The architect of Texas' electricity market says it's working as planned. Critics compare it to late Soviet Russia.

Water from drilling and fracing is removed from the well during the well cleanup and test phases before putting the well into commercial production. Intrained water from the gas reservoir is removed at the gas processing plant, as well as other fractions of petroleum liquids (propane, butane, and heavier). Once the gas from the well is processed, methane for industrial and residential use is shipped to end users via pipeline. Gas is measured in MMCF, BCF, and TCF, not barrels. I can believe some of the water knockout equipment failed in freezing temperatures at the gas plants and at the wellhead, but natural gas in pipelines does not freeze.

You both are clueless.

I have a degree in petroleum engineering and 40 years of experience working in the oil and gas industry, so not exactly clueless. Water/drilling mud/frac fluid from the well drilling and completion process is removed before the well goes into commercial production, at the wellhead during the well cleanup and testing. Drilling mud never makes it into a commercial natural gas pipeline. Reservoir water is removed from reservoir gas at a gas processing plant before the now dehydrated gas goes through a compressor and into a pipeline. I can believe there were freezing problems with the water removal equipment at the gas processing plants and at the wellhead. It's hard to picture drilling mud freezing at all since it is normally a mixture of brine and bentonite.

"Three things can go wrong; people, process or technology. This was technology."

I don't think it is yet clear on what went wrong. Why was the decision made to shut down a major Texas nuke plant for repairs in February, rather than, say March or April?

What was the lower temperature limit specified in the contract to build the wind turbines that froze? Did critical infrastructures (e.g., water plants and nat. gas delivery plants) have adequate backup generators, especially in the latter case run by nat. gas)?

Did the failure to carry out rolling outages over a 3+ day period cause water pipes to crack in thousands of homes and in some water mains?

Are the problems Texas citizens face today with having to boil water, long lines at the few stores that are opened, limited truck delivery of supplies to those stores, and panic buying simply part of the cascade of problems caused by a few initial bad decisions that could have been prevented or reduced by competent review and management by energy decisionmakers?

Will the investigations by the Texas legislature uncover the answers and correct deficiencies, or paper them over with verbose, blame-diluting reports and quickly made-up regulations that have their own unintended consequences?

Today I am underenthused that real positive changes will be made.

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