As Texas begins its thaw from its historic winter storm, it has unearthed there is still a massive and growing need for natural gas services and products to keep people warm.
Winter storms walloped the state, first hit by the snow, then blackouts, then loss of power, water, burst pipes, forcing the state to hunker down and find heat anywhere they could, some even as going as far as Mexico.
Millions of Texans are still without power and heat while trying to deal with COVID-19, culminating in an undesirable situation. Photos surfacing of people standing in line to fill propane tanks have proven and exacerbated a situation where people still require the services of natural gas on a daily basis, and the necessity these services provide.
Texas, normally flush with natural gas and America’s producer, which supplies roughly half of Texas’s electricity, unfortunately seized due to frozen pipes coupled with a lack of standby reserves.
Freezing temperatures were a wrecking ball on wells and pipelines, causing the price of natural gas to skyrocket during that time, with the president of Comstock Resources stating it was “like hitting the jackpot.” As the production of natural gas plunged, it made it incredibly difficult for power plants to get the required fuel to run their plants, ergo a burning desire for natural gas.
TC Energy said it shipped record amounts of natural gas down to the U.S, too, saying there was “unprecedented sustained demand for our pipeline capacity as we set a record for coincidental three-day peak deliveries of over 101 billion cubic feet per day.”
Many Texans were left in dire straight situations like burning furniture just to keep warm, or using barbecues (if they had propane) as space heaters.
While Texas residents were burning furniture, the aforementioned freezing wells in the Permian, pipelines, and the state’s oil and gas industry are faced with the question of whether equipment be winterized in the future? Reckon it couldn’t hurt, even if it is a huge financial cost now.
Billions enjoy the comfort and security natural gas provides. Recovering from their polar vortex, much like other areas within North America, will see a strong demand for natural gas to help warm us up. Said demand is likely to continue and grow as the world forges on in its COVID battle and travel begins again.