.The Texas Energy Report

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…..
 

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…..
 

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.”…..
 

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….
 

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….
 

January 31, 2023 – The Railroad Commission of Texas’ preparations for Winter Storm Mara began well ahead of time as we began tracking the approaching weather last week; activated the RRC Emergency Management …

January 30, 2023 — The Texas Independent Producers & Royalty Owners Association (TIPRO) today released the eighth edition of its “State of Energy Report,” offering a detailed analysis of national and state trends …

U.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….
 

January 29, 2023 –Freezing temperatures are expected to show up in North and West Texas beginning tonight, according to forecasters, prompting the RRC to issue an advisory on Sunday for O&G operators to secure equipment and personnel while keeping an ear out for news of weather effects and road closures as the week progresses.

“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…
 

January 25, 2023 — Renewables have an “outsized” corner in the Texas power market because of “massive” federal subsidies, according to District 106 state Rep. Jared Patterson, who says he has plans for legislation this session that will “deal with that.”…
 

January 25, 2023 — State Sen. Drew Springer‘s new SB 488 would create a first-ever tax on commercial non-natural gas generation of electricity that would be determined by a mathematical formula based on overall state natgas production, with revenues going to the Texas Education Agency to provide property tax relief.

In other words, the bill says “A tax is imposed on each” Texas electric generator “that generates electricity using an energy source other than natural gas,” although the bill also makes one reference to “natural gas or coal.”…
 

January 24, 2023 — District 30 state Sen. Drew Springer has a new bill that would create setback limits for wind turbines, giving jurisdiction to county and district courts for enforcement through lawsuit adjudication.

The Dallas-area Republican’s SB 154 calls for wind turbine generators to be placed at a minimum of 3,000 feet from the property lines of adjacent properties….
 

January 14, 2023 — District 3 state Senator Robert Nichols has reintroduced a bill aimed at drawing money from electric vehicle (EV) owners for registration fees to go toward paying for Texas roads and highways.

Bills similar to his new SB 505 have been introduced in previous sessions but have not gained full traction….
 

January 23, 2023 — Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick on Monday released the list of state Senate committee memberships, which include Sen. Brian Birdwell as Chairman of Natural Resources and Economic Development, with Sen. Judith Zaffirini as Vice Chair….
 

January 22, 2023 — A bill filed by state Rep. Terry Meza (D-Irving) would allow those renting or leasing homes or apartments to end their written contracts because of long utility outages, even if the outages were not the fault of the property owner.

House Bill 1173 states that a resident who doesn’t “have an essential utility due to an outage caused directly or indirectly by severe weather conditions may terminate the tenant’s lease, vacate the dwelling, and avoid liability for future rent and any other sums due under the lease for terminating the lease and vacating the dwelling before the end of the lease term.”…
 

January 17, 2023 — The RRC’s commitment to ensure the resilience of natural gas infrastructure during cold weather was tested last month during Winter Storm Elliott with sub-freezing temperatures that lasted several days during the Christmas weekend. The numbers are in and show that there was ample natural gas supply to help the state’s electricity supply chain and keep Texans safe.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration analysis below shows the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) energy mixes for electricity generation in the state for the past year. As the chart reflects, natural gas fired electric generation reached the highest peak for the entirety of 2022 on December 23 during Winter Storm Elliott, surpassing that of the peak days last summer….
 

By Alex Mills

The Energy Information Administration at the U.S. Department of Energy believes the price of petroleum products (crude oil, gasoline and diesel) will decline 5% to 10% this year from its previous predictions.

EIA’s forecast crude oil will average $77 per barrel in 2023, which is $11 less than its previous prediction of $86. Gasoline also was revised down from $3.51 to $3.32, and diesel at $4.20 down 16%. Natural gas is expected to average $4.90 per million British thermal units, which is a 9.8% drop from its previous estimate of $5.43.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil closed at $77 on the New York Mercantile Exchange on Wednesday. AAA said the national average for retail gasoline was $3.272 per gallon Wednesday….
 

January 11, 2023 — Colorado State University methane experts are partners in a $50 million research and education initiative aimed at improving how tracking and estimates of greenhouse gas emissions occur across the …