The spiritual home of the Oil and Gas industry is Houston. Every significant oil company in the world has an office here. Exxon, the 4th largest is headquartered here. It’s a broad flat sprawling city with nice neighbourhoods, huge skyscrapers, lots of shopping, and not much else to do (sorry, but the best the Uber driver could offer was to eat more).
10 lane interstate highways ring the city, all fully loaded with SUVs the size of busses, and trucks the size of trains. My Uber driver filled up with gas at $3 per gallon, which is about €0.80 per litre – about half the price of European fuels, and the Texans are not happy about the price. There were almost no Teslas or EVs.
Oil is in the DNA of the city. Their American Football team used to be called the Oilers, but the reason for the change was more about sport and politics than decarbonisation.
If the world is going to transition away from oil and gas, then Houston has a pivotal role to play. Regardless of the moral case for decarbonisation, the only way that the argument will be won here is through cold economics.
Texas generates more electricity from wind and solar than any other state, around twice that produced in California. It has had politicians that are pro-wind and solar, network investments, and a market structure that encourages investment and money has flooded in. The IRA will increase this.
Right now, Houston is both Oil and Renewables, it isn’t so much a transition as a doubling. It’s hard to see what will happen that will persuade people out of their gas cars into EVs, Texans don’t like being told what to do. If you’re prepared to spend $100k on a SUV then you can afford gas at $3 a gallon.
Like so many places the picture here is complex, and the path to a green future is not clear.
