.The Texas Energy Report

November 23, 2022 — The Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC) is warning O&G and pipeline operators about expected heavy snowfall in West Texas and the Panhandle.

And while the National Weather Service (NWS) and other forecasters are calling for a possible 24″ of snow in the Amarillo area and up to 18″ in other portions of the Panhandle Thursday night into Friday, the forecast is far from certain….
 

November 18, 2022 — Freeport LNG Development, L.P. said in a press release on Friday that work necessary for reopening its plant south of Houston is about 90% complete.

The company is looking toward “utilization of all three liquefaction trains, two LNG storage tanks and one dock…with all reconstruction work anticipated to be completed by the end of November.”…
 

By Alex Mills

Even though many petroleum industry and government officials predict global demand to increase in the coming months, they fully recognize a high degree of uncertainty within the markets on the demand side and the supply side, too.

The Covid lockdown in China, one of the largest importers of oil, continues to impact demand as does high inflation, tight monetary policy by central banks, and persistent supply chain constraints in many countries around the globe.

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) issued its monthly report this week stating October production by OPEC members averaged 29.49 million barrels per day (b/d), which is 210,000 b/d less than September. OPEC forecast global oil demand will increase 2.55 million b/d (2.6%), which is a 100,000 b/d decrease from last month’s forecast.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has muddied the waters, also….
 

November 17, 2022 — The Comptroller’s Office of Texas has released the Fiscal 2022 State of Texas Annual Cash Report.

It’s a “cash-basis representation of the state’s financial condition as of Aug. 31, 2022” showing revenue and expenditure details for all funds in the State Treasury.

You can see the report…
 

November 16, 2022 — Sempra Infrastructure has a new non-binding Heads of Agreement (HOA) with Williams in an LNG deal along with natural gas pipeline projects to augment Gulf Coast-area natural gas supplies into markets around the world.

The companies are looking at two 20-year long-term sale and purchase agreements for about 3 million tons per annum (Mtpa) of LNG in the aggregate from the Port Arthur LNG project under development in Jefferson County as well as the Cameron LNG Phase 2 project under development in Hackberry, Louisiana….
 

November 16, 2022 — New York- and London-based ENG investor Monarch Private Capital has closed on a dozen solar energy projects in Texas and four other states with an estimated total capacity of 363 MW.

Monarch, which finances and manages a projects portfolio that “generate both federal and state tax credits,” calls the acquisition “tax equity investments.”…
 

November 15, 2022 — Members of the Texas Legislature have filed their first energy-related bills for the new biannual session beginning in January, four of them covering petroleum- and renewable energy-related issues.

District 81 Rep. Brooks Landgraf‘s House Bill 33 attempts to restrict Texas agencies from contracting with federal agencies over O&G laws: “An agency of this state or a person employed by an agency of this state may not contract with or in any other manner provide assistance to a federal agency or official with respect to the enforcement of a federal statute, order, rule, or regulation purporting to regulate oil and gas operations if the statute, order, rule, or regulation imposes a prohibition, restriction, or other regulation that does not exist under the laws of this state”…
 

November 15, 2022 — An emerging company that uses Earth- and air-based measurements of climate gases and air pollution says it will launch in January a balloon equipped with methane-detection sensors over the Permian Basin.

Waverly, Tennessee-based Scepter says it plans to move up to attaching sensors to satellites to be placed in low-Earth orbit to monitor emissions globally, in cooperation with some oil companies, including Exxon.

The company says it’s the first time balloons carrying hyperspectral sensors operating in short-wave infrared have been commercially deployed to obtain detailed level of data, measuring down to 50 kg methane per hour and lower—a moderate-sized industrial leak….
 

AEP Third-quarter 2022 GAAP earnings of $1.33 per share and $1.62 per share operating Company reaffirms narrowed 2022 operating earnings (non-GAAP) guidance range of $4.97 to $5.07, raised midpoint of $5.02, and 6% to 7% long-term growth rate $40 billion, five-year …

The following statement can be attributed to Todd Staples, president of the Texas Oil & Gas Association:

“The E3 report released today by the Public Utility Commission (PUC) recommends the implementation of a forward reliability market—a capacity market for the ERCOT system. Total system cost, cost to consumers—industrial and residential—and timeframes of implementation remain of great concern for the Texas oil and natural gas industry with this type of design.
 

By Alex Mills
…U.S. inventories of distillate fuel oil have been below the five-year (2017–2021) low since the start of 2022. Since April, total U.S. distillate inventories have been below the five-year low and more than 20% below the five-year average.

“The low inventories have primarily been the result of less global refining capacity since 2020, as well as high demand in early 2022 and global trade disruptions later in the year linked to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine,” EIA said….
 

November 9, 2022 — Fire investigators are reportedly at the scene of an overnight refinery fire in the Los Angeles, CA, area.

The 2-alarm blaze was confined to one area of the 1,000-acre Chevron oil refinery at El Segundo, according to KTLA.

…
 

by Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller

After Winter Storm Uri caused mass power outages, widespread misery, and humiliation for our state and our grid, I tasked my team with creating a comprehensive plan to help inform the public and lawmakers about the scope of the challenge and the breadth of the potential solutions.

The result was the Texas P.O.W.E.R. (Proper Oversight, Winterization, and Electricity Reform) Plan.

Many of those recommendations have since become law. Others should be. The grid is certainly more secure, and that work continues.

None-the-less, I’m proud of the contributions my team came up with to improving our electrical grid and helping avert further disruptions.

With the onset of this year’s crippling drought, our farms and ranches have been decimated. Crops continue to fail; livestock is being sold early and our agriculture sector is in crisis. Experts tell us we may be in the midst of another drought similar to the one that rocked Texas in the 1950s….
 

November 5, 2022 — Natural gas and oil sales tax collected by the Texas Comptroller‘s office continued a months-long rise year-over-year during the month of October.

The natural gas production tax collected last month of $410 million was up 59% when compared to October 2021.

And the October oil production tax income was up $544 million, up 33% from October of last year.

Motor fuel taxes, however, were down 3% year-over-year, at $312 million….
 

November 5, 2022 — Phillips 66 and Valero are among the winning bidders in the US Dept. of Energy’s (DoE) awards for access to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR).

Twelve companies replied to the DoE’s notice of sale, totaling 110 bids, the agency said…..
 

By Alex Mills President Biden threatened American oil producers this week with punitive taxes if they do not decrease prices. Just seven days before the midterm election, Biden went to the podium at …

November 2, 2022 — Plains All American Pipeline LP and Enbridge Inc are now the sole owners of the Texas Cactus II Pipeline and its company Cactus II Pipeline LLC, after a buyout priced at about $265 million.

Subsidiaries of Enbridge and Plains purchased 15% interest in the pipeline from Western Midstream Partners LP, with Enbridge getting 10% and Plains 5% based on the Western Midstream holdings…..
 

November 1, 2022 — Denbury Carbon Solutions says it’s executed a CO₂ Services Agreement with Clean Hydrogen Works, certifying Denbury to transport and sequester CO₂ captured from a hydrogen-ammonia complex in Louisiana that Clean Hydrogen is planning, with a final investment decision to be made in 2024.

Denbury, a subsidiary of Plano-based Denbury Inc., says the Ascension Parish complex (to be called the Ascension Clean Energy complex, or ACE) is expected to be built less than 2 miles from Denbury’s existing CO₂ pipeline network.

The proposed facilities are to be constructed on a 1,700-acre site along the west bank of the Mississippi River in Donaldsonville, Louisiana, about 50 miles upstream from New Orleans….
 

November 1, 2022 — The University of Texas at Arlington is adding a first-of-its-kind bachelor’s degree program in resource and energy engineering to train students to apply engineering principles to the design, development, …

October 28, 2022 — A new report from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) — actually an update of an earlier report — says the ERCOT power grid is almost as vulnerable as it was during Winter Storm Uri in February of 2021.

The FERC said marginal improvements have been made to the grid but more changes are required..

And on Thursday Texas PUC Director of Communications Rich Parsons replied to the FERC report, saying the grid is indeed ready for winter weather: ….