Dive Brief: Restrictions on wind and solar development in Texas could increase wholesale power prices by 14% over the next 10 years and cause capacity shortfalls resulting in up to 3.1 GW of load shed in an extreme weather event, Aurora Energy Research said in an April 16 report prepared for the Texas Association of Business. In a “fully restricted renewables” scenario, where no further wind and solar development occurs in Texas once today’s late-stage projects are deployed, a typical 100-MW industrial customer would pay $6.3 million more for power each year by 2035, Aurora said. The typical household’s electricity costs would increase $225 per year, or about 10%. The report highlights the importance of the Texas renewables industry in meeting expected load growth this decade while keeping prices in check and that “renewables can make the system more reliable as opposed to less reliable … [which] tends to be overshadowed” in discussions of the role they play on the grid, Aurora’s Head of US Central Olivier Beaufils said in an interview. Dive Insight: The biennial Texas legislature is considering several bills this session that would benefit new natural gas and other firm generation resources at the expense of renewables. In the past few weeks, the state Senate passed one bill imposing new fees and regulatory requirements on wind and solar projects and another requiring new renewables to be matched megawatt-for-megawatt with new “dispatchable” resources other than batteries. A third bill under consideration, but not yet passed, would retroactively require firm backup generation at wind and solar facilities. The 2025 bills build on previous legislative efforts to blunt renewables’ rapid advance and incentivize dispatchable generation in the Electric Reliability Council of Texas’s territory. Though several proposals similar to those under consideration this year failed to advance out of the 2023

Matt Welch is the state director of Conservative Texans for Energy Innovation, a non-profit advocacy organization that works to advance clean energy with free market solutions. Texans have long championed free enterprise and competition. Over 25 years ago, our state was one of the first to deregulate most of our electricity market, unleashing billions in private investment and innovation. We know that when businesses compete, consumers win. Yet today, one critical part of our electric system that was competitive is now shielded from competition.  When it comes to building high-voltage transmission lines — the “interstate highways” of our electric grid — Texas was a leader in using competition to reduce costs.  But in 2019, Texas lawmakers quietly erected a barrier to competition in the transmission market. Senate Bill 1938 granted incumbent utilities a Right of First Refusal, or ROFR, for new transmission projects — banning new entrants from the Texas market.   The law now mandates that if a new power line will connect to a utility’s existing equipment, only that same utility can build and operate it​. This isn’t just bad policy — it’s antithetical to Texas’ free-market principles. The time has come to restore the competitive, free-market spirit to our transmission sector, ensuring reliable power at the lowest cost for Texas families and businesses. Defenders of the ROFR say it ensures reliability by letting familiar local utilities build needed lines. But Texans know better: competition and accountability drive performance, not a complacent monopoly. Under the ROFR regime, a handful of transmission utilities dictate project terms, timelines and costs — all recovered from ratepayers — without facing any competing bids. This lack of competition reduces the incentives for efficiency and transparency. It’s economics 101: when there’s no alternative provider, customers (in this case, all of us who pay electric bills)

Amigo LNG S.A. de C.V., the Mexican subsidiary of Singapore-based LNG Alliance, has signed a definitive 15-year liquefied natural gas (LNG) sales and purchase agreement (SPA) with Oman. Under the agreement signed with OQ Trading (OQT), the international energy and commodity trading vehicle of the Oman government, OQT will purchase 0.6 million metric tons per annum (mtpa) of LNG free on board from Amigo LNG’s export terminal in Sonora, Mexico. The first LNG deliveries under the agreement are expected to begin in the second quarter of 2028, LNG Alliance said in a news release. The long-term supply partnership “represents a strategic move by OQT to diversify its LNG sourcing portfolio beyond the Middle East and Asia while marking a significant milestone in Amigo LNG’s global commercialization strategy,” according to the release. Amigo LNG’s facility, which is designed for a nameplate capacity of 7.8 mtpa, is being developed in close collaboration with the SEMAR’s (Secretaría de la Marina) modernization plan for the Port of Guaymas and is fully backed by the Government of Sonora as a cornerstone project of Mexico’s Plan Sonora gas strategy. The project will contribute to regional economic development, support Mexico’s maritime goals, and serve as a gateway for clean energy access for Asia, LNG Alliance said. “This SPA with Amigo LNG represents a significant step forward in OQT’s strategy to develop a global LNG portfolio,” OQT CEO Wail Al Jamali said. “By securing supply from trusted partners, we continue to diversify our LNG sources, strengthen the resilience of our energy supply chain, and reinforce our long-term commitment to providing cleaner, more reliable energy solutions for our customers in the evolving energy landscape”. “We are proud to partner with OQT, a globally respected player in the energy sector,” LNG Alliance CEO Muthu Chezhian said. “This agreement reinforces Amigo

Karoon Energy Ltd’s Brazilian subsidiary, Karoon Petróleo & Gás Ltda., has completed the acquisition of the Baúna floating production, storage and offloading vessel (FPSO), the Cidade de Itajaí, from Altera & Ocyan (A&O). The total consideration for the FPSO was $115 million plus approximately $8 million in transaction costs, with the final payment of $85 million made on April 30, Karoon said in a news release. The company said it signed a transition services agreement with A&O to ensure continuity of operations and a smooth handover process as Karoon assumes greater operational control of the FPSO, which operates in the southern post-salt region of the Santos Basin, Brazil. The tender process for a new service provider(s), who will support Karoon as operator of the FPSO into the future, is “progressing as planned” and is expected to be completed in mid-2025, the company said. Karoon Managing Director and CEO Julian Fowles said, “Taking ownership of the Cidade de Itajaí FPSO marks a significant milestone in Karoon’s evolution over the past five years from an explorer to an operator of offshore oil and gas production assets. Owning the FPSO gives Karoon direct strategic control over the facility. This will enhance our ability to manage operational performance and reduce long-term operating costs, as well as provide us with greater flexibility to revitalize the facility, thereby potentially extending field life and increasing the value of the Baúna Project. We are grateful to A&O for their partnership and support throughout the sale and transition process and look forward to continuing our focus on safe, reliable and efficient operations”. The Cidade de Itajaí FPSO has been operating on the Baúna project production since the field came onstream in 2013. It has a nameplate fluid handling capacity of approximately 80,000 barrels of liquid per day and a

Just over a week ago, Spain’s electricity grid faltered. Portugal quickly followed. In the media, speculation swirled: Was it a cyber attack? Sabotage? Hackers? No. Investigations continue, yet the truth looks simpler and far more worrying: this was a failure of energy planning. The power outage that took down two national grids wasn’t caused by some hostile force – it was caused by a sudden drop in renewable energy output and a failure to back it up with sufficient storage. This wasn’t a freak event. It was entirely foreseeable. And unless Scotland, and the wider UK, get serious about balancing its own energy system, we’re next. I’ve spent over 30 years in the roofing and renewable energy sector, and I’ve never seen a more urgent need for honest, practical thinking about our energy future. We’re electrifying more of our economy – transport, homes, industry. But we’re not updating our energy infrastructure with the same urgency or realism. The fundamental truth is this: renewables are intermittent, and we ignore that at our peril. When the sun disappears behind the clouds, solar output drops in seconds. When the wind dies down – as it often does during periods of high pressure – turbines stop turning. In Spain, this happened in real time, and without a balanced backup in place, the system couldn’t cope. The frequency of the grid dipped below its 50 Hz threshold, and everything dropped or stopped. This concept – grid frequency and system “balance” – may sound technical, but it’s absolutely central to keeping the lights on. It’s not enough to simply generate clean electricity. We must balance the generating technologies we deploy, and we need to balance generation with storage. Without this, the more we depend on renewables, the more fragile our system becomes. Pumped hydro In Scotland,

In its first quarter 2025 results statement, which was published on its website recently, ExxonMobil revealed its oil and gas production figures for the first quarter of this year. According to that statement, the company’s output averaged 4.551 million barrels of oil equivalent per day in the first quarter of 2025. ExxonMobil’s production came in at 4.602 million barrels of oil equivalent per day in the fourth quarter of 2024 and 3.784 million barrels of oil equivalent in the first quarter of last year, the statement highlighted. Exxon’s net production of crude oil, natural gas liquids, bitumen and synthetic oil averaged 3.139 million barrels per day in the first quarter, the statement showed. Of this figure, the U.S. contributed 1.418 million barrels per day, Asia contributed 796,000 barrels per day, and Canada/Other Americas contributed 760,000 barrels per day, the statement revealed. In the fourth quarter of last year, Exxon’s net production of crude oil, natural gas liquids, bitumen and synthetic oil averaged 3.213 million barrels per day, and in the first quarter of 2024, it averaged 2.557 barrels per day, the statement showed. The U.S. contributed 1.468 million barrels per day to the fourth quarter 2024 figure and 816,000 barrels per day to the first quarter 2024 figure, while Asia contributed 694,000 barrels per day to the fourth quarter figure and 711,000 barrels per day to the first quarter figure, and Canada/Other Americas contributed 825,000 barrels per day to the fourth quarter figure and 772,000 barrels per day to the first quarter figure, according to the statement. Exxon’s net natural gas production available for sale averaged 8.47 billion cubic feet per day in the first quarter of 2025, 8.33 billion in the fourth quarter of last year, and 7.36 billion cubic feet per day in the first quarter of last