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Author: <span>Shiloh</span>

Texas Files Comments on Federal Rules That Could Stifle State’s Vital Oil and Gas Industry: RRC

February 14, 2023 — The Railroad Commission of Texas joined the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality in filing comments this week on the Environment Protection Agency’s (EPA) proposed supplemental rule to regulate methane and greenhouse gas emissions in the oil and gas industry.

In the comments, the state expresses concerns that the proposed rule exceeds EPA’s statutory authority under the Clean Air Act and will significantly limit domestic energy supply. At a time of energy fluctuations due to international conflict, the United States cannot afford to clamp down on its most important oil and gas producing state.

Texas also commented that the proposal also lays out unrealistic assumptions and artificially high metrics to estimate the climate benefits of the rule, whereas in practice, the rule would place an unjustifiable burden on states and the energy industry for little real benefit to the global climate.

In addition, the RRC is concerned that EPA did not provide sufficient time for affected stakeholders to review and comment on the extreme breadth of its proposal. The proposed rule was published immediately before the holiday season, on December 6, 2022, amidst several other significant regulatory proposals. Despite receiving numerous requests to extend the comment period, EPA declined to provide additional time….
 

Oil, Natural Gas Exports from Russia Declined in 2022

By Alex Mills

Russia’s decision to invade Ukraine one year ago has sent economic shock waves throughout Russia, Europe, and across the globe.

The United Kingdom and members of the European Union (EU) – along with United States, Australia, Canada and Japan – agreed to participate in a variety of actions designed to reduce revenues to Russia from the sale of petroleum products and natural gas.

The first action prohibited insurance companies based in these countries from insuring shipping companies that transport cargoes of Russian crude oil unless the oil was purchased below $60 per barrel. The sanction became effective on Dec. 5.

On Feb. 5, a $100 price cap on diesel and $45 cap on fuel oil was slated to become effective, but there continues to be disagreements on implementation….
 

More NatGas, Grid Upgrade Among Lt. Gov. Patrick’s List of Priorities Released Monday

February 13, 2023 — Lt. Governor Dan Patrick says he includes increasing the number of natural gas plants for production of electricity as an essential part of his priorities to increase the reliability of the ERCOT grid.

Lt. Gov. Patrick listed the two items among his list of 30 high-priority bills released on Monday.

A list of the 30 bills appears at the end of this article.

In a statement, the Lt. Governor said the legislators will pass something like 600 bills this session, so “just because a bill does not make the priority list does not mean it is not a priority for me or the Senate.”

Mr. Patrick has been pushing since the 2021 legislative session for more solutions to the state’s grid problems…
 

There Is a Sustainable Way to Transform Biomass Waste Into Fuels & Chemicals: Texas A&M

February 8, 2023 — “In the last 200 years, society has undergone major energy transitions associated with introducing new energy sources, such as coal, oil and natural gas.

“To address climate change, the world must experience another energy transition where fuels and chemicals are sourced from sustainable feedstocks,” according to Texas A&M University and its College of Engineering.

“The only practical, sustainable feedstock is biomass — anything that is biodegradable. Although there are fuels and chemicals currently made from biomass, such as corn, sugar and vegetable oil, these feedstocks are not sufficiently abundant to be scalable. Process innovations are required to access more plentiful biomass feedstocks to achieve feasible, long-term solutions.

“Mark Holtzapple, professor in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University, has spent more than three decades creating a method to convert biomass into essential fuels and chemicals, such as jet fuel and acetic acid…..
 

Getting Serious (and Technical): Senate Committee Explores ERCOT Changes, PUC Chairman Says More Battery Storage Coming

February 7, 2023 — The Texas Senate Business and Commerce committee met on Tuesday without Chair Charles Schwertner, diving into discussion about changes that will be needed to strengthen the ERCOT grid.

Vice Chair Sen. Phil King, chairing the committee, complimented the RRC, ERCOT and the PUC for their recent response to strong winter weather and called for open-mindedness in considering potential solutions to the state’s electric reliability problems.

Sen Robert Nichols encouraged attention to all sides of power generation, keeping the increasing solar power that will be coming online in the next 36 months while watching new generation plants.

Other senators joined in with Sen. King to call for “balanced” solutions from power generation problems.

Sen. Lois Kolkhorst expressed concern over passing along emergency pricing costs to consumers; Sen Donna Campbell cautioned against haste, preferring to give changes already made a chance to come to fruition….
 

More than half of new U.S. electric-generating capacity in 2023 will be solar: EIA

U.S. planned utility-scale electric capacity additions

Data source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Preliminary Monthly Electric Generator Inventory, December 2022

Developers plan to add 54.5 gigawatts (GW) of new utility-scale electric-generating capacity to the U.S. power grid in 2023, according to the EIA’;s Preliminary Monthly Electric Generator Inventory. More than half of this capacity will be solar power (54%), followed by battery storage (17%).

Solar. U.S. utility-scale solar capacity has been rising rapidly since 2010. Despite its upward trend over the past decade, additions of utility-scale solar capacity declined by 23% in 2022 compared with 2021. This drop in solar capacity additions was the result of supply chain disruptions and other pandemic-related challenges. We expect that some of those delayed 2022 projects will begin operating in 2023, when developers plan to install 29.1 GW of solar power in the United States. If all of this capacity comes online as planned, 2023 will have the most new utility-scale solar capacity added in a single year, more than doubling the current record (13.4 GW in 2021)….
 

House Committee Memberships Released, Two Partisan Ways To Look At It

February 8, 2023 — Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan on Wednesday released the traditional list of members he’s picked for committees.

The chairmanships were decided on the basis of skills and strengths, the speaker said.

“The issues facing our great state will require thorough conversations and collaboration inside the Texas House, and our chamber does its best work when lawmakers use their skill sets and strengths to work together and build consensus,” Speaker Phelan noted in a press release.

And while Republicans hold a strong majority of 86-64 in the House, there were nine Democrats who received chairmanships.

There are two ways to look at the partisan makeup of the list: Democrats are chairing fewer committees than last session (the Texas Tribune approach), or Speaker Phelan courageously defied pressure from fellow GOPers by naming Democrats to major committees (the Dallas Morning News view)….
 

Getting Serious (and Technical): Senate Committee Explores ERCOT Changes

February 7, 2023 — The Texas Senate Business and Commerce committee met on Tuesday without Chair Charles Schwertner, diving into discussion about changes that will be needed to strengthen the ERCOT grid.

Vice Chair Sen. Phil King, chairing the committee, complimented the RRC, ERCOT and the PUC for their recent response to strong winter weather and called for open-mindedness in considering potential solutions to the state’s electric reliability problems.

Sen Robert Nichols encouraged attention to all sides of power generation, keeping the increasing solar power that will be coming online in the next 36 months while watching new generation plants.

Other senators joined in with Sen. King to call for “balanced” solutions from power generation problems.

Sen. Lois Kolkhorst expressed concern over passing along emergency pricing costs to consumers; Sen Donna Campbell cautioned against haste, preferring to give changes already made a chance to come to fruition.

PUC Chairman Peter Lake told the committee the agency has identified problems with the grid system and had heard testimony from stakeholders and has now identified the best path forward but is in “full stop” mode, awaiting action from the Legislature, after which implementation of state leaders wishes could likely be done in less than a year after consultation with local markets.

Chairman Lake said he’s pleased that Solvent Energy, a Delaware company that is already planning renewable energy projects in Texas, has said it plans an extensive project to provide batteries for electricity backup.

The PUC, after looking at 6 possible market designs…..
 

Texas O&G State Tax Income Settling After Months of Steep Gains

February 3, 2023 — Tax income from O&G is starting to level out after months of large increases for the State of Texas, with oil production income up 14%.

Previous months’ tax incomes have been considerably higher as the O&G industry recovered from the Covid drilling slump.

Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar said oil production tax income was $486 million for the month of January, 2023, 14% higher than January 2022…..
 

Many In Central Texas Still Without Power; Mayor Accepts Blame, “Something Will Change”; Residents Raise Issues On Social Media

February 3, 2023 — The top official in Travis County and Austin’s mayor say they’re going to file disaster emergency plans with the federal government following an ice storm that threw hundreds of thousands of Central Texas residents into a power crisis, even as residents express anger over social media at silence from high-paid city managers, lack of tree-trimming and budget transfers.

By late Friday the number of Austin Energy customers who were without electricity dropped from more than 170,000 on Thursday down to about 115,000, still more than 20% of the city-owned utility’s total customers, according to its online tracking site.

Crews from Houston’s CenterPoint and San Antonio’s CPS Energy have been assisting in restoring electricity, many working long shifts in bitter cold temperatures.

The disaster declaration, also favored by Travis County Judge Andy Brown (the top county official), could open the gate for federal funds to pay up to 75% of cleanup costs and pay for food and some expenses for families, though the rollout of money would take time and paperwork.

At a news conference Friday afternoon, new Mayor Kirk Watson accepted blame for poor communication with the public during the crisis, a problem that plagued ERCOT during the 2021 Winter Storm Uri.

ERCOT has since revamped and improved its communications services.

Austin Energy customers could be found by the hundreds on social media starting Wednesday asking for information about power outages, some wrongly blaming ERCOT.

Meanwhile, Mayor Watson said on Friday, “I apologize, and we’ve let people down. … Providing clear and accurate and timely communication with the public is essential in an emergency like this. Once again, the city hasn’t delivered. It’s been a persistent challenge over the past several years; public frustration is absolutely warranted. Over and over again, we see the same failure. So something will change.”…..
 

U.S. proved reserves of crude oil increased significantly in 2021:EIA

U.S. total crude oil and lease condensate proved reserves

Data source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Proved Reserves of Crude Oil and Natural Gas in the United States, Year-End 2021

In 2021, U.S. proved reserves of crude oil and lease condensate increased 16% from 2020, totaling 44.4 billion barrels, according to our recently released Proved Reserves of Crude Oil and Natural Gas in the United States, Year-End 2021 report. Proved reserves decreased 19% in 2020 because of pandemic-related constraints on crude oil demand and production. In 2021, however, demand for petroleum and natural gas returned, prices rose, and proved reserves increased….
 

US Oil, Gas Production Set to Break Records in Spite of Obstacles

By Alex Mills

Even though President Joe Biden’s regulatory agencies continue to throw road blocks in the path of American oil and gas producers, the industry continues to respond positively to global and domestic markets and it is on a path to set records in 2022 and 2023.

U.S. oil production in November, the most current figures available, increased 5% over November 2021 from 11,790 million barrels of oil per day to 12,375, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA)

Natural gas production increased 3.7% in November over the same period last year from 118,174 million cubic feet per day to 122,574.

Of course, Texas was the leading producer of both crude oil and natural gas in November (5,210 million barrels per day for oil and 31,831 million cubic feet per day for natural gas), according to EIA….
 

February 1, 2023 —

Localized power outages now have more than 350,000 customers without electricity according to REP tallies, the vast majority in Central Texas but large outages range east of Dallas up to the Oklahoma border

Austin Energy says 31% of its customers are without power — the number amounts to more than 170,000

Austin Energy warns customers that power outages may continue well into tomorrow (Thursday) — about 4 pm Wednesday AE tweeted: “Customers are asked to be prepared with emergency plans and relocate safely, if needed, before 5 p.m.” — some have been without power all Wednesday

CPS Energy reports 8,777 customers without power

ERCOT remains reliable, maintaining about 6 MW of reserves Wednesday evening

Icy roads remain a huge problem through most of the state — and the most “impactful” portion of the winter storm is moving through Texas now and tonight, according to The National Weather Service, but roads should begin to improve by Thursday afternoon

Crude oil inventories were up by 4.1 million barrels for the week ending Jan. 27 compared to the previous week, at 452.7 million barrels — crude inventories up about 4% above the five year average for this time of year, EIA reports

…
 

Proved reserves of natural gas increased 32% in the United States during 2021: EIA

U.S. total natural gas proved reservesU.S. Energy Information Administration, Proved Reserves of Crude Oil and Natural Gas in the United States, Year-End 2021

Proved reserves of natural gas in the United States grew to a new record of 625.4 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) in 2021, a 32% increase from 2020, according to our recently released Proved Reserves of Crude Oil and Natural Gas in the United States, Year-End 2021 report. U.S. proved reserves had previously decreased 4% in 2020 as a response to prices that fell with decreased consumption during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. At year-end 2021, however, five of the eight states with the most proved reserves of natural gas each reported new record volumes, driving the growth nationally.

Proved reserves are operator estimates of the volumes of oil and natural gas that geological and engineering data demonstrate with reasonable certainty to be recoverable in future years from known reservoirs under existing economic and operating conditions. Prices heavily affect estimates of proved reserves. The wholesale spot price for natural gas at the U.S. benchmark Henry Hub in Louisiana averaged $3.89 per million British thermal units in 2021, almost doubling from 2020, according to data from Refinitiv….
 

Friday Buzz & Hot NewsClips from Texas Energy Report

“Ex-legislator tests lobbying revolving door law by repping big energy companies” — The Dallas Morning News points out that former District 9 state Rep. Chris Paddie is now a lobbyist representing Irving-based firms Vistra Corp. and TXU Energy, “which have pledged to pay him up to $622,000 to advance their interests this session” and Mr. Paddie “co-authored the very lobbying law he is now butting up against” — see the article via MSN

Some members of the Legislature say they’re tackling a critical problem by forming the Texas House Water Caucus — Bastrop District 17 Rep. Stan Gerges is a member as is District 48 Rep. Donna Howard — see the list of members at the press release here

The Settegast neighborhood of Houston (in the city’s northeast just off Loop 610) is the area with the lowest life expectancy in Harris County, according to the Houston Chronicle — lack of city services is a major factor — see the article here…