Jan. 15—NATURAL GAS PRODUCTION, TRANSPORTATION AND STORAGE

Texas’ natural gas production, processing, transmission, and storage sectors continue to have needed production and storage. Production has declined slightly overnight as to be expected with colder weather. Localized issues, including compression outages, suspension of water hauling, and instrument performance were experienced overnight but personnel are in place to resolve these issues during the day. Even with these issues there has been minimal impact to the overall natural gas production and distribution system. Transmission and distribution systems are experiencing stable pressures and receiving needed products and transmission from storage is performing well. Preparedness and response protocols have been able to be implemented to respond to and restore operations as needed.

TEXAS FIELD CONDITIONS

Overall conditions have been stable even with the cold temperatures. Personnel are responding to issues that arose overnight without significant impediments. Production and operations are all within the anticipated ranges. A few isolated impacts to operators across the natural gas supply chain such as power outages or third-party impacts have occurred, but these have been minor to overall systems and at this time conditions are not impacting ability to resolve. Transportation pressure is reported as stable, storage and supply are readily available to meet requirements. No systemic loss of power to operations have been reported.

TEXAS POWER STATUS

ERCOT reports operations normal as of Jan. 15 at 10:25 a.m. Peak demand is anticipated to occur at 8 p.m. Available capacity at that hour is expected to be 97,647 MW, with the demand forecast of 77,300 MW. There is expected to be enough power to meet demand this evening. ERCOT is forecasting a higher peak demand of 86,496 MW tomorrow morning at 8 a.m.

WEATHER STATUS

Cold air weather front is proving to be colder than most models predicted, creating even colder temps for Monday and Tuesday.

National Weather Service reports temperatures dangerously cold today through Tuesday:

— Temperatures 20-30 degrees below normal

— Wind chill values -25F to 0F for northern half of the state and 0F to 25F for the southern half of the state on Monday and Tuesday morning

— Multiple days (Monday-Tuesday) of sub-freezing temps for I-20 northward

— Mix of wintry precipitation this afternoon/evening into Monday for parts of North into South-Central and East TX

Confidence of wintry precipitation has increased and is expected to be seen throughout South-Central and East Texas. Overall accumulation is not expected to impact power lines, etc. but can impact transportation. Temperatures in these areas are not anticipated to rise above freezing until later Tuesday.

WINTERIZATION IN THE FIELD

Onsite, seasonal weatherization techniques include methanol injection, temperature activated pumps, steamer units, equipment shelters, and insulated critical lines and valves. Additional pre-storm and offsite measures include:

— Securing shelter/housing and pre-positioning personnel to be closer to assets for access

— Adjusting employee schedules to ensure planning and preparations are in place

— Having extra methanol and other supplies on trucks

— Preparing and draining tanks to increase on-site storage and providing a temporary buffer for necessary third-party movement of product

— Pre-inspection of assets prior to weather events

— “Line-packing” to maximize product and pressurization in pipelines

— Communication with third party vendors to prepare for inclement weather contingencies

— Identification of the most critical assets to help maintain power from electric utilities

IMPACT OF WEATHER ON FIELD OPERATIONS

— Personnel safety and ensuring safe operations are the first priorities of operators. Many elements can impact continued field operations outside of the operator’s control.

— Transportation — the accumulation of precipitation can impact operators’ ability to access remote well sites to check on operations and make any needed adjustments

— Third party contractor disruptions

— Lightning strikes

— Loss of power

— Telecommunication loss

INDUSTRY ACTIONS

Read more about how the Texas oil and natural gas industry prepares for winter weather events here: https://www.txoga.org/texas-oil-and-natural-gas-industry-outlines-preparations-ahead-of-winter/

STATEWIDE RESOURCES

— TDEM maintains a webpage with information and resources.

— TxDOT provides road closure information in real-time, which can be found at drivetexas.org

— RRC reports road issues to TXDOT. You can submit a road issue form found here.

— RRC notice to operators ahead of winter weather can be found here.

— RRC provides a weatherization practices guidance document.

— RRC maintains a 24-hour, toll-free emergency line, 844-773-0305, to report emergencies, including leaks or spills and damage to gas pipelines.

— PUC provides an electric outage map, which can be found here.

— TCEQ reports water and sewage outages here.

— ERCOT shares a grid condition dashboard, which can be found here.

For more information on how the Texas oil and natural gas industry prepares for winter weather, visit TXOGA.org/WinterReady.