Oil and Gas Watch

November 12, 2026

SpaceX gets into gas pipeline business to fuel rockets as Trump relaxes oversight

SpaceX, the aerospace company owned by Elon Musk, has requested to build a 32-mile pipeline to supply natural gas to the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in anticipation of a major increase in rocket launches. The pipeline, along with another, shorter one connecting to the SpaceX launch facility in Texas, mark the company’s move into gas infrastructure, which is typically built and operated by energy and pipeline firms.

Brendan Gibbons

November 5, 2026

War sent global fuel costs soaring, along with profits for major refining companies

Military strikes on refineries in the Middle East as part of the U.S. and Israel’s war with Iran, coupled with Ukrainian attacks on Russian oil refineries, have pushed prices for refined fuels to an all-time high. That has meant sky-high profits for oil and gas refiners, who ramped up their facilities to take advantage of the soaring prices.

October 29, 2026

As nearly 4,000 miles of new gas pipelines roll across Texas, Trump weakens pipeline safety rules and enforcement

There are 151 gas pipelines planned or under construction across the country as part of the largest boom in U.S. gas pipeline construction in two decades, including 42 projects in whole or part in Texas, spanning 3,912 miles. The Trump Administration is simultaneously cutting enforcement of pipeline safety rules and limiting environmental reviews and safety regulations designed to prevent these pipelines from exploding, leaking or polluting,

October 22, 2026

War with Iran may lead to unexpected drop in greenhouse gas emissions

The International Energy Agency (IEA), in January forecasted a 2 percent increase in global natural gas consumption this year. But after the outbreak of war with Iran and closure of the Strait of Hormuz, in July IEA revised its prediction to a 0.6 percent drop in global gas consumption this year.

Victoria Zurner

October 15, 2026

New LNG terminal expansion projects in Louisiana and Texas boosted by wars

Over the last 14 months, liquefied natural gas (LNG) companies have proposed new expansion projects at seven gas export terminals along the Gulf Coast, encouraged in part by wars in the Middle East and Ukraine that have boosted the market for U.S. LNG shipments. Four of the expanding terminals are located in Texas, with another three in Louisiana.

Brendan Gibbons

October 8, 2026

In Idaho, company makes first move in massive Pacific Northwest gas pipeline expansion

A subsidiary of U.S. pipeline giant Williams began early stages of seeking a permit to build the Silver Spur Pipeline, an 88-mile connection between two major gas transmission pipelines in Idaho and Nevada. The project could be an opening move in an effort to build the largest gas pipeline expansion in the Pacific Northwest in two decades.