Solar, battery capacity saved the Texas grid last summer; an uncertain future awaits
As ERCOT forecasts accelerated load growth due to anticipated data center construction and electrification trends, the current generation mix and market design should garner increased scrutiny.
January 14, 2025
Surveys
Oil and gas activity edges higher as outlooks brighten
Activity in the oil and gas sector increased slightly in fourth quarter 2024, according to oil and gas executives responding to the Dallas Fed Energy Survey.
January 02, 2025
Energy Indicators
Gasoline and diesel prices have come down since 2022. While motor gasoline consumption was low compared with historic trends, distillate fuel consumption was significantly weak in 2024.
December 18, 2024
Electric reliability concerns spur Texas backup generation boom
Amid growing concerns about reliability of electricity services across power-hungry Texas, deployment of back-up power sources—microgrids and alternative generation—is increasing. These assets, serving customers ranging from college campuses to oilfield operations, help keep the lights on when disaster strikes.
December 06, 2024
Energy Indicators
The capital expenditures index from the Dallas Fed Energy Survey as well as business investment in mining were nearly flat in third quarter 2024. Increases in the development cost index for Exploration and Production (E&P) firms are increasing at a faster rate than input costs for oil and gas (O&G) support service firms.
December 05, 2024
Permian Basin Economic Indicators
Employment in the Permian Basin region contracted in the third quarter. The unemployment rate and average hourly earnings ticked down slightly in September.
November 21, 2024
Speech by President Lorie K. Logan
Navigating in shallow waters: Monetary policy strategy in a better-balanced economy
After a voyage through rough waters, the shore is in sight: the FOMC’s Congressionally mandated goals of maximum employment and stable prices. But the ship hasn't tied up yet, and risks remain that could push the economy back out to sea or slam it into the dock too hard.
November 13, 2024
Research Department Working Papers
Geopolitical Oil Price Risk and Economic Fluctuations
This paper studies the general equilibrium effects of time-varying geopolitical risk in the oil market by simultaneously modeling downside risk from disasters, oil storage and the endogenous determination of oil price and macroeconomic uncertainty in the global economy.
November 12, 2024
Energy Indicators
The U.S. rig count declined year over year in October and has been easing over the last three months. The Permian Basin had the steepest decline in oil drilling compared with other U.S. basins.
November 07, 2024
Research Department Working Papers
What Fuels the Volatility of Electricity Prices?
This paper uses emergency outages of coal generators as an exogenous source of variation in the power generation stack to study how changes in marginal fuel affect real-time prices. Contrary to anecdotal evidence, the authors find that wholesale prices are less volatile when natural gas is on the margin more often.
October 15, 2024