.The Texas Energy Report

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.The Texas Energy Report

86th Legislature Changes In the Energy Sectors Taking Effect: An Extensive Look at the New Laws

September 10, 2019

With little notice from most news media, the 86th Texas Legislature made some strong changes in the energy sector.

Now that the September 1st rule of law is in effect, most laws are settled on the books.

 

First: Closely-Watch Bills That Did Not Pass

None of the 11 eminent domain bills passed the Legislature this past session.

HB 3324 also did not pass; it would have given the Texas Commission for Environmental Quality (TCEQ) authority to require an oil and gas pipeline operator to submit “a site-specific contingency plan” describing “measures to be taken to control, contain, and collect any discharge of fluids from the pipeline to minimize impacts to groundwater”.

A “bill of rights” for homeowners who want to install solar panels also did not pass (SB 2066, HB 2860)

HB 4001 failed to pass; it would have required a pipeline transporting gas or petroleum and operated or managed by a gas corporation or a common carrier to receive a Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUC) permit authorizing the pipeline route before construction could begin……
 

Freeport LNG Sees Financing for Train 4 As First Cargo Continues Voyage and Second Cargo Set

September 9, 2019

Freeport LNG Development LP has new definitive agreements with a Australian investment firm to pump more than a billion dollars into expansion efforts for a proposed 5 million mt/year capacity fourth natural gas liquefaction train at its facilities south of Houston…..
 

Texas O&G Severance Tax Income Healthy for Fiscal 2019 But Down for August Y/Y

September 9, 2019

In November the Texas Comptroller will deposit a healthy $167 billion into each of the state Economic Stabilization Fund (ESF) and State Highway Fund for the year 2019 after counting up the receipts from oil and natural gas severance taxes, but the O&G tax income numbers for August continue a downward trend.…
 

NuStar Completes Pipeline Projects In 24 Hour Period

September 9, 2019

In what the CEO calls an “amazing coincidence,” NuStar Energy LP says it’s completed three pipeline projects that greatly expand capacity for Permian Basin crude takeaway to Corpus Christi and to move refined products to Mexico.

And the company said crude loadings at its Corpus export terminal will double to about half-a-million barrels per day by the end of September — an increase expected to come from crude arriving on EPIC Midstream and Plains All American Pipeline LP pipelines from the Permian and New Mexico…
 

Spot Power Prices Hit Record, TCEQ Eases Plant Emissions Limits As Heat Wave Hits Texas

September 5, 2019

As the Public Utility Commission joined the Electric Reliability Council of Texas in urging consumers and businesses to cut back on power usage Thursday and Friday afternoons, spot prices on the power markets soared to a record high on Thursday and the TCEQ said it will allow some power generators to exceed emissions limits during the current heat wave….
 

Some Investors Have Lost Confidence In Oil

By Alex Mills

 

September 5, 2019

The oil industry has been through some tough times during the last four decades, but recent allegations that fossil fuels are linked to environmental catastrophes, and the lack of fiscal performance have oil companies facing a new storm the size of Hurricane Dorian.

Politicians expressed outrage in the 1970s when prices rose alleging oil companies were making “obscene profits.” Washington imposed the crude oil “windfall profits tax.” Later President Clinton proposed and Congress almost passed a tax on the energy content of oil known as the Btu tax, and President Obama proposed a cap-and-trade law on oil production, which passed the House but narrowly failed in the Senate. All of these issues were designed to increase the cost of oil.

Most of the 20-some Democratic candidates for President have proposed some form of restrictions, reductions, or total ban on oil in the future. Senator Bernie Sanders, who is within the top three contenders in many polls, has the most outrageous ideas. …
 

RRC Receives National Energy Education Award For RRC OIL; Online Oil & Gas Inspection Query

August 29, 2019

MEDORA, N.D. – The Railroad Commission of Texas is the winner of the 2019 Chairman’s Stewardship Award for Energy Education from the Interstate Oil & Gas Compact Commission. The award is in recognition of the Commission’s RRC Online Inspection Lookup (RRC OIL) tool. For the first time in the Commission’s history anyone, anywhere can look up the inspection and enforcement history of oil and gas wells and operators online. The searchable database provides 24-hour, 7-day a week access to this important information.

North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum presented the award to RRC’s Executive Director Wei Wang and Clay Woodul, Assistant Director for Oil and Gas Field Operations, today at the IOGCC’s Annual Conference in Medora, N.D.

“We are proud and honored to receive this prestigious award,” RRC Chairman Wayne Christian said. “It is recognition of our continuing efforts to educate the public about how we regulate the state’s oil and gas industry to ensure safe, responsible energy production…..