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.