Locator: 51532B.
WTI: $85.30.
New wells reporting:
- Tuesday, August 25, 2026: 49 for the month, 90 for the quarter, 434 for the year,
- 42429, conf, Oasis, Prestwick Federal 5602 12-23 3B,
- Monday, August 24, 2026: 48 for the month, 89 for the quarter, 433 for the year,
- 42430, conf, Oasis, Prestwick Federal 5602 12-23 4B,
- 40936, conf, Zavanna Energy, Hereford 13-35 1H XW,
- 40374, conf, Zavanna Energy, Rennerfeldt 13-36 1H,
- Sunday, August 23, 2026: 45 for the month, 86 for the quarter, 430 for the year,
- 41972, conf, Devon, Thunderbolt 10-12 3H,
- 41313, conf, Whiting, Dobias 5203 44-32 3B,
- Saturday, August 22, 2026: 43 for the month, 84 for the quarter, 428 for the year,
- 41992, conf, Hess, EN-Edwards-157-94-2203H-2,
RBN Energy: second wave of natural gas pipelines has the Permian cleared for takeoff. Link here. Archived.
The Permian Basin is poised to gain several new natural gas pipelines over the next year or two, finally easing its long-standing takeaway constraints. But the changes won’t stop there. A new wave of proposed projects could further reshape the basin beyond 2027 and into the 2030s. In today’s RBN blog, we look at the major, longer-horizon plans, what they could mean for the Permian, and the new challenges that could arise as this infrastructure comes online.
This is the second blog in our series on the outlook for major U.S. producing basins, starting with the largest: the Permian. A major topic at our upcoming School of Energy: Fundamentals, the Permian is the nation’s largest oil-producing basin and a key driver of U.S. gas growth. Its oil-focused wells also generate substantial and growing volumes of associated gas. But moving that gas out of West Texas and southeastern New Mexico has become one of the market’s biggest challenges and a constraint on further oil production. In our first blog, we covered the major pipeline projects expected to enter service this year and next, which will add about 5.3 Bcf/d of egress capacity from the Waha area. In the blogs ahead, we will examine the Permian’s major producers and the challenges still to come, including the implications of rising NGL production.
Today, we explore how the Permian’s gas takeaway picture could evolve beyond 2027 and into the early 2030s. Plans can change, of course, but our outlook is based on proposed projects and their current level of development.
The growing number of LNG export facilities planned along the Texas Gulf Coast is a major reason more natural gas pipeline capacity is needed. New and expanding LNG projects at Corpus Christi and Port Arthur will increase demand for gas in markets that Permian pipelines increasingly serve, including the Agua Dulce and Katy hubs and the broader Houston-area corridor. That means the takeaway challenge is no longer simply moving gas out of West Texas. It also involves ensuring sufficient downstream infrastructure to carry those volumes from Gulf Coast market hubs to LNG export facilities (more on that below).
As a refresher, Kinder Morgan’s Gulf Coast Express expansion (0.57 Bcf/d; aqua-blue line in Figure 1 below) is already flowing more gas to the Agua Dulce Hub in South Texas. This lifts the pipeline’s total capacity to 2.6 Bcf/d and has helped the Waha Hub recover from negative prices, though it has not fully resolved Permian takeaway constraints. Energy Transfer’s Hugh Brinson Pipeline (blue line) is starting to ramp up flows to Northeast Texas. It will eventually have a capacity of 2.2 Bcf/d. The Blackcomb Pipeline (dashed red line) is set to enter service later this year, providing an extra 2.5 Bcf/d of takeaway to Agua Dulce, and the planned 2.4-Bcf/d Traverse Pipeline (not shown) would provide onward access from Agua Dulce to Katy/Houston in 2027.
