MIDLAND, Texas — As 2025 approaches, a new administration will take office in the U.S. Capitol and a new legislative session will begin in the Texas Capitol -- both were discussed on Wednesday in Midland.
The Midland-Odessa Transportation Alliance – or MOTRAN – held their annual meeting on Wednesday. At the meeting, an economic outlook, legislative session topics and the future of oil and gas production in the Permian Basin were all part of the conversation.
Predicting the future is not an exact science, but for economic analyst Dr. Ray Perryman, that’s part of his job, and when it comes to the future of energy, he’s got some insight.
“There is no other choice – we cannot meet the world’s energy needs without responsibly producing fossil fuels," Dr. Perryman said. "That’s where we are, that’s where we’re going to be (and) that is what the future is going to look like."
Dr. Perryman's expectation is that more helpful regulatory standards will make it easier for oil and gas production in the Permian Basin while environmental efforts also continue when producing energy.
That will be part of the upcoming Texas legislative session as well, according to State Representative Brooks Landgraf.
“We just want to make sure that we have a regulatory environment that’s minimal and predictable so that we can continue to be the safest and best and highest energy producer anywhere in the world right here in the Permian Basin," Representative Landgraf said.
With high production expected, infrastructure remains a focus as well.
“We still have plenty of work to do, we still have a lot of infrastructure investments that need to be made, and we’re going to continue to pursue record-breaking state funding for our highways all across the Permian Basin – and when we do, it’s a great investment for the entire State of Texas to make," Representative Landgraf.
The Texas budget currently has a surplus of $28 to $33 billion, and State Representative Tom Craddick says some of that will now go to a much-needed cause in the world of healthcare.
“We took $3 billion dollars out of this surplus that we’ve got and we’re going to put it into a special fund, again, research fund to work on dementia and Alzheimer’s," Representative Craddick said.
Representatives Craddick and Landgraf both added that they are once again trying to get around 7-9% of the Rainy-Day Fund back to oil and gas related counties since that is how those funds are generated.
The forecast is the constitutional cap on that fund will be hit in fiscal year 2025, so the hope is to appropriate some of that money.