RBN Energy Blogcast

Opinions vary on how much U.S. electricity demand may rise and how much that may impact demand for natural gas. But there's across-the-board agreement that the electric and gas sectors are more intertwined than ever and electric-grid reliability will suffer if gas-fired plants don't get the fuel they need.

A framework agreement between Canada's federal government and the province of Alberta aims to kickstart a process to construct a new crude oil pipeline to the country's west coast that would expand direct crude exports to Asia and reduce reliance on the U.S. as an export customer.

U.S. E&Ps continue to ignore political pressures to “drill, baby, drill,” sticking rigidly to capital discipline and trimming their drilling-and-completion activity. But that hasn't kept production from inching up as E&Ps continue to increase their productivity.

Five years ago, Vermont enacted a law requiring steep reductions in GHG emissions and, in 2023, it directed regulators to develop a program to steer households and businesses away from heating oil and propane. But now everything's in limbo — a development with important implications for other states. 

Plains All American's Basin Pipeline and the complementary Sunrise Pipeline play major roles in moving Permian crude to Cushing, OK, the delivery point for the U.S. benchmark and a key storage hub. In today's RBN blog, we'll dig into why the pipes are so important to the Permian, Plains and Cushing.

Underpinned by new shipper commitments, a WhiteWater Midstream-led team has upsized the capacity of its planned 2.5-Bcf/d Eiger Express Pipeline to a whopping 3.7 Bcf/d. In today's RBN blog, we'll discuss the expansion plan.

Three-quarters of the Bakken's top-tier well sites may have already been drilled and the remaining inventory may be less than stellar, but a new AI-based analysis suggests the quality of the rock held by the shale play's top producers varies widely.

The E&Ps we track have retained investor support over the past three years despite a drop in oil prices. Their formula has been throttling back costs and investment to prioritize shareholder returns.

In newly announced deals, Antero Resources and Antero Midstream will expand their holdings in northern West Virginia and divest non-core assets in eastern Ohio.

Houston and Corpus Christi have been locked in a battle for the top spot as the primary outlet for Permian crude. Lately, the pendulum has been swinging toward Corpus — and not by accident. 

All the speculation you hear about the future of data centers comes with the promise of massive amounts of electricity usage down the line. But which facilities are using the most grid power right now?

A new analysis suggests about 75% of the Bakken's top-quartile locations have been drilled and only 6,100 well sites would generate a good return at the prices we've seen the past couple of years.

Amber Energy has been declared the winner of the CITGO refineries and intends to keep the CITGO brand and operate it with new leadership focused on cost-cutting and operational improvements. 

U.S. E&Ps have battled mightily to mitigate the impact on earnings and cash flows caused by the steady erosion in commodity prices, but concerning trends could impact future earnings.

Targa Resources' plan to acquire sour-gas specialist Stakeholder Midstream will give the midstream giant an even stronger foothold in the Northern Delaware Basin, where much of the associated gas has high levels of H2S and CO2.

Phillips 66's Sweeny Complex includes refining, midstream and petrochemical units and illustrates how a well-designed, integrated facility can deliver operating and financial efficiencies. 

For months, the Trump administration and industry groups have been asserting that EU regulations on methane emissions could result in a sharp decline in — or even an end to — U.S. LNG flows to the EU.

Appalachia is churning out just over one-third of Lower 48 natural gas production and has the potential to produce considerably more. The big question is whether output will finally break out.

Some market observers see a massive wave of LNG supply ready to flood the market, but the fears of cargo cancellations may be exaggerated, with the “great wave” more like a gradually rising tide. 

Energy Transfer stitched together its Permian Express system over multiple years and it's now a standout in the company's midstream portfolio, able to carry 600 Mb/d of Permian crude to Nederland, TX.

Building and expanding refineries is a challenging task involving many moving parts. But even the best projects can unravel if politics shift, the economy sours, or another “black swan” event hits.

Expanded energy development in Alaska has been a priority since President Trump returned to office. We review the moves and how they fit into plans to accelerate Arctic exploration and development.

Buoyed by record crude oil flows and the expectation of further growth in Western Canada, Enbridge has been sanctioning more pipeline expansion projects and discussing plans to add more capacity.

Ovintiv, one of Western Canada's largest natural gas and condensate producers, has upped its Montney position with a takeover of rival NuVista Energy, continuing the recent consolidation trend.

NGL production in British Columbia has been on the rise. Plans by NorthRiver Midstream to build a pipeline to fractionators in Alberta will give producers in the Montney more runway for growth.

Dangote eyes a massive expansion but still struggles to reach capacity. Dos Bocas faces steeper hurdles. New refineries worldwide keep hitting the wall as bold plans collide with tough execution.

The permitting process for carbon-capture projects is, in some ways, like navigating Houston's notorious rush-hour traffic — if everyone tries to move at once, gridlock can quickly ensue. That's true at both the federal level, where the EPA has more sequestration wells under review than ever before, and at the state level, where Louisiana just hit the pause button on its reviews. In today's RBN blog, we look at how increased interest in carbon capture has exacerbated the permitting backlog.

The global petrochemical is currently experiencing a downturn, and this is showing up in earnings. These companies are reacting with cost reductions and capacity rationalizations.

A few days ago, HF Sinclair joined ONEOK, Phillips 66 and Kinder Morgan in planning pipeline projects to move more refined products to Western markets. It's too soon to say how many of these projects will come to fruition, but what's certain is that the effort to transport large volumes of products west from PADDs 2, 3 and 4 will significantly impact refinery economics across vast swaths of the U.S. In today's RBN blog, we‘ll discuss the pipeline projects and how they will affect market dynamics.

There's been a lull in midstream M&A activity the past few months, but several companies in that space have been making significant adjustments to their portfolios, either by acquiring assets from others or selling ownership interests in their own businesses. There's also been a lot of buzz about major deals that may be in the works. In today's RBN blog, we'll discuss a few of the more interesting midstream transactions and what's spurring them, and also look at the general state of the midstream sector.

More propane production. More exports. More inventories. The U.S. propane market, already oversupplied, is becoming even more so, putting additional downward pressure on prices. At the same time, surging demand from LNG exports and gas-fired power generation is pushing natural gas prices higher. Electricity prices are climbing too, further tilting the scales in propane's favor. The big question is, will these shifting fuel-price relationships move the needle on retail propane demand.

Out of the blue, Plains All American has scooped up 100% of the EPIC Crude Pipeline. Plains had previously announced an agreement to buy a 55% stake in the Permian-to-Corpus-Christi pipeline from Diamondback Energy and Kinetik Holdings, and on November 5, it said it had closed on a deal to buy the other 45% from Ares Management. In today's RBN blog, we'll discuss what the acquisition means for Plains, as well as a possible expansion of EPIC and the planned rebranding of the pipe.

Two Denver-based E&Ps that each started out small but quickly expanded through a series of acquisitions will now combine to form one of the nation's larger crude-oil-focused producers. With the planned merger of SM Energy and Civitas Resources, the pro forma company will be a significant player in the Permian, South Texas, the Denver-Julesburg and the Uinta. In today's RBN blog, we'll discuss the planned combination and the E&Ps' rationale for it.

The liquids pipeline rate index, which the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission uses to adjust the rates charged to shippers on the crude oil, refined products and NGL pipelines it regulates, is the most important rulemaking proceeding for interstate oil pipelines. In today's RBN blog, we take a deeper dive into the rate index, the disruptions caused by recent attempts to adjust it mid-cycle, and how delays in the review process could cause problems down the road.

The Trump administration has been easing regulations, accelerating project approvals, and proclaiming its undying support for the oil and gas industry. But much of the oil patch is in the doldrums. Crude oil prices are stuck in the low $60s/bbl, upstream capex and oilfield activity are down, and some U.S. producers are struggling. In today's RBN blog, we'll discuss the contrast between what the industry had hoped 2025 would bring and how things stand now.

Energy Transfer has built one of the largest crude oil midstream portfolios in the U.S., yet one of its most important assets — the West Texas Gulf Pipeline — often flies under the radar. The 72-years-young line is still a workhorse, moving crude from the Permian Basin to Longview and Nederland, TX, where it feeds into Energy Transfer's massive Gulf Coast export hub. In today's RBN blog, we'll look at West Texas Gulf and how it fits into Energy Transfer's broader midstream strategy.

The eight-year legal clash over the coveted CITGO refinery assets just took another unexpected turn, leaving the potential sale up in the air. The winner of the auction for CITGO's three large U.S. refineries, related pipelines and terminal assets remains uncertain as the auction faces additional legal hurdles. In today's RBN blog, we'll dive into the latest in the court case and what it could mean for the three refineries involved, which have a combined capacity of more than 800 Mb/d.

This past spring — 10 years after Williams Cos. first proposed the Northeast Supply Enhancement Project and one year after it scrapped plans for it — the effort to add 400 MMcf/d of natural gas pipeline capacity into New York City was revived. Since then, FERC has re-approved the project and regulators in New York and New Jersey have been mulling over whether to issue water-quality permits. In today's RBN blog, we discuss Williams's renewed push to get NESE permitted and built.

A bullish long-term outlook for rising natural gas demand and pricing has partially mitigated the current deep concerns about the steep erosion of oil prices. However, short-term gas pricing has proven very volatile, as the near-month NYMEX price has yo-yoed dramatically in October and the Energy Information Administration recently cut its January forecast. In today's RBN blog, we present a new metric that calculates the gas price sensitivity of major U.S. producers.

For more than 30 years, Henry Hub in Louisiana has anchored natural gas pricing in the Lower 48. But in the past 10 years, its role has shifted in profound ways. It has gone from a domestic benchmark pricing location for a vibrant Gulf Coast producing region to a demand-driven market and an index for U.S. LNG exports. In today's RBN blog, we look at how Henry Hub became so integral to the workings of the emerging LNG market, both in the U.S. and globally. 

Several large-scale LNG export projects have reached a final investment decision this year along the U.S. Gulf Coast, with most expected to start up between 2029 and 2031. They will be supported by new pipeline capacity to deliver natural gas from producing areas, but how and where will production increase to meet this new demand? In today's RBN blog, we detail the movement of gas throughout Texas and Louisiana and highlight the key findings in the newest edition of our Arrow Model.

E&Ps and oilfield service companies are constantly chasing the latest techniques to extract oil and gas faster and easier. Hydraulic fracturing was, of course, a game-changer, but now producers are using simultaneous fracking and even triple fracking, relatively newer approaches that use more resources but boost efficiency. In today's RBN blog, we'll break down these strategies, explore when they make sense for operators, and highlight the biggest challenges. 

Less than two months after ONEOK unveiled plans for a big new refined products pipeline from El Paso to the Phoenix area, Phillips 66 and Kinder Morgan have jointly proposed an even more extensive project of their own: the Western Gateway Pipeline — now the focus of a binding open season — would enable flows from the St. Louis area to Southern California. In today's RBN blog, we'll discuss the project and what's driving the race to move more refined products west from PADDs 2 and 3 to PADD 5.

Keeping up with all the natural-gas-related infrastructure under development along the Gulf Coast is a full-time job. New gas pipelines out of the Permian and the Haynesville. New LNG export terminals from Brownsville, TX, to Plaquemines Parish, LA. And don't forget new gas storage capacity — that slice of the midstream sector is in the midst of its biggest boom in decades. In today's RBN blog, we'll finish our review of the latest round of Gulf Coast storage projects.

A tsunami of natural gas storage projects has been building along the Gulf Coast, most of them aimed at meeting the growing demand for flexible, responsive storage capacity near new LNG export terminals and gas-fired power plants. And the magnitude of that wave keeps growing. In today's RBN blog, we'll begin a new mini-series in which we update the storage projects we discussed in a number of posts last year and describe the additional projects that have come to light since then.

Neither midstream companies nor the folks who run them can be put into neat and simple categories. Each is unique. At the same time, however, there's no doubt that some midstreamers take a more aggressive approach to developing projects, while others are more cautious. Each approach comes with risks: on one hand, the possibility of anticipating demand that doesn't materialize; on the other, the risk of missed opportunities. In today's RBN blog, we discuss the strategies of five leading midstreamers.

The Trump administration promised to put wind in the sails of the fossil fuels industry, but the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has failed to resolve a key issue regarding the liquids pipeline rate index, under which the commission adjusts the rates charged to shippers on FERC-regulated crude oil, refined products and NGL pipelines. In today's RBN blog, we'll review the recent history of the rate index, why it moved sharply higher (and then lower) in recent years, and what lies ahead.

ARM Energy Holdings has reached a final investment decision for the 2.5-Bcf/d Mustang Express Pipeline, which will support Sempra Infrastructure's Port Arthur LNG Phase 2, the latest of several major LNG projects in the Sabine River area to reach FID. The pipeline is intended to act as a regional header system with a route designed to offer maximum optionality and connectivity. In today's RBN blog, we'll discuss what the pipeline could mean for regional gas flows.

Kinder Morgan's ongoing conversion of the Double H Pipeline to NGL service is only part of a larger plan by the midstream giant to move Bakken-sourced Y-grade from North Dakota to fractionation centers in Kansas and Texas. The Double H, which until recently transported crude oil, runs only to eastern Wyoming, so how will NGLs on the pipeline — renamed Hiland Express — get from there to Conway, KS; Mont Belvieu, TX; and maybe Sweeny, TX, too? In today's RBN blog, we discuss the possibilities.

Crude oil price erosion over the past two years has resulted in declining earnings and cash flows for E&Ps, many of which have struggled to sustain their generous shareholder return program. Now, the EIA is forecasting a 26% plunge in the average 2026 price for WTI, to only $47.77/bbl. That portends steep cuts in capex and dividends for oil-focused producers. In today's RBN blog, we calculate the oil price sensitivity of the 39 E&Ps we monitor and analyze their ability to weather the price dip.

These are challenging times in the oil patch. Crude oil prices continue to sag. E&Ps are trimming their capex, share buybacks, and staff. Some worry that production may be peaking. And yet, upstream M&A activity continues unabated as producers seek to gain scale, expand into new plays — or double down on old ones — and replenish their inventory of top-tier well sites. In today's RBN blog, we discuss four of the biggest deals announced in the past few weeks.