Morgan Stanley Moving To Dallas -- August 25, 2026

Locator: 51543DALLAS.

Sent to me by a reader: thank you very much. This is a huge development for so many reasons. 

Speaks volumes about Dallas becoming the nation's second financial hub after Wall Street.  

Link here. 

Morgan Stanley has reportedly picked Dallas over Alpharetta, Georgia, for a phased operational hub involving more than $1.3 billion in planned company and developer spending that city records say could support 4,800 jobs by 2039.

The New York-based financial giant chose Dallas after months of competition between the two cities, the New York Post reported Thursday. Morgan Stanley has not announced the decision publicly.

The reported selection advances a project The Dallas Express covered in June after the Dallas City Council unanimously approved up to $18.5 million in grants plus 90% business personal property tax abatements. The abatements run for five years at the temporary site and 10 years at the permanent site under the city agreement.

Most Amazing Factoid Of The Day -- GDP Around The World -- November 25, 2025

Locator: 49800GDP. 

GDP.

Saudi Arabia: per capita, $24,000.

Texas: per capital, $88,000.

 

California: per capital: $102,000 

California Fiscal Outlook: link here.

Another Texas Natural Gas Pipeline -- November 21, 2025

Locator: 49774EPD.

Link here. 

Ticker EPD:

Note: OKE is down 40% for the year; down 13% over the last six months.

***************************
The Book Page

The notes for this book at this site. 

Book for the weekend. Just arrived. Amazon. Published 2023. 

Author's bio. Something tells me this will be a history of Palo Alto of which few are aware. LOL. 

The author appears to be a bit farther to the left than Nancy Pelosi, and a bit crazier than Hunter S Thompson. This should be fun! 

North American LNG Export Facilities -- An Update -- EIA -- From December, 2024 -- Posted June 6, 2025

Locator: 48699LNG.

A reminder: the AI story is an energy story.

Another aha: the renewable energy story is driven by ideology. We'll explore the implications of that in a separate blog.

So, two energy truisms:

• the AI story is an energy story;
• the renewable energy story is driven by ideology.

Link here. 

Time period: end of of 2024 through 2028 -- essentially three years. 

North America looks to double LNG exports over the next three years -- most of it from the US:

Amount of exports from various export terminals:

Compare this chart with previous graphics. 

It's easy to forget that not many years ago, the US was a net importer of natural gas. From the 1970s through the 1980s, the US began importing LNG in small quantities due to energy crises (plural) and limited domestic natural gas supply.

Then, in the 1990s, extending into the early 2000s, imports increased, especially as domestic natural gas declined and demand rose.

"Early 2000s": important dates:

• the Bakken revolution began in the year 2000 with economic development of the Bakken began in the year 2000;
• the Bakken revolution took a great leap forward in the year 2007 with the "discovery" Bakken well in the Parshall oil field by EOG.
• the Bakken entered its "stride" in 2010 to 2012, at the same time the Permian was beginning to be developed.
• at the same, natural gas fields were being developed in the Haynesville, (Permian), (Eagle Ford), the Utica, and the Marcellus.

Update: Sempra's Port Arthur LNG Phase 2 -- Approved -- Biden's Pause Has Come To A Stop -- Another Trump Win -- May 29, 2025

Locator: 48715LNG.

The project at this link. Once completed, this webpage will probably disappear.

Link here. 

Sempra said Thursday the U.S. Department of Energy issued a permit allowing its Port Arthur LNG Phase 2 development project in Texas to export of up to ~13.5M metric tons/year of liquefied natural gas to markets in Europe and Asia. 

The Phase 2 project is expected to include two liquefaction trains capable of producing ~13M metric tons/year of LNG, which would increase the total liquefaction capacity of the Port Arthur LNG facility from 13M tons/year for Phase 1, which is currently under construction, to as much as 26M tons/year. 

Port Arthur LNG Phase 2, which still needs a final investment decision, is expected to export 1.91B cf/day once completed; Phase 1 is expected to begin exporting LNG in 2027. Based on the graphic below, it suggests Phase 1 is / was ahead of schedule.

Phase 2 is the first final LNG export approval under President Trump, who reversed the Biden administration's pause on project approvals.

From May 14, 2025: link here.

US LNG Exports -- Simply Staggering -- Random Update -- March 26, 2025

Locator: 48376LNG.

Link here. The graphic from 2016 is simply staggering.

Link here. Think about this. LNG Global counts (8+4+4+3+3+3+1) = 26 LNG vessels in one week..

Suni Returns Safely -- What An Incredible Story -- March 18, 2025

Locator: 48525B.

March Madness: two "play-in" games tonight. If you like commercials, tune in! This is when multiple screens are a must!

Texas re-location: NASDAQ-lite and Chicago's NYSE branch -- Dallas --

• both to move a portion of their operations to the Dallas, Texas, area
• NYSE Chicago is expected to be reincorporated as NYSE Texas; electronic trading "24/7"?

Again, SpaceX was responsible for both lift-off/launch and return to earth/recovery. That would be Musk's company. My hunch: quite a celebration inside the Oval Office.

• for more on SpaceX Dragon 2, link here.

Crew Dragon's primary role is to transport crews to and from the ISS under NASA's Commercial Crew Program, a task handled by the Space Shuttle until it was retired in 2011.

It will be joined by Boeing's Starliner in this role when NASA certifies it. [Fourteen years and still not certified?]

Crew Dragon is also used for commercial flights to ISS and other destinations, and is expected to be used to transport people to and from Axiom Space's planned space station.

Quick!

• name the CEO of Boeing!
• name the Director of NASA!
• name the CEO of SpaceX!

Posted on x:

• 57 days: Trump
• 26 days: Kash Patel -- extradites one of FBI's "Ten Most Wanted." Did that make the NBC Nightly News tonight? I don't think so. If so, I missed it. By the way, in a presser (either today, or yesterday) President Trump refused to take a question from an NBC reporter  -- saying the network is "so discredited."
  

Incredibly bad timing: link here. What is it with our political leaders?

*********************************
Back to the Bakken

WTI: $66.90.

Active rigs: 30.

Four new permits: #41711 - #31714, inclusive:

• Operator: Hess
• Field: Truax (Williams)
• Comments:
• Hess has permits for four SC-Scanlan wells, NWNE 17-153-98, 
• to be sited 786 / 828 FNL and 1852 / 1942 FEL.

Two producing wells (DUCs) reported as completed, on the seven-well Vandeberg/Christopherson pad; the pad is northeast of Williston, about ten miles east of the "13-mile corner" and two miles south of US Highway 2, just a couple miles northwest of Epping! The father of my dad's first boss and that boss's sister homesteaded in this area. Great memories.

• 40636, 2,354, CLR, Vandeberg 4-35H, East Fork, t--; cum --;
• 40637, 1,773, CLR, Vandeberg 5-35H, East Fork, t--; cum --;

Everything's Bigger In Texas -- Second-Longest Conveyor To Move Sand In West Texas -- February 3, 2025

Locator: 48463SHALE.

Link here. Original story at Texas Monthly with paywall.

Recap: Companies Moving To Texas -- December 29, 2024

Locator: 44560TEXAS.

September 13, 2024: every company moving to Texas, 2020 - 2024. Build Remote, Henry O'Loughlin. Location of companies before they moved to Texas.

Interactive relocation chart is here.

Not-California companies that re-located to Texas:

TIAA, Colorado, August 9, 2024, downtown Denver office in 2026 to Frisco, TX (not a HQ move).

Fisher Investments, March 28, 2023, from Camas, Washington, to Texas after the Washington State Supreme Court ruled that a capital gains tax is constitutional.

Frontier, August 25, 2023, from Connecticut to Dallas, a HQ move.

Caterpillar, June 15, 2022, from Illinois.

Subaru To Exit Chicago -- Heads To Coppell -- North Of Ft Worth / Dallas -- May 23, 2024

Locator: 47167TEXAS.

Bing is still down, link here. Bing went down about twelve hours ago, about 1:00 a.m. EDT / 12:00 midnight, CDT. Varies by region. Europe and Africa apparently affected most.

Link here.

Texas Growth -- For The Archives -- May 18, 2024

Locator: 47117TEXAS.

Links:

• Newsweek, America's fastest-growing cities, May 16, 2024.
• New York Post, America's fastest-growing cities, May 16, 2024.
• Fox 13, America's fastest-growing cities, May 16, 2024.

Texas Economy Continues To Surge -- January 19, 2024

Locator: 46599TEXAS.

The GDP growth is significant, but what caught my attention -- that growth in population in San Antonio / Austin.

Austin: university town, tech capital; Texas capital. 

But look at that San Antonio growth. San Antonio is unconstrained geographically (we can talk about that later if questions) but more importantly: San Antonio is the first city farther north than the border that  Mexicans reach when visiting / moving to Texas. San Antonio is the real origin of I-35 to Austin and then to Dallas / Ft Worth, and from there, all points north, east, and west. For Mexicans, San Antonio is the US destination for Christmas shopping that begins weeks earlier.

Algae (As In Renewable Energy) And M.C.C. -- February 16, 2023

Wow, I'm in a great mood. 

I'm way behind, and I may not get to all these stories but I plan on talking about algae (as in renewable energy) and M.C.C. later today.

At one time "algae" was such a big deal, I actually tagged blogs in which I discussed "algae."It's been a long time, but "algae" is back in the news. LOL. 

What has really got me excited was the 16-page essay on Austin, Texas, in the most recent issue of  The New Yorker. Even by TNY standards, this is a very, very, very long essay, and it's about Texas. In a positive light. It's not a story one would expect in TNY.

It would be nice if all readers could see it but it's behind a paywall. If I were a college professor in urban studies, this one article could easily serve as a one-hour credit course. One could spend a full semester on everything mentioned in the article.

I had never heard of the M.C.C. but wiki provides a summary. It's an absolutely amazing success story, a Reagan initiative. Of the sixteen pages, the author devotes a full page to the M.C.C.

I'll come back to the M.C.C. later perhaps, but the wiki entry pretty much covers it as much as TNY article does. For me, this one article on Austin was worth the annual subscription price, about $14 / month.

The link to TNY Austin article: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/02/13/the-astonishing-transformation-of-austin. 

Another excerpt:

Austin is the fastest-growing major metro area in America, having expanded by a third in the past ten years. It is already the eleventh-largest city.

New jobs mop up newcomers as fast as they arrive. Every day, the metro area adds three hundred and fifty-five new residents, while two hundred and thirty-eight Austinites depart, many of them squeezed out by high rents and property taxes, or by the disaffection so many of us feel because of the pace of change and the loss of qualities that once defined the city.

Austin is now characterized by stifling traffic and unaffordable restaurants. It was never known as a home for billionaires and celebrities, but in the past few years notable refugees from Silicon Valley, Hollywood, and New York have stampeded into town, with different expectations about what Austin should become—and outsized power to shape the city around their desires. Locals point disdainfully to the Hermès shop and the Soho House on South Congress, formerly the funkiest street in town. Evan Smith, a founder of the Texas Tribune, told me, “Austin now has an upper class.”

Elon Musk is just one of the recent billionaire arrivals hanging around Austin. There were two or three until not long ago; now I hear there are fourteen. Imagine you invite the new neighbors to a pool party and they turn out to be elephants. When they jump in, it changes things.

Of course, such complaints are signposts of a booming economy—the kinds of problems many people elsewhere would love to have. In any city whose identity is changing, it can be hard to avoid the sense that a golden age has slipped away. Newcomers to Austin fall prey to this nostalgia almost instantly—and, with a longtime resident like me, the symptoms can become comically acute. But the feeling is more like watching someone you love become someone you didn’t expect. It doesn’t mean that you’re not still in love—just that complexity has entered the relationship. Austin forty years ago was like a graduate student with modest tastes and few resources; now she’s sporting jewels and flying first class. She’s sophisticated, well travelled, and well connected, and those aren’t necessarily bad things—they’re just disorienting. Nostalgia is a way of remembering when things were simpler; it also makes us forget that simple things can be boring and frustrating. Instead of running on the fumes of memory, I decided to reacquaint myself with the actual Austin I’m living in—a city rapidly transforming into America’s next great metropolis.

Austin’s future was determined in January, 1983, when Admiral Bob Inman, recently retired from the Navy and from serving as the deputy director of the C.I.A., was selected to head a novel consortium called the Microelectronics and Computer Consortium.

Japan dominated the semiconductor-manufacturing industry at the time and had announced an ambitious effort to create computers capable of generating artificial intelligence. The Reagan Administration saw this as a serious threat, and M.C.C. was the response. Twenty of America’s foremost high-tech companies—among them Microsoft, Boeing, G.E., and Lockheed—would share resources to secure America’s hold on the future. The first decision was where to locate this new entity.

I feel strongly that two of the largest bills signed by President Biden last year could have the same effect for no less than half a dozen cities in the US and a dozen exiting companies and who knows how many new companies. 

I was energized by what I saw in Portland, Oregon, last week, and I even think California has the potential to surprise "us" in a very, very positive way.

Texas: I Just Detest Uninformed Skeptism -- November 16, 2022

Link here. Read the thread for "uninformed skepticism."

See Peter Zeihan.

Holy Mackerel! Caterpillar to Exit Chicago; Global Headquarters To Move To DFW, Texas -- June 14, 2022

Link here.

Earlier today, the Drudge Report had a blistering report on MISO - Illinois. We'll get to that later.

More than 60 companies relocated to Texas last year, according to data from the YTexas business lobby, with most shifting their headquarters from higher state tax jurisdictions such as California, including clean-energy carmaking giant Tesla. 

Specific location not mentioned in that article. It turns out that CAT is moving just down the road from us, to  Irving, TX, the "lost" city that sits between Dallas and Ft Worth, just south of airport. Wow. 

A huge "tip of the hat" to a reader. Thank you. 

**************************
MISO - Illinois

MISO website: Midcontinent Independent System Operator).

• capacity: in the 120 MW arena
• fuel mix:
• coal: 35%
• natural gas: 35%
• wind: 15%
• nuclear: 10%
• other: 4%
• solar: 1%

Rates soaring.

Why: renewable energy. 

From the linked article:

The most significant warning came recently from the Midcontinent Independent System Operator, or MISO, which oversees the power grid for Illinois and much of the Midwest. Their warning was contained in a recent forecast by the North American Electric Reliability Corp., a regulatory authority that monitors risks to the grid, and was summarized by the Washington Post as follows:

Southern Illinois is among the most vulnerable places in the country heading into the summer, according to a newly published forecast by the North American Electric Reliability Corp., a regulatory authority that monitors risks to the grid.

The area, along with large parts of Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota and other states linked to the regional grid, has been put on notice in the forecast that it is facing a “high risk of energy emergencies during peak summer conditions.” A major reason is that some of the coal plants that regulators assumed would keep running for another year or two are instead coming offline. Some plant operators are choosing to shut down rather than invest in upgrades for coal plants that do not fit with states’ and the federal government’s long-term goals for clean energy.

“We are seeing these retirements occur at a faster pace than expected,” said Jim Robb, chief executive of the regulatory authority. “The economics aren’t great, so coal plant operators are saying ‘uncle.’”

 But let's cut to the chase:

Central Illinois consumers “will pay double for energy starting this month, as a deal mitigating costs for many communities expires, with no new contract in sight. Communities like Peoria, Morton and East Peoria all participate in municipal aggregation programs.”

Previously posted, Texas is second from the bottom in electricity costs:

Most expensive, to least expensive, selected states; in bold red: New England and New York:

• Connecticut: 26.48 cents; hates pipelines, up a whopping 16.7% from a year ago
• Rhode Island: 25.69 cents, up 6.6% from a year ago 
• California: 25.59 cents; up 13.6% from last year;
• New Hampshire: 22.15 cents; hates pipelines; up a whopping 14.9% from last year
• New York: 21.58 cents; hates pipelines; up a whopping 14.9% from last year
• Maine: 20.95 cents; hates pipelines; up an incredible 29% from last year
  
• New Jersey: 15.77 cents; down 3.7% from last year
  
• Pennsylvania: 14.48 cents; lots of natural gas, up 10.7% from a year ago
  
• Texas: 12.28 cents, down 3.6% from a year ago
• North Dakota: lots of coal, 9.64 cents; lots of coal, up 1.9% from a year ago

Companies Relocating To Texas -- Interactive Chart

Locator: 10001T.

Interactive relocation chart is here.

Updates

January 14, 2024: Apple's Siri evaluation team will move to Austin, TX.

August 29, 2023: California's Thermomix moves to DFW. 

November 13 2022: Oneworld Alliance announces move from Manhattan, NYC, to Fort Worth, Texas. 

August 1, 2022: Wells Fargo announces "regional center" in Irving, TX. It appears to be a regional center for all of the US except the three states on the west coast, Alaska, and Hawaii.

June 25, 2022: Chevron (California) finally moving to Texas. 

June 24, 2022: two companies --

• Caterpillar: moving from Chicago to Irving, TX (DFW area)
• ATI (formerly Allegheny): moving from Pittsburgh to Dallas, TX

March 4, 2022: parts of Sea-Lead Shipping leaving California for Florida.

January 21, 2022: despite having HQ in the Bay area, California, Intel announced today it will be building its first new chip plant in Ohio for an astounding $20 million. Link here. Intel to delay building this new chip plant; waiting for "goodies" from Congress. June 23, 2022. Link here.

June 30, 2021: JPMorgan to establish Dallas campus; second in size to NYC.  

January 15, 2021: NRA  leaves  NYC; on way to  Texas.

January 15, 2021: Digital Realty will relocate its corporate headquarters from San Francisco to Austin, TX.

January 9, 2021: U-Haul annual report (2020) -- Tennessee claims first spot for first time ever; Texas in top 2 for fifth straight year;

January 4, 2021: Virtu Financial -- departs NYC, heads to Florida. At this point, it looks like only some employees moving. Companies like Elliot Management and Goldman Sachs have also moved some offices to Florida. As usual, The Zero Hedge headline is a bit misleading. Virtu not leaving NYC entirely.

December 30, 2020: Schwab -- official change of address -- January 1, 2021.  Westlake, TX, north of Ft Worth, Texas .

December 26, 2020: CKD Corporation, Japan-based, is building its first US production site in Austin, TX. Texas ranks first in a survey as the top state for foreign direct investment; Texas is also the top Free Trade Zone in the country. The company produces a variety of automation tecnhology products used in many industries, including automotive, packaging and medical. Its new manufacturing facility will produce fluid control components for the semiconductor industry. Can anyone say "Tesla"?

December 26, 2020: where corporations and consumers moved in 2020. June, 2020: biggest month for individual relocations; July, 2020: biggest month for corporate moves. Corporations: to Texas; consumers to Florida. Allied Van Lines, Magnet States Report. 

December 13, 2020: not Texas, but Deutsche Bank suggests there could be huge "bank" moves from Manhattan to Jacksonville, FL, and possibly, Cary, North Carolina, over the next five years. 

December 11, 2020: Oracle announces it will move headquarters from Redwood City, California (Silicon Valley) to Austin, TX.  

Original Post 

From 2021:

• Digital Realty relocates from San Francisco, to Austin, TX;

From 2020:

Link here.  

These are just the companies that have relocated in calendar year 2020. Elon Musk companies do not yet appear on the list:

From 2019, notable companies:

• Aeromax Industries, Canoga Park, CA, to Ft Worth;
• Charles Schwab, San Francisco, CA, to Westlake (north of Ft Worth);
• European Wax Center, from Hallandale Beach, FL, to Plano, TX;
• Murphy Oil Corporation, from El Dorado, AR, to Houston;
• SignEasy, from San Francisco, CA, to Dallas;

From 2018, notable companies:

• McKesson, from San Fransisco, CA, to Irving, TX;
• PGA of America, from Palm Beach Gardens, FL, to Frisco, TX;

From 2017, notable companies:

• Boeing Gobal Services, new, to Plano, TX;
• Oculus Health, from Portsmouth, NH, to Irving, TX;
• Pei Wei, from Scottsdale, AZ, to Irving, TX;
• Rochester Rattlers, from Rochester, NY, to Frisco, TX;

The Market, Energy, And Political Page, Part 2, T+38 -- December 13, 2018

Updates

December 31, 2019: Denton, #2 on the top ten list of US cities with fastest growth.

Original Post

HQ2? Who needs it? From Zack's: Amazon to open regional air hub in North Texas, create jobs.

In a bid to strengthen its delivery services, Amazon.com, Inc.,plans to open a regional air hub at the Fort Worth Alliance Airport, which is expected to commence its operations from 2019. This new air hub is also expected to create multiple job opportunities for North Texas residents. Fort Worth Alliance Airport is west of Grapevine, well north of Fort Worth, off I-35W, south of the Texas Motor Speedway and south of  ... yes ... Buc-ee's!

Here's Buc-ee's:

Texas' Next Crude Oil Bonanza -- WSJ

Link here.

The pipelines, all set to come online by the end of next year, mark a new phase in the U.S. oil boom. 

Hydraulic fracturing has pushed U.S. oil output to its highest level in 17 years, but without adequate pipelines, much of the crude has been trapped at storage facilities, including domestically produced light, sweet crude at the massive storage hub in Cushing, Okla. 

Because that Oklahoma crude is relatively stranded, its price is depressed compared with prices of oil stored in other parts of the U.S. and in Europe. But with the new pipelines, as well as increased use of rail cars and barges to move crude, Cushing prices are expected to rebound.

Light, sweet crude at Cushing is now trading at a discount of about $6 a barrel from imported European Brent crude, but far less than the $20 discount in February. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. says the discount could narrow to $5 by the third quarter as more pipeline capacity becomes available.

Another nail in the Keystone XL coffin. 

"We think the U.S. Gulf Coast gets saturated" with U.S. and Canadian crude once the pipelines are completed, said Greg Garland, CEO of Phillips 66, the independent refiner which spun off from ConocoPhillips last year. If that occurs, Mr. Garland said more crude will instead have to move to the East and West coasts by rail. 

The arrival of more U.S. light, sweet crude on the Texas coast is displacing imports of similar crude from Nigeria and Angola, which dropped to their lowest levels in about a quarter of century last year, a concern that was aired at the most recent OPEC meeting in May.