.The 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…
 

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 …

January 05, 2023 — The Railroad Commission of Texas issued a total of 869 original drilling permits in December 2022 compared to 842 in December 2021. The December 2022 total includes 797 permits …

By Alex Mills

The oil and gas industry in Texas made a big recovery in 2022, and a majority of the executives surveyed by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas anticipate a good year in 2023.

“Activity in the oil and gas sector continued growing in fourth quarter 2022,” the agency said in a new release on Dec. 29. “The business activity index – the survey’s broadest measure of conditions facing Eleventh District energy firms – remained positive but fell to 20.2 in the fourth quarter from 46 in the third. This suggests the pace of expansion decelerated but remained solid as the business activity index stayed above the series average.”

The survey, conducted between Dec. 7-15 from 152 energy firms, finds 45% of respondents believe crude oil prices will average $80-$89 at the end of 2023 compared to 25% believing prices will average between $70-$79 and 15% saying $90-$99…..
 

January 5, 2022 — Renewable energy and battery storage projects generate tens of billions of dollars in tax revenue and landowner payments, 60 percent of which benefits rural counties, according to a report released today by Conservative Texans for Energy Innovation (CTEI), the Advanced Power Alliance (APA) and the Texas Association of Business (TAB).  
 
Matt Welch, State Director of CTEI said, “Texas’ record growth is continuing across all energy sectors, especially utility-scale renewable energy and energy storage. This report confirms the tremendous economic impact clean energy projects continue to have across every region of Texas.”  Welch went on to add, “For the first time, dispatchable battery storage development and deployment has registered as a major contributor to the future of the Texas energy grid and the growth of this emerging technology has been exceptional.”
 
The report, titled “The Economic Impact of Renewable Energy and Energy Storage in Rural Texas,” was authored by Dr. Joshua Rhodes, Chief Technology Officer of IdeaSmiths LLC and a Research Scientist at The University of Texas at Austin. Among the findings in the report: …
 

January 03, 2023 — In yet another move to improve transparency, the Railroad Commission has launched an interactive map of ongoing orphan well plugging with the use of federal infrastructure funding. The data visualization allows …

December 30, 2022 — Protecting the O&G industry and consumers are among the aims of two bills filed for the coming session, according to District 7 state Rep. Jay Dean.

The former Longview mayor said his HB 743 and HB 744 are to protect against the types of local bans on natural gas, propane, or gas-powered equipment” that have been seen in the past few years….
 

December 29, 2022 — District 2 Texas state Senator Bob Hall says a bill he has filed for the upcoming session of the State Legislature will likely result in a more resilient ERCOT grid.

One of the keys for grid resilience is efficiency and reliability, Hall said recently in explaining his SB 330.

Hall added that he’s been advocating for a stronger grid for a long time, working for measures to remove vulnerability to both man-made such as cyberattacks and electromagnetic pulse attacks and natural threats such as the recent Winter Storm Elliott…..
 

December 28, 2022 — The Railroad Commission on Tuesday, Dec. 27, launched an investigation on the performance of Atmos Energy, Mid-Tex Division’s gas distribution system during last week’s Winter Storm Elliott. On Friday, …

December 24, 2022 — A nationwide cold snap moved through Texas Thursday, taxing the grid that makes up most of the state along with utilities and retail provider systems.

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) grid held up through Winter Storm Elliott Thursday and Friday but the system faces challenges getting into Christmas Eve even as local, rather than statewide, power outages sent crews from CenterPoint, Oncor and other providers scrambling to bring tens of thousands back online…..
 

December 18, 2022 —  Texas Oil & Gas Association President Todd Staples added this statement regarding last week’s West Texas earthquake; Saturday’s statement from the Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC) follows: “Industry operators …

December 16, 2022 — The US Geological Survey says a West Texas earthquake about 5:35 Friday afternoon registered a 5.4 and was centered about 14 miles north-northwest of Midland at a depth of …