RBN Energy Blogcast

The arrival of a special, 460-Mbbl shipment of U.S.-sourced naphtha in Venezuela a few days ago underscored a critically important fact, namely that production of Venezuelan heavy sour crude requires steady inflows of imported diluent. Today, we’ll discuss Venezuela’s need for diluent and how it’s likely to be met.

Given the recent media focus on AI and the surge of data center construction, it comes as no surprise that the electric utility industry’s capital investment has risen to record highs. What isn’t as widely publicized is the enormous strain this historic expansion has placed on utility balance sheets. 

The evolving situation in Venezuela is rife with uncertainty. But as the outlook for Venezuelan crude oil improves, there are significant market issues at play as well, including the potential for renewed competition with Canadian heavy crudes along the U.S. Gulf Coast.

The long-anticipated return of Enterprise’s Midland to ECHO 2 Pipeline to crude service is underway, bringing 220 Mb/d online for the first time since the end of 2023. This coincides with Enterprise’s new NGL line, the Bahia Pipeline, which began operations in December. 

Haynesville natural gas production is heading back to record levels thanks to growing LNG demand and new pipelines designed to move gas from north to south in Louisiana. In today’s RBN blog, we’ll preview some of the topics RBN will be covering regularly in the new NATGAS Haynesville report. 

Buoyed by record-level feedgas demand and several planned export terminals reaching important development milestones, 2025 was a banner year for U.S. LNG. Today, we’ll examine some of the sector’s near-term challenges and look at where demand could increase in the long term.

Mexico’s still-rising demand for U.S.-sourced natural gas — and new pipelines to deliver it — has been driven by the buildout of new power plants and, more recently, by planned LNG exports. Today, we discuss more private-sector midstreamers and the new gas demand that may bring them new opportunities.

NGL production in Western Canada hit an all-time high in 2025 and looks to be headed even higher in the years ahead. Major midstream players, such as AltaGas, have been undertaking infrastructure expansions to deal with all the additional gas processing, Y-grade fractionation and product exports.

The news out of Venezuela has commanded the world’s attention since early January, with the country’s highly prized heavy crude oil caught in a geopolitical tug of war. In today’s RBN blog, we’ll lay out where Venezuela’s crude oil is produced and how it differs from grades elsewhere.

Producers venturing into the substantial natural gas reserves in the far-west part of the Haynesville Shale were historically thwarted by extreme geological conditions and poor drilling economics. Now, technological advancements and bullish market conditions are once again beckoning E&Ps. 

Mexico’s process for planning new gas pipelines is very top-down, with state-owned Cenagas and CFE playing key roles. But the buildout of pipelines there has been largely accomplished by private-sector companies that are now planning another round of projects that will spur more gas exports from the U.S.

The stock market of 2025 often felt like different movies playing on adjacent screens. On one, the broader market surged. On the other, economically sensitive sectors such as oil and gas stocks slid into the background. Today, we examine the performance of the 35 public E&Ps we cover.

In Mexico, state-owned players like Cenagas and CFE continue to play central roles in planning and underpinning the development of natural gas pipelines. At the same time, however, Mexico has leveraged the participation of a handful of private-sector companies that have built a significant share of the newer pipelines there. 

The U.S. refining industry has been on a real rollercoaster ride in recent years. Today, we take a region-by-region look at the future of the U.S. refining industry and explain why reductions in refining capacity are expected in some areas while others may be in a position to thrive.

All roads lead to Louisiana in the natural gas market, and those roads have become increasingly crowded as LNG demand sucks in gas from other states. Today, we discuss Boardwalk’s Kosci Junction project and how it will impact the gas market in Louisiana, Mississippi and beyond.

Even if Permian crude oil production were to stagnate over the next few years, the region’s output of NGLs would likely increase by half, from the current 3.2 MMcf/d to about 4.8 MMcf/d in 2030. Anticipating that growth, NGL midstreamers are planning new NGL pipeline capacity from West Texas to the Gulf Coast.

Sure, natural gas markets have experienced lots of changes the past few years. But all that was merely a prelude. The main event — a transformation of Gulf Coast markets — is about to begin. In today’s RBN blog, we discuss our upcoming GasCon 2026 conference on this market-shifting inflection point.

Wow! Pragmatism! Driven by physics, economics and, yes, even politics. It’s clear that 2025’s reset will carry into 2026, and energy markets are breathing a collective sigh of relief. So what does this renewed tilt toward fossil fuels mean for markets? Today, our Prognostications for 2026.

Well, 2025 is now in the books, allowing us time for reflection, resolution-making and pretending we always knew how the year would turn out. And unlike many, we also look into the rear-view mirror to see how we did with last year’s predictions. That’s what we’ll do in today’s blog.

Regularly scheduled refinery turnarounds are one the most important (and expensive) activities of any refiner. Today, we look at what happens during a typical turnaround, the ways refiners seek to manage their risk, and the biggest potential payoffs that come with a well-executed project.

What it takes to get energy from where it is produced to where it is consumed was at the heart of many of RBN’s most popular blogs in 2025. But there were also the three T’s: Trump, tariffs and turbulence.

There are at least a couple of clear trends in upstream-sector M&A. One is that E&Ps continue to zero in on the basins where they see the most promise, and to divest non-core assets. Another is that the ramp-up in LNG exports is spurring heightened interest in acreage and production targeting that market. 

The International Energy Agency’s new World Energy Outlook 2025 has a major shift in how the agency is framing the future of global energy. It’s going back to basics and once again providing an outlook based solely on policies already on the books today. 

In the upstream oil and gas world, “reserve life” — calculated via the Reserve Life Index — is one of the simplest and most widely cited metrics. But behind the RLI lies a web of technical, financial and strategic forces that make it surprisingly nuanced measure of an E&P’s long-term outlook.

Crude oil production in the U.S.’s portion of the Gulf of Mexico is poised to top 2 MMb/d for the first time in six years — and only the third time ever. New projects keep coming online. And a newcomer to the U.S. GOM, U.K.-based Harbour Energy, just announced a deal to acquire LLOG Exploration.

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 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.