gain in the regular-gasoline price adds up. On a typical day, people in the U.S. pump about 375 million gallons of gasoline. So on May 1, they probably poured something on the order of $125 million more into the tank than they did the Friday before. In some places, the pain at the pump is even more acute. Several Great Lakes states, where refinery issues have contributed to price gains, stand out. In Ohio, regular gasoline averaged $4.83 a gallon on Friday, according to AAA, which compared with $3.91 a week earlier, and $2.81 right before the Iran war began.
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The Wall Street Journal – May 3, 2026
Here’s What’s Shoring Up the Global Economy During the Energy Shock*
One of the major surprises about the gravest energy shock since the 1970s is how resilient much of the world has been so far. The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has yanked around 13 million barrels of oil a day from global energy supplies. Blackouts have hit Pakistan, the Philippines has imposed a four-day workweek, and countries including Slovenia and Bangladesh have rationed fuel. The risk that the world sinks into recession is rising with each day the waterway remains shut. The price of Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, has risen more than 50% since the strait was closed.
Even so, in the two months since the strait was closed by Iran in response to U.S. and Israeli attacks, many of the world’s major economies have been soldiering on in contrast to the swift downturns that accompanied similar energy crises in the 1970s and 1990s. Stock markets are touching record highs. This resilience reflects ample energy reserves, policies to help consumers, and the offsetting effects of the artificial-intelligence boom that is powering trade and business investment in the U.S. and beyond.
It also highlights an underappreciated shift in the workings of the global economy. Over the years, countries have become steadily more energy efficient, squeezing more economic activity out of each drop of oil or cubic meter of natural gas burned. The energy needed to generate a dollar of gross domestic product, adjusted for inflation, has since 2000 fallen by about a third in the U.S. and Europe and by about 40% in China, according to World Bank data.
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The Wall Street Journal – May 1, 2026
Suddenly U.S. Oil Giants Are Taking Another Look at ‘Uninvestable’ Venezuela*
Rising above the din of voices in the lobby of the J.W. Marriott in Venezuela’s capital, Caracas, is an unusual sound: Spanish spoken with a Texas twang. Engineers, lawyers and other emissaries of the U.S. oil industry have flocked to the heavily guarded hotel to pitch their Venezuelan counterparts on plans to revive the country’s rundown oil fields. Dozens have met with a receptive Delcy Rodriguez, Venezuela’s acting president. One small Texas operator was recently heard boasting that his company is nimble enough to get oil flowing faster than the oil giants. Even Exxon Mobil, ConocoPhillips and other oil companies that just months ago deemed Venezuela too risky for business have come back to town for a second look.
“It was unmistakable, the sense of impending opportunity,” said Jon Hughes, the chief executive of boutique energy-investment bank Petrie Partners, who visited the bustling hotel last week.
“There were so many Americans meeting with so many Venezuelans. Both sides are engaged in a constructive way, with a shared vision of making things function better and getting production up,” he said.
The U.S. Embassy has even set up camp at the J.W. Marriott—to escape the black mold that overran its building after years of disrepair. More visitors are likely on the way: American Airlines on Thursday offered the first direct U.S. commercial flight to Caracas in seven years, out of Miami.
In recent weeks, both Exxon and Conoco have met with Venezuelan officials and sent technical teams to the Latin American country. Exxon’s team inspected the Cerro Negro heavy-oil project that it operated before 2007 when Hugo Chávez’s government nationalized much of the country’s energy infrastructure. Conoco is also trying to assess oil-and-gas opportunities.
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The New York Times – May 1, 2026
Blockbuster Oil Company Profits Revive Calls for Windfall Tax*
For oil and gas companies, it has been a profitable war. The energy shock caused by the conflict in Iran, missile attacks on oil and gas facilities in the Persian Gulf and, most crucially, the halt on shipping traffic in the Strait of Hormuz have produced a spectacular bonanza as energy prices have soared. The British oil giant BP, citing an “exceptional” performance, more than doubled its profits in the first three months of this year over last. TotalEnergies, based in Paris, raised its dividends and doubled its share buybacks after announcing $5.4 billion in net profits for the first quarter. Around the world, the bumper returns have revived calls for taxes on oil and gas companies’ sudden jackpots.
Finance ministers from Austria, Germany, Italy, Portugal and Spain, as well as a raft of advocacy groups like Oxfam and the World Wildlife Fund, have asked the European Commission to tax excessive profits. In a letter sent jointly to the European Union’s climate commissioner, the finance ministers wrote that a tax would “send a clear message that those who profit from the consequences of war must do their part to ease the burden on the general public.” The spike in prices has also prompted Australian lawmakers to discuss raising the tax on the country’s offshore deposits of oil and gas. The contrast between companies’ exceptional gains and the exceptional pain that soaring oil and gas prices are causing is stark.
Utilities, Electricity & Renewables
E&E News By Politico – May 1, 2026
$33B transmission build-out leaves Texas ranchers fuming
Texas is in the thick of figuring out where to lay power lines through a $33 billion transmission expansion, but changes in how lines are approved have landowners crying foul. The debate is playing out at the state Public Utility Commission, which is weighing where to route more than 3,400 miles of extra-high-voltage power lines that will crisscross the state. Ranchers and homeowners now also have half the time to object.
Texas is among a growing list of places with vocal opposition to electricity projects across the country from Maryland to Maine. At issue are both the physical effects of huge towers and miles of power lines as well as questions about compensation and due process. The one-two punch of the PUC’s 2025 approval of the mammoth transmission plan and a 2023 law that shortened the review process has been hard to take for Texas property owners, according to Dave Clark, a director with the Friends of the San Saba River nonprofit.
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Spectrum News – April 3, 2026
Houston data center project makes sustainability a priority
Data centers are facing some obstacles amid environmental pushback from dozens of Texas communities. To counter this, some companies have made sustainability a priority. Construction is well underway for BaRupOn’s Liberty America Multi-Sourced Power and Innovation Hub (LAMP) in Liberty, about an hour east of Houston. The 700-acre self-sustaining energy campus will be constructed in four to six phases, requiring three gigawatts of power.
Unlike the hundreds of data centers that have either been proposed or are already under construction in Texas, this campus will not rely on the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), the state’s energy grid. It will produce its own energy through natural gas to power manufacturing and support data centers. “Whatever we’re doing here is not going to impact the community on their power,” said Balaji Tammabattula, BaRupOn’s founder and chief operating officer. “It’s not going to change their power bills.”
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Dallas Morning News – May 1, 2026
A Fort Worth-based company that has been turning oil field wastewater into battery-grade lithium for months now is poised to aggressively expand its operations, its head executive told The Dallas Morning News in a recent interview. Element3 has already been a pioneer of sorts, using its own breakthrough, domestic technology to extract lithium from produced water, a salty liquid byproduct of almost all oil and gas operations. Earlier this year, founder and CEO Hood Whitson cut the ribbon on the company’s 3,000-ton facility in the Permian Basin. It’s the first commercial-scale lithium carbonate processing facility in the region, and the first new domestic lithium carbonate production facility to come online in more than 50 years.
Lithium is an essential component in products millions of people use each day from laptops and cellphones to hybrid and electric cars. It’s also critical in the energy transition being used in battery energy storage systems that reserve power from solar and wind. Railroad Commissioner Wayne Christian and other state and federal leaders were in attendance where Gov. Greg Abbott praised Texas as being America’s undisputed energy leader, adding that the future of the country depends on producing critical minerals like lithium.
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Politico – May 1, 2026
Data centers used to be a prize. States are having second thoughts.
Politicians used to compete to lure data centers to their states. They’re starting to reconsider. Tempted by promises of more jobs, tax revenue and the chance to be on the cutting edge of technology, more than three dozen states rolled out the red carpet for data centers in the form of tax breaks and other financial incentives. But now a growing number of states are tempering their enthusiasm. Of the 38 states that currently offer incentives to the data center industry, at least 28 of them have weighed legislation this year to end or shrink those benefits, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures, a nonpartisan research group.
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IEEE Spectrum – April 23, 2026
AI Designs Thermoelectric Generators 10,000 Times Faster Than We Can
Waste heat is everywhere: car engines, industrial machinery, kitchen appliances—even your own body. Some of that lost energy can be converted into electricity using thermoelectric generators: compact, solid-state devices that produce power directly from temperature differences without the need for spinning turbines or moving parts. But designing materials that make these systems efficient has long been an engineering slog, requiring slow simulations and painstaking experiments to identify combinations that conduct electricity while blocking heat.
Now researchers in Japan have built an artificial-intelligence tool that can design thermoelectric generators 10,000 times faster than conventional approaches. Prototypes built based on the tool’s recommendations performed on par with today’s leading thermoelectric devices, the study found. The research, reported 15 April in Nature, could boost a long-promised but not widely adopted clean-energy technology by dramatically accelerating the search for affordable materials and device designs that efficiently convert heat into electricity. Takao Mori, deputy director of the Research Center for Materials Nanoarchitectonics in Tsukuba, Japan, and his team conducted the research.
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Clean Technica – April 24, 2026
Gulf States Foresee Green Hydrogen Replacing Stranded Oil & Gas Assets
Three US states ringing the Gulf of Mexico — Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas — have joined forces with other partners in a five-year effort to demonstrate how offshore oil and gas platforms can be repurposed for green hydrogen and aquaculture, too. The team has just won a competitive $20 million grant to set the wheels in motion. … The persistence of green hydrogen in Texas is also no surprise, considering the role of Texas in the US energy transition. Despite one foot firmly and politically clamped onto the fossil fuel past, Texas has locked down the #1 state for installed wind capacity since the early 2000’s, and it is running a tight three-way race for solar leader with California and Florida.
With copious renewable energy assets in hand, a loosey-goosey environment for energy innovation, and a sprawling network of existing gas infrastructure, Texas has also been attracting stakeholders in the green hydrogen field, meaning hydrogen pushed from water instead of extracted from natural gas or coal. The pushing is done by electrolysis systems, ideally powered by wind, solar, or other renewables.
Regulatory
JD Supra – March 31, 2026
On 1 August 2025, Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT or the Commission) staff (Commission Staff) opened Project No. 58484, Evaluation of Transmission Cost Recovery, pursuant to Senate Bill 6 (SB 6), which requires the Commission to evaluate whether the existing methodology under Public Utility Regulatory Act (PURA) § 35.004(d) used to charge wholesale transmission costs to distribution service providers (DSPs) continues to appropriately assign costs for transmission investments and whether the Commission’s retail ratemaking practices ensure that transmission cost recovery appropriately charges system costs to each customer class.
SB 6 requires the Commission to amend its rules no later than 31 December 2026, to ensure that wholesale transmission charges appropriately assign costs for transmission investment. We have previously reported on the impacts of SB 6 on large load development in the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT). On 16 March 2026, following a workshop and two rounds of public comments, the Commission issued a draft report (the Draft Report) providing six draft recommendations. Commission Staff invites comments on the draft recommendations, due by 13 April 2026, prior to the issuance of a final report.
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Texas Energy Report NewsClips
Friday May 1, 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 rose on Friday as efforts to resolve the Iran war remained at an impasse, with Tehran still blocking the Strait of Hormuz and the U.S. Navy blocking exports of Iranian crude.
West Texas Intermediate futures rose 37 cents, or 0.4%, to $105.44.
Brent crude futures for July were up 89 cents, or 0.8%, at $111.29 a barrel by 0808 GMT.
The Brent benchmark was poised for a 5.7% gain over the week while WTI was on track to finish the week up 11.7%. Brent’s June contract hit $126.41 a barrel before its expiry on Thursday, marking the highest level since March 2022.
Oil prices have been on the rise since the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran at the end of February, resulting in the closure of the Strait of Hormuz and disruption of shipments of about a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas supply.
A ceasefire has been in place since April 8, but on Thursday evening Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said it was unreasonable to expect quick results from U.S. talks, the official IRNA news agency reported.
Top Stories
Texas Monthly – April 30, 2026
He Was One of the Texas GOP’s Biggest Donors. Where Did He Go?*
These were once the months of Farris Wilks, the time when the far-right billionaire’s fortune would shape Texas GOP primaries. Since 2015, when Wilks, his brother, and their wives made a record-breaking $15 million donation to a super PAC supporting Ted Cruz’s presidential campaign, the fracking tycoon has injected a mountain of cash into Republican groups and primary candidates, working with Midland oil billionaire Tim Dunn to steadily pull the state and national GOP toward their hard-line religious and political views.
But this cycle, Wilks has been all but missing. The longtime Republican kingmaker appears to have given just one large donation. And while it is possible that he has continued to cut checks to untraceable, dark-money groups, numerous sources have said that Wilks has largely pulled back from politics following a private break with Dunn. Why might one of the state’s most prolific donors have stepped away from his movement at the ostensible height of its power? Neither Dunn nor Wilks have responded to interview requests or publicly discussed the status of their relationship. But those close to them point to fallout from a white supremacist–related scandal from 2024 that they say frayed the billionaires’ already distant relationship, and may have added to mounting familial pressure on Wilks to curtail his political activity. Regardless of the cause, the result is a seismic shift for a state that he once bent to his will.
…Then in October 2023, while still working at The Texas Tribune, I staked out a secretive meeting in Tarrant County between Nick Fuentes, the prominent anti-Semite and white supremacist, and Dunn and Wilks operatives. Among those present was Jonathan Stickland, the rabble-rousing leader of Defend Texas Liberty, the billionaires’ main political action committee. The confab prompted serious backlash: Most of the House Republican caucus called for the Texas GOP to sever ties with the billionaires. After I reported that several other white supremacists were working for their operation, Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick announced he would reinvest the $3 million he had recently received from the billionaires into pro-Israel bonds; after months of debate, the Texas GOP’s executive committee eventually passed a resolution that explicitly barred neo-Nazis, Holocaust deniers, and anti-Semites from the party. Perhaps just as consequentially, Stickland was removed as president of Defend Texas Liberty….
But over the next few months, there was a slow trickle of signs suggesting behind-the-scenes acrimony. That June, the network was again thrust into controversy after one of its main groups, Tarrant County–based True Texas Project, announced plans to hold a pro–Christian nationalism conference that had ties to extremists and included a panel on combatting “a war on white America.”
World Oil – April 30, 2026
SM Energy closes $950 million South Texas asset sale
SM Energy Company has completed the sale of certain South Texas assets for $950 million, advancing the company’s broader portfolio repositioning strategy. The transaction delivers approximately $900 million in net proceeds and represents a major step toward SM Energy’s goal of exceeding $1 billion in asset divestitures. The company said the move is aimed at strengthening its balance sheet and optimizing its asset base.
“The closing of our South Texas asset sale marks decisive progress on our 2026 strategic priorities,” said CEO Beth McDonald, noting the company’s focus on improving its capital structure. While specific details of the divested properties were not disclosed, the sale reflects a continued shift by U.S. operators to streamline portfolios and focus capital on higher-return assets.
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Houston Chronicle – April 30, 2026
This Texas billionaire’s nuclear-powered data center company faces collapse: Chris Tomlinson*
Texas billionaire Toby Neugebauer is having a stretch of bad luck, and so is anyone who has invested in his companies. When he was CEO of Fermi America, a startup promising to build a nuclear-powered mega-datacenter near Amarillo, Neugebauer said he “would auction off my two boys” before selling the company’s natural gas generators, a scarce commodity these days. A few weeks later, after the board of directors fired him, Neugebauer called on “the Fermi board to conduct an immediate process, led by an independent investment bank, for the sale of the company.”
Fermi is Neugebauer’s second startup where investors rebelled as the company crashed. As Fermi’s largest shareholder, Neugebauer is trying to cash out after its stock price fell 81% since it was listed in October on the NASDAQ and valued at $12.5 billion. Critics say Neugebauer is at best a bad manager and accuse him of misleading investors. Neugebauer and Fermi executives did not respond through multiple avenues to multiple requests for comment. But in a press release, Neugebauer expressed his belief that “Fermi is creating the most efficient and effective solution for the AI energy crisis” and “continues to be aligned with what is in the best interest of all shareholders.”
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CNBC – April 30, 2026
Trump signs order authorizing Bridger’s Canada-Wyoming crude pipeline
U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an order authorizing a proposed project to transport Canadian oil across the border as part of an effort to revive parts of the cancelled Keystone XL pipeline. South Bow, the Canadian pipeline company behind the cancelled Keystone XL pipeline, is partnering with U.S. company Bridger Pipeline on the proposed project. South Bow is considering reviving some of the already built line in Alberta and Saskatchewan.
Bridger Pipeline is pursuing construction of a potential 1,038-kilometre pipeline beginning near the U.S.-Canada border in Phillips County, Mont., and transiting to Guernsey, Wyo. As Trump signed the order, White House Staff Secretary Will Scharf told the president, “This is a trans-border pipeline similar to the old Keystone XL pipeline.”
The Latest TERse Tips
The national average price for regular gasoline stood at $4.23 per gallon Wednesday, based on data from AAA, the highest price since July 2022
Ukrainian forces on May 1 reportedly launched yet another attack on the Tuapse oil refinery in southern Russia’s Krasnodar Krai, where fires have been blazing for days amid a series of devastating strikes — the reported strike marks the fourth attack against the facility in the past two weeks. Ukraine previously confirmed attacks on Tuapse on April 16, 20, and 28. Following the third attack, a state of emergency was declared in the municipal district — Kyiv Independent
Russia has emerged as the main supplier of oil to Syria, Reuters reporting shows, despite the new government’s alignment with the West and widespread distrust of Moscow over its military support for fallen leader Bashar al-Assad — Reuters*
Reps. Greg Casar (D-Texas) and Josh Riley (D-N.Y.) on Wednesday introduced a bill aimed at addressing rising utility costs, adding to a growing list of proposals meant to tackle affordability as party members home in on an energy message heading into this year’s midterm elections — the “Lowering Utility Bills Act.” would close what critics call loopholes allowing for-profit utilities to claim higher returns on investment than they are owed, according to a summary of the bill — E&E News By Politico*
INEOS Acetyls and Sandpiper Chemicals, LLC today announced the formation of a strategic collaboration in support of Sandpiper’s low carbon methanol production facility in Texas City, and INEOS will become a shareholder and an anchor customer of Sandpiper — Fuel Cell Works
The Trump administration has released more than $421 Million dollars to states, tribes and territories on April 23 to support the Low Income Housing Energy Assistance Program — NPR
NuScale Power Corporation, the industry-leading provider of proprietary and innovative advanced small modular reactor nuclear technology, Wednesday announced that it has opened a new office space at CityCentre in Houston — see the press release
Iran said on Thursday it would respond with “long and painful strikes” on U.S. positions if Washington renewed attacks, and also reasserted its control over the Strait of Hormuz, complicating U.S. plans for a coalition to reopen the waterway — Reuters*
Russian oil facilities in Perm and Orsk struck as Ukraine’s drones follow up Tuapse attacks — Kyiv Independent
The Economist supposes that the Strait of Hormuz could be closed “indefinitely” — The Economist*
The Trump administration on Tuesday ratcheted up economic pressure on Iran, warning financial institutions not to allow independent Chinese refineries to buy Iranian oil and cracking down on Iran’s “shadow” banking sector — The New York Times*
Oil & Gas Texas
Oil Price – April 30, 2026
Valero Swings to Profit on Strong Refining Margins in Q1
Related: Global conflict, Venezuela oil boost Valero’s bottom line in the first quarter — San Antonio Express-News*
Related: Valero is running its 13 refineries in the United States and Britain at up to 95% of their combined total throughput capacity of 3 million barrels per day (bpd) — Reuters*
Valero Energy Corporation posted a strong turnaround in first-quarter 2026 earnings, as robust refining margins and improved operational performance lifted the U.S. downstream giant back into profitability. The company reported net income of $1.3 billion, or $4.22 per share, compared with a net loss of $595 million a year earlier, when results were weighed down by impairment charges tied to its California refining assets.
The earnings rebound was led by Valero’s core refining business, where operating income surged to $1.8 billion from a loss of $530 million a year earlier. Throughput volumes averaged 2.9 million barrels per day, underscoring the company’s ability to capitalize on favorable margin conditions despite broader commodity market volatility.
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Midland Reporter-Telegram – April 30, 2026
Oncor moving quickly to expand West Texas power supplies*
Long before Permian Basin energy companies began electrifying their operations, and long before data centers and bitcoin miners began eyeing the area, Oncor, the state’s largest energy delivery company, was aware of surging demand in West Texas. Jared Gurley, senior manager of transmission planning at Oncor, told attendees at the Permian Basin Environmental Regulatory Seminar that two years before Winter Storm Uri sent the state into a deep freeze that almost collapsed the electric grid and resulted in a flurry of legislation, Oncor had been studying demand in the area.
He said Oncor saw demand expectations jump from 5 gigawatts in 2019 to 10 gigawatts in 2021, 24 gigawatts in 2024 and 26 gigawatts in 2028. He said Oncor has attempted to be proactive in building out the infrastructure to bring more electricity to West Texas.
Approval has been granted to develop the state’s first 765-kV transmission lines as part of the Permian Basin Reliability Plan, designed to bring more power to meet oil and gas and data center demand. These lines will move larger volumes of electricity more efficiently over long distances. The expansion will also require eight new substations and 27 765-kV transformer sites. He said the company is moving as quickly as it can to install the additional capacity.
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Edge (Malaysia) – April 30, 026
US seeks to loan up to 92.5 million barrels from Strategic Petroleum Reserve
The Trump administration said on Thursday it is seeking to exchange up to 92.5million barrels of crude from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, as it seeks to calm oil markets that have spiked due to the war with Iran. The US agreed earlier this year to loan 172 million barrels from the SPR as part of a wider agreement with more than 30 countries in the International Energy Agency to release about 400 million barrels.
The US has so far offered 126 million barrels of crude in three batches of crude, but oil companies only took less than 80 million barrels or about 63% of what was offered.
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Texas Tribune – April 30, 3036
High gas prices eating into Texans’ budgets, fueling inflation
The large signs outside of gas stations across Texas intended to catch drivers’ eyes are lately doing so for all the wrong reasons. At a Valero gas station in Edinburg, Reynaldo Zarazoa, who installs tile for a living and has to haul tools and equipment around in his gray GMC pickup, watched Thursday as the display on the gas pump reached $78 — nearly a fifth of his weekly income. “My work is cheap and the gas is expensive,” said Zarazoa, a father of two living in Peñitas, a small city in the Rio Grande Valley. “But I have to drive every day, every day for work.”
The price of fuel has risen significantly since the U.S.-Israel war on Iran began on Feb. 28, closing a key international shipping lane for oil and gas, the Strait of Hormuz. The average price for a gallon of gas in Texas was $2.55 in early February, according to AAA. It had risen to $3.78 on Wednesday morning. Texans who rely on cars to get around are bearing the cost of the war at the gas pump, and high diesel prices are fueling rising inflation in other sectors of the economy.
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Substack – April 28, 2026
The Crude Life Vault: Texas Railroad Commission Weighs Historic Production Cuts Amid Oil Crisis
In 2020, Bruce Bullock, Director of the McGuire Energy Institute at SMU’s Cox School of Business, joined The Crude Life to recap the Texas Railroad Commission’s proceedings on crashing oil prices. Bullock, who monitored most of the day’s hearings, noted a noticeable shift in momentum as the meeting progressed. “I came into it thinking there was maybe a 25% chance the Railroad Commission would act,” Bullock said. “By the end of the day, I’d put the odds closer to 50-50 that they will take a serious look at this by the end of the week.”
The discussion centered on whether the RRC should exercise its long-dormant regulatory authority — last widely used before 1970 — to prorate (limit) oil production across Texas to help stabilize crashing oil prices. Proponents argued that voluntary cuts by producers and even OPEC+ would be too slow, while a regulatory action could remove barrels from the market as early as May 1.
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My RGV – April 27, 2026
New ‘drought-proof’ desalination plant planned on South Padre Island
World class, transformational, drought proof. On Thursday, officials from Cameron and Hidalgo counties together with representatives of US Desalination LLC and IDE Technologies hailed a partnership between the latter two companies that will see the construction of a $1 billion desalination plant on South Padre Island. The companies formed RGV-Desal LLC, described in a news release as a joint venture to design, develop and finance the plant with private funds.
The plant is planned to produce around 50 million gallons per day using seawater from the Gulf of Mexico, and will be designed to serve the entire Rio Grande Valley. A rendering on the RGV-Desal website, however, shows the facility being capable of producing 100 MGD.
Oil & Gas National & International
Oil Price – April 30, 2026
Tankers Move from Fuel to Crude Trade as War Upends Flows
The war in Iran and the closed Strait of Hormuz are accelerating a major shift in the oil tanker market, in which smaller tankers carrying fuels are becoming crude carriers amid better economics as crude buyers scramble for supply that’s not trapped behind the Strait. As many as 68 so-called long range-2 (LR2) clean tankers that have transported fuels such as diesel and gasoline have become the so-called dirty tankers and started shipping crude so far this year, per data by ship-tracking platform Signal Ocean compiled by Bloomberg.
The phenomenon is not new, but the crisis in the Middle East has accelerated this move from clean to dirty tankers as switching to crude carriers has become more profitable. To compare, in all of 2025, a total of 49 tankers moved from clean to dirty trade, according to the data.
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The Wall Street Journal – April 30, 2026
These Oil Giants Had Written Off Venezuela. Now They Are Taking a Second Look.*
Rising above the din of voices in the lobby of the J.W. Marriott in Caracas is an unusual sound: Spanish spoken with a Texas twang. Engineers, lawyers and other emissaries of the U.S. oil industry have flocked to the heavily guarded hotel to pitch their Venezuelan counterparts on plans to revive the country’s rundown oil fields. Dozens have met with a receptive Delcy Rodriguez, Venezuela’s acting president. One small Texas operator was recently heard boasting that his company is nimble enough to get oil flowing faster than the oil giants. Even Exxon Mobil , ConocoPhillips and other oil companies that just months ago deemed Venezuela too risky for business have come back to town for a second look.
“It was unmistakable, the sense of impending opportunity,” said Jon Hughes, the chief executive of boutique energy investment bank Petrie Partners, who visited the bustling hotel last week. “There were so many Americans meeting with so many Venezuelans. Both sides are engaged in a constructive way, with a shared vision of making things function better and getting production up.” The U.S. Embassy has even set up camp at the J.W. Marriott—to escape the black mold that overran its building after years of disrepair. More visitors are likely on the way: American Airlines on Thursday offered the first direct U.S. commercial flight to Venezuela’s capital city in seven years, out of Miami.
In recent weeks, both Exxon and Conoco have met with Venezuelan officials and sent technical teams to the Latin American country. Exxon’s team inspected the Cerro Negro heavy-oil project that it operated before 2007 when Hugo Chávez’s government nationalized much of the country’s energy infrastructure. Conoco is also trying to assess oil-and-gas opportunities.
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Politico – April 28, 2026
The oil market’s jawboner-in-chief
Donald Trump may have discovered a new solution to bring down energy prices — using the White House megaphone to sow uncertainty in the oil market. Oil analysts are agog as to why the closure of the Strait of Hormuz has resulted in a historically steep cut in traffic out of one of the world’s crude supply centers but has so far failed to meet their worst-case scenario when it comes to prices. U.S. oil at $100 a barrel certainly isn’t nothing — in fact, it’s more than $30 higher than the day before the United States and Israel launched their war against Iran that caused the Strait to close down — but it’s still nowhere near the forecasts of $150 or $200 oil that some analyst shops predicted.
What’s causing the relatively sanguine market? Oil traders are chalking it up at least partially to a relatively new role that’s emerged in the White House: the Oil Market Jawboner-in-Chief. Or more specifically, Trump’s creation of an “uncertainty discount,” the converse of the usual “uncertainty premium” that a fog of war can add to prices. Kevin Book, head of ClearView Energy Partners, an independent research firm, recently used the phrase to describe Trump’s ability to fire off messages on Truth Social that make oil traders think the war against Iran may be winding down on any given day. The result is that oil prices haven’t risen as high as a Hormuz closure might warrant, even with the war in its second month with no peace deal in sight.
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The New York Times – April 28, 2026
The World Needs Natural Gas Now, but the U.S. Is Exporting All It Can*
The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has cut off a significant source of liquefied natural gas, but the United States, the biggest exporter of the fuel, is unlikely to pick up that slack because it has no spare capacity. A two-month pause on L.N.G. shipments from Qatar, a Persian Gulf country near the strait, has caused prices to surge across Europe and Asia. That is spreading significant economic pain because places like Italy, Taiwan and South Korea depend on the fuel to produce electricity, heat homes and run industrial plants.
This is the second time in less than five years that global natural gas markets have been severely disrupted. In 2022, Russia began choking off the piped gas it used to send to European countries around the time of its invasion of Ukraine. U.S. companies went to Europe’s rescue and are expected to bring new L.N.G. capacity online in the coming months and years. But analysts said those efforts would not nearly be sufficient to make up for the loss of Qatari gas if the strait did not reopen soon, forcing importers to ration and turn to other sources of energy.
“All of the L.N.G. that is exported from the U.S., it’s at full capacity,” said Massimo Di Odoardo, vice president of gas and L.N.G. research at Wood MacKenzie, an energy research firm. Since the war in Iran began on Feb. 28, prices for L.N.G. shipped to Europe and Asia have climbed to as much as six times the price of natural gas in the United States. In the months before the war, they were less than four times as high.
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PBS – April 15, 2026
The Iran war created a global natural gas shortage — a windfall for U.S. companies
The recent market disruptions have been good for the U.S. LNG business, says Ira Joseph, international natural gas expert at Columbia University. He notes that U.S. producers have been buying natural gas to make the LNG they export at around $3 per million British thermal units (MMBtu)—that’s the unit LNG is priced in. But, because of the war, in recent weeks those companies have been able to sell that LNG for around $20 per MMBtu in Asia and Europe.
“So that spread provides a huge influx of cash for all of these companies,” Joseph says. Natural gas prices in Asia and Europe are lower than they’ve been in recent weeks, but they still are much higher than when the war began. This windfall in profits is giving U.S. LNG companies momentum, Joseph says. “It certainly is good for them when they go to the banks and say, ‘We would like to expand.'”
Utilities, Electricity & Renewables
Texas Tribune – April 30, 2026
Proposed Fort Bliss data center could use more power than all of El Paso
The U.S. Army is proposing developing a gargantuan, 3-gigawatt data center complex on Fort Bliss property that within a few years would consume more electricity than all of El Paso Electric’s 460,000 customers combined — even as questions about its development, water usage and air pollution remain unanswered.
If built, it would be the third major data center project in the El Paso region, along with Meta Platform’s $10 billion facility in Northeast and the $165 billion Project Jupiter campus that Oracle and OpenAI are building in Santa Teresa, New Mexico. The combined scale and size of the three facilities could quickly transform the Borderland into one of the nation’s core hubs of power generation and AI infrastructure. The publicly-traded investment firm Carlyle Group would pay to build and operate the Fort Bliss data center — one of several planned in a national rollout under President Donald Trump’s administration to rapidly increase artificial intelligence technology for the Department of Defense.
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Renewable Energy World – April 29, 2026
New Texas solar panel recycling facility could process up to 600,000 solar panels per year
Clean Earth, a provider of environmental and regulated waste management services, announced the launch of full solar panel recycling services at its Lancaster, Texas facility following approval from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ). The permit authorizes the site to receive and recycle solar panels alongside its “enhanced” electronic waste recycling operations. The Lancaster facility has served as a key hub for Clean Earth’s e-waste recycling operations, and the new TCEQ authorization now extends those capabilities to include end-of-life solar panel management. Clean Earth, a division of Enviri Corporation, is headquartered in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania and operates a network of 93 locations across the United States.
At full capacity, the Lancaster facility can process approximately 600,000 solar panels per year, equivalent to 20 million pounds of material from sources including damaged panels at delivery, construction waste during installation, balance-of-system waste, and end-of-life panels at decommissioning, Clean Earth claims. The company applies material assessment, waste profiling, and regulatory insight to determine the outcome for each panel and component, providing recycling and reuse options based on material composition and applicable regulatory requirements.
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X (Twitter) – April 29, 2026
You cannot buy a new gas turbine until 2030: Gaurab Chakrabarti
You cannot buy a new gas turbine until 2030. Order books at GE, Siemens, and Mitsubishi stretch to 2029. Turbine prices have nearly tripled since 2019. Every AI data center needs power and every gas plant needs a turbine. And every turbine has one part that bottlenecks the entire industry: The blade. It has to survive in gas 500°C above the melting point of the metal it’s made from and spin at up to 20,000 RPM under 10,000 g of centrifugal force. Each blade is grown as a single crystal of nickel superalloy, pulled through a vacuum furnace at 3 mm per minute. A set of blades costs $600,000 and takes 90 weeks to grow. The same metallurgy powers modern jet engines.
Only 3 companies on Earth can build one. China spent $42 billion trying to catch up. They bought a Russian fighter engine, took it apart, and copied every part. Their copy ran 30 hours between overhauls versus 400 for the original. Modern Western engines run 4,000. You can reverse engineer the shape of a turbine blade. You cannot reverse engineer 60 years of metallurgy.
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Utility Dive – April 30, 2026
Meta deal adds to Entergy’s $57B, 4-year capital plan
A Louisiana data center deal reached in March between Entergy and Meta calls for $15 billion in capital investment and accounts for a significant bump in the utility company’s four-year spending plan. With the Meta deal, Entergy is planning capital expenditures of $57 billion over the next four years, including $27 billion for new generation, the utility company said in its first quarter earnings presentation Wednesday. Rapidly growing power demand, including from hyperscale data centers and other large customers, is driving the need for new resources.
Entergy operates five vertically-integrated utilities in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. Its 2026-2029 capital plan is more than 30% higher than what the company announced three months ago in its full-year 2025 earnings report.
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Real Clear Energy – April 29, 2026
It’s Time for Texas to Get Competitive on Transmission Development: Barry Smitherman
…Thanks to customer choice and competition, electricity consumers in the ERCOT region of Texas have saved millions of dollars over the past 25 years. Yet one critical segment of the Texas electric market remains untouched by competition: the local transmission and distribution utilities (TDUs). These incumbents operate as a “Soviet-like” monopoly. When new transmission lines are needed, incumbent TDUs are automatically awarded the projects in their service territories with no competitive bidding. They recover all costs plus a healthy return on invested capital. A 2019 law reinforced this monopoly by restricting new transmission ownership and construction to companies that already own and operate transmission lines in Texas.
The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals struck down this law, noting the absurdity with a pointed analogy: “Imagine if Texas—a state that prides itself on promoting free enterprise—passed a law saying that only those with existing oil wells in the state could drill new wells. It would be hard to believe.” The U.S. Department of Justice under President Trump’s first term supported the court’s ruling. Nevertheless, the status quo persists: only existing transmission owners get to build new lines.
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Austin Chronicle – April 30, 2026
How Data Centers Are Eating Up Rural Texas
Clayton Tucker’s family has owned a cattle farm in Lampasas, Texas, for four generations. In Texas, cattle prices are linked to rainfall, Tucker explained. In particularly bad drought years, like 2021-2024, there’s less hay. The price of cattle plummets. “The closest hay we could find was five hours away, and that forced everyone to start selling off half of their herds,” Tucker remembered. “We had to sell off a significant number of our head of cattle. There just wasn’t enough water, wasn’t enough grass, wasn’t enough hay.”
Tucker is a 35-year-old Central Texas farmer, which is becoming something of a rarity these days. Growing up in a rural community, Tucker watched as local farmers were pushed out by large meat, veggie, and dairy corporations. John Deere and monopolizing product processors have price-gouged small farmers into not being able to afford the essentials, he said.
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Utility Dive – April 29, 2026
MISO capacity prices fall as new supply outpaces demand growth
Outside of the winter season, capacity prices plunged across the Midcontinent Independent System Operator in its just-held Planning Resource Auction as new power supplies outpaced demand growth, MISO said in a report released Tuesday. Capacity prices fell sharply in the summer season — from $666.50/MW-day in all regions to $424.30/MW-day in MISO’s North and Central regions, $384.10/MW-day in Arkansas and Mississippi and $412.10/MW-day in Louisiana and Texas.
Annualized capacity prices across MISO’s 10 zones fell to a range of $116/MW-day to $126/MW-day for its 2026-27 Planning Year from a range of $212/MW-day to $217/MW-day a year ago, according to the grid operator.
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Utility Dive – April 30, 2026
At 106 GW, gas-fired generation leads PJM’s newly reopened interconnection queue
More than 800 generating projects totaling 220 GW have entered the PJM Interconnection’s reformed interconnection process, the grid operator said Wednesday. Projects entering the interconnection queue include 106 GW of gas-fired generation, 67 GW of storage, 18 GW of nuclear, 15 GW of solar, 9 GW solar-storage hybrid and 5 GW of wind, according to PJM.
Under its new interconnection study process, PJM expects to complete its reviews of the projects in one to two years, depending on the project. PJM will use an AI-enabled tool developed by Google’s Tapestry to help review the applications more quickly and efficiently, the grid operator said. PJM effectively closed its interconnection queue in 2022 so it could study backlogged projects. In the meantime, it shifted to a cluster-study process that imposes tougher financial and other standards on applicants in an effort to reduce speculative projects that have little chance of being built.
Regulatory
The New York Times – April 27, 2026
60 Countries to Meet on Phasing Out Fossil Fuels but Are Excluding the U.S.*
Ministers from nearly 60 countries are gathering this week in the Colombian city of Santa Marta for what is being called the first global conference on phasing out fossil fuels.The United States was not invited. The summit is taking place against the backdrop of the United States and Israel’s war with Iran, which has set off a global energy crisis. Shortages and price spikes have led governments to ration fuel, shorten workweeks and limit travel.
For some countries, the volatility of the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow channel through which a fifth of the world’s oil and gas is transported, has prompted a reconsideration of their reliance on imported fossil fuels. But while for some that could mean more investment in renewable energy, for others it could result in a rush for more domestic energy reserves, like coal.
“The convergence obviously comes at a complicated time because the world is in the middle of the biggest energy crisis in history,” said Carlos Pascual, senior vice president and head of international affairs at S&P Global, a research firm.