US Weekly Rig Count Up Slightly

The latest WellDatabase US Rig Report (dated August 7, 2026) shows the national active rig count rising modestly by 3 week-over-week to 583, up 42 from the same period a year earlier. Oil-directed rigs accounted for the bulk of activity at 427 (+1), with gas-directed rigs holding steady at 127 and smaller contributions from thermal […]

Continue Reading

Hormuz Crisis Is Rewriting the Global LPG Trade

The effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz amid the 2026 Iran-related conflict has fundamentally altered global liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) trade flows. Middle Eastern exports from Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, and Iran slowed sharply as tanker traffic collapsed and infrastructure faced risks or attacks. Before the escalation, roughly 54 oil, chemical, and LPG […]

Continue Reading

WSJ Reports Battery Energy Storage Systems Are Moving to Scale. But What Are the Hidden Catches?

The Wall Street Journal recently highlighted how battery energy storage systems (BESS) are shifting from niche applications to meaningful scale in the United States, with residential deployments accelerating particularly fast. Companies like Base Power are installing home batteries at a rapid clip, and broader market data confirm strong growth in both utility-scale and behind-the-meter segments. […]

Continue Reading

Grid Collapse or Energy Reality: Eight Stories That Will Define 2027

Energy News Beat Stand Up In a rapidly shifting global energy landscape, the stakes have never been higher. From Texas governors taking unprecedented action on data centers to Houthi attacks disrupting critical shipping lanes, from Europe’s plummeting LNG reserves to the fundamental clash between net zero policies and energy reality, this episode of the Energy […]

Continue Reading

Texas Governor Greg Abbott has directed a halt on new data center connections to the ERCOT grid pending a comprehensive audit of their energy use, water consumption, financing, ownership, and community impacts.

This action, announced August 3, 2026, comes roughly three weeks after New York became the first state to impose a temporary statewide moratorium on new hyperscale data centers. It applies to projects seeking to interconnect with the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) system and pauses related transmission planning work, including the “Batch Zero” study. […]

Continue Reading

NextDecade Snags $4.6B Financing for Rio Grande LNG Growth

HOUSTON — NextDecade Corporation has locked in approximately $4.6 billion in financing tied to its Rio Grande LNG (RGLNG) project in South Texas, strengthening the balance sheet for Phase 1 while advancing expansion plans. The moves, detailed in the company’s second-quarter 2026 business update released July 30, 2026, refinance existing construction debt and free bank […]

Continue Reading

Texas Holding Consumers Hostage for $33 B in a High-Voltage Heist

Texas ratepayers are on the hook for a $33 billion high-voltage transmission expansion that critics call a classic power grab—funneling guaranteed returns to transmission monopolies, condemning thousands of acres of private land, and primarily enabling more intermittent wind and solar that many of today’s assets won’t economically or physically outlast another decade. The Electric Reliability […]

Continue Reading

Expand Energy’s First Far Western Haynesville Wildcat IPs 27.5 MMcf/d

Expand Energy Corporation (NASDAQ: EXE), North America’s largest independent natural gas producer, has reported a strong initial production (IP) rate of 27.5 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d) from its first horizontal wildcat in the Far Western Haynesville. The Bobby Yancey #2H well, located in Houston County, Texas, features an 8,158-foot lateral and represents an […]

Continue Reading