THE NUMBER

Zero

TCEQ permits for Texas data centers until ERCOT finishes its audit. The agency owes the governor a compliance update by Oct. 19.

TODAY’S MENU

LEAD STORY

Zero / Oct. 19 — Abbott stops TCEQ from permitting data centers until ERCOT’s audit is done

•   The Sept. 21 order widens the audit we led with Aug. 4: no state agency may advance data-center approvals until the PUCT, ERCOT and water-board audits are done.

•   Projects must pay all grid costs, lower residential bills, spare local water and meet setbacks. TCEQ reports Oct. 19; Abbott wants the incentives gone next session.

THE HEADLINES

POWER

>$20B / >6 GW — South Korea names a Texas gas plant as the first project in its $350 billion package

•   Seoul plans $20 billion-plus for a 6 GW-plus gas plant in Encinal serving data centers and chip fabs. Lawmakers were told to expect $43–45 billion back over ~20 years.

•   Korea funds all of it. Ownership starts 50/50; U.S. officials want 90/10 long term, per Yonhap. A U.S. investment committee still reviews it. We ran the outline Sept. 10.

GAS

Reported / three units — Aramco plans a standalone gas division

•   Aramco would split into upstream, downstream and gas, each with its own president, two sources told Reuters. A minority gas listing is one option. Aramco declined comment.

•   Aramco says its shale program, led by Jafurah, could free 500,000 bbl/d of crude burned for power. It raised $11 billion last year on a Jafurah lease-leaseback with a GIP-led group.

DATA CENTERS

207 MW / $198.8M — New Era posts credit support for 20 years of Vistra power

•   Luminant supplies 200–207 MW to Phase 1 from Vistra’s adjacent 1,180 MW Odessa gas plant starting Q3 2027. Vistra gets a 5% non-voting stake in the powered project.

•   New Era owes a $116 million letter of credit within 15 business days and up to $82.8 million more by first power, ~$960,000 per MW. No tenant yet. (Release)

NUCLEAR

96 MW — Google subscribes to Georgia Power’s Vogtle and Hatch uprates

•   Georgia Power filed a new NU-1 uprate tariff. Google would subscribe and take the zero-emission credits on about 96 MW of added capacity at Vogtle and Hatch.

•   Vogtle’s uprate cleared in the 2025 IRP; Hatch and the tariff need PSC approval. The $900 million is Georgia Power’s projected benefit to customers over the units’ lives.

MIDSTREAM

US$400M / 500 MMcf/d — TC Energy sells its Guadalajara–Manzanillo pipeline to ESENTIA

•   The 313 km line links LNG imports at Manzanillo and pipeline gas near Guadalajara to power plants and industry in Colima and Jalisco. Gross price: C$560 million.

•   Close is expected 1H 2027. TC Energy keeps ~3,300 km of Mexican pipe and 8.7 Bcf/d of capacity and plans to redeploy the proceeds in North America.

QUICK HITS

POWER

230 MW / 510 MW — PROPWR commits 230 MW to Targa

Long-term contracts power Targa’s Permian gas processing, fully deployed in early 2028. PROPWR’s contracted book is now ~510 MW, net of oil-field capacity that came off contract; the reshuffle frees units for 2027 data-center deals. Price undisclosed.

POLICY

Seven bills / Sept. 21 — Newsom signs California’s data-center package

SB 886, SB 1168 and AB 2383 make data centers pay grid-upgrade costs and add clean supply; four more cover water, reporting and CEQA. Signed the same day as Abbott’s order. We ran SB 886 and AB 2383 heading to his desk Sept. 3.

DATA CENTERS

$2.276B / 7.875% — CleanSpark prices the Sandersville notes

CSDC Finance I priced $2.276 billion of 2031 notes at 98.5, up from the $2.227 billion we ran as proposed Sept. 17. Proceeds finish the Meta-leased campus, reimburse CleanSpark’s equity and fund reserves; closes Sept. 25.

CHEMICALS

$23.51 / $2.84 — Ineos mothballs three Hull chemical plants

The plants employ almost 4,000 people; Ratcliffe blames European gas prices and carbon taxes. Reuters puts U.K. front-month gas near $23.51/MMBtu, about eight times Henry Hub’s $2.84.

ALMOST HEADLINES

M&A  Reported — U.S. and Gulf backers line up behind Todd Boehly’s bid for Lukoil’s international assets, per the FT

MIDSTREAM  $1.8B / 15 years — GIP pays TotalEnergies upfront for a throughput tariff on some of its African oil-and-gas infrastructure

CRUDE  ~4 MMbbl/d / Yanbu — Saudi Arabia restarts the East-West pipeline and could resume Red Sea loadings Tuesday

GAS  25 wells / ~$55–60M net — Valeura and PTTEP take FID on Bussabong gas in the Gulf of Thailand; first gas around end-2028

POLICY  Proposed — Australia’s Victoria would make new data centers bring their own renewables, fund grid upgrades and cool with recycled water

MIDSTREAM  22 miles / 30-inch — Macquarie-backed Woodway will build a gas line to a hyperscale data center’s onsite plant; service 1H 2028

POWER  76 MW / six years — Kodiak deploys ~40 gas recips at a West Texas data center whose lease a GPU designer guarantees

NUCLEAR  Up to $100M / term sheet — Samsung C&T to invest cash and engineering in Kairos Power and join the Hermes 2 EPC team

DATA CENTERS  $720M / $5.37B — Data-center equipment maker Accelevation sets IPO terms: 30 million shares at $20–24

UTILITIES  180 days / reset — Virginia’s AG wants the SCC clock on the $67B Dominion–NextEra merger restarted after sweetened terms

THE READING LIST

FT

US proposes $10bn fund with Arab allies to bypass Hormuz

REUTERS

Corporate bond buyers get picky with flood of AI debt

FT

US utility profits come under fire over data centre demand

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