An oil-and-gas regulatory runoff election sheds light on Texas’s culture wars

In response, Wright himself explicitly stated in the voter guide: “Sharia law must not be accepted or incorporated into U.S. law in any form.” Yet such clarification had virtually no traction among voters in the low-turnout primary runoff. Moreover, French dismissed Wright’s proposed reforms to oilfield waste management regulations as “Green New Deal environmental rules.” IV. Sources of Funding Funding sources reveal the power structure behind this runoff. Over 60% of French’s campaign funds came from the Texas Freedom Fund for the Advancement of Justice PAC—backed by Tim Dunn and Farris Wilks. This PAC spent $375,000 before the March primary and an additional $548,500 between the primary and the May runoff; Wilks personally donated another $25,000. Paxton—who won the Republican Senate primary—held a fundraising event for French in Fort Worth on April 6 and endorsed him. Trump did not intervene in this race. Wright’s side received industry support from the political action committees (PACs) of Chevron, Apache, ExxonMobil, ConocoPhillips, and Valero, as well as personal donations from executives including Kelcy Warren ($10,000) of Energy Transfer, Autry Stephens of Endeavor, and Vicki Hollub of Occidental Petroleum. Additional backing came from top Republican mega-donors Miriam Adelson and Harlan Crow. Governor Greg Abbott personally campaigned for Wright in Deer Park, declaring publicly: “His opponent knows nothing about oil and gas—and his agenda would destroy the oil-producing miracle we’ve created.” V. Specific Election Dynamics French’s geographic victory pattern displayed a rare “urban-area challenger defeats rural establishment” inversion. He won Tarrant County with 51.92% of the vote, led by a wide margin in Harris County, and secured narrow victories across multiple counties in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. Wright performed stronger in his South Texas hometown region, the Permian Basin (Midland and Ector Counties), and broadly across rural areas—a reversal of the typical pattern where establishment candidates dominate suburban areas while challengers prevail in rural ones. The key to explaining this inversion lies in French’s core constituency. As former chairman of the Tarrant County Republican Party, he enjoys deep organizational roots in America’s largest red county; his culture-war messaging resonated more strongly with MAGA activists in urban suburbs than with rural voters focused on practical oil-and-gas regulatory issues. Tim Davis, current chairman of the Tarrant County Republican Party, interpreted French’s victory as evidence that “Tarrant County is indeed the vanguard county of Republican politics.”

Are market supply and demand so dire that New York oil prices are ‘paying buyers to take oil’?

New York crude oil futures prices have recently come under significant pressure, plunging to negative territory on April 20—a rare occurrence. According to the closing price on April 20, sellers delivering West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil for May delivery would not only receive no payment but would effectively pay buyers $37.63 per barrel. Analysts attribute this unprecedented situation to two main factors: first, the imminent expiration of the May-delivery contract, forcing traders to liquidate positions to avoid taking physical delivery of crude oil amid critically insufficient storage capacity; second, extremely weak fundamentals in the oil market’s supply-and-demand balance. Photo taken on April 20, 2020, at a gas station in New York City. (Xinhua News Agency photo by Guo Ke) Increased Selling Pressure as Contract Nears Expiration Giovanni Staunovo, UBS Group’s oil analyst, told reporters that the sharp decline in May-delivery WTI crude oil futures prices stemmed from the contract’s impending expiration on April 21 and its declining trading volume. Jeff Kilberg, founder and CEO of KKM Financial, noted that the price spread between the May- and June-delivery NYMEX crude oil contracts has reached a historic high—resulting from the confluence of the May contract’s expiry and the historic collapse in oil prices. Daniel Hynes, Senior Commodity Strategist at ANZ Bank, explained that the plunge in NYMEX crude oil futures prices reflects the imminent expiry of the May-delivery contract: front-month contracts typically converge toward spot prices near expiration. With demand having collapsed and storage capacity severely constrained, current spot prices are exceptionally weak. Prices are expected to remain under pressure for approximately the next month. Additionally, the Texas Railroad Commission—the state’s oil-and-gas regulatory body—held a hearing on April 14 regarding whether mandatory production cuts are necessary. The Commission is scheduled to vote on April 21 on whether to implement such cuts. Currently, strong arguments exist both for and against mandatory production cuts. The Commission’s first step will be to determine whether resource waste exists in Texas oil production.

Texas Oil Regulator Contest Becomes Dead Heat After Racist Social Media Post

21 hours ago

A contentious race for the Texas Railroad Commission regulating oil and gas has tightened after Republican candidate Bo French faced backlash for a racist social media post. Polls show a dead heat between French and Democrat Jon Rosenthal, with mixed reactions from the oil industry regarding endorsements and funding.

bloomberg

Texas Oil Regulator Contest Becomes Dead Heat After Racist Social Media Post

FAQ