ExxonMobil adds Williams to expanding carbon capture portfolio. July 29, 2026 Energy infrastructure corporation Williams has selected ExxonMobil to provide carbon dioxide transportation and permanent storage services for its proposed Louisiana Energy Gateway (LEG), extending ExxonMobil's growing portfolio of industrial CCS customers. The agreement will see ExxonMobil transport and permanently store up to 2 million metric tons of CO2 per year captured from the natural gas-fired power facility, which is designed to supply lower-emissions electricity to data centers and other large industrial customers. The project strengthens ExxonMobil's strategy of building an integrated carbon capture and storage business that combines pipeline infrastructure with long-term geologic sequestration along the U.S. Gulf Coast. The companies said the project remains subject to a final investment decision, permitting and other customary approvals. The latest agreement follows several significant developments in ExxonMobil's CCS business that highlight both expansion and portfolio optimization. Earlier this year, the company surrendered roughly 850,000 acres of federal offshore carbon storage leases in the Gulf of Mexico after determining those sites no longer aligned with its commercial strategy, choosing instead to focus on locations with stronger customer demand and infrastructure advantages. Williams part of ExxonMobil's gulf coast CCS buildout. That decision came alongside continued investment elsewhere. ExxonMobil also advanced plans for a new carbon storage project in Texas, reinforcing its focus on building a large-scale Gulf Coast storage network capable of serving multiple industrial sectors. In Louisiana, the company recently brought its second carbon capture and storage project online with the startup of the NG3 facility, further expanding operational capacity in one of its core CCS hubs. Taken together, the announcements point to a more selective approach rather than a slowdown. ExxonMobil continues to refine its storage portfolio while adding new customers and bringing projects into operation, signaling confidence that demand for carbon capture infrastructure will continue to grow as power producers and industrial companies pursue emissions reduction strategies. The agreement marks another step in ExxonMobil's effort to turn carbon capture and storage into a scalable business, with a growing pipeline of projects spanning power generation, industrial facilities, and Gulf Coast storage hubs.

Williams Companies buys its namesake Williams Tower in Houston for $300 million. The Williams Companies purchased Williams Tower, the 64-story Houston office tower bearing its name, for $300 million, a deal that leaves seller Invesco Real Estate with a loss of more than $100 million on its 2013 purchase. The Williams Companies has purchased Williams Tower, the 64-story office skyscraper in Houston that carries its name, in a deal that closed Monday for $300 million, Houston television station KHOU reported. The Tulsa, Okla.-based energy company bought the tower from an entity tied to Invesco Real Estate, which paid $412 million for the building in 2013, leaving the seller with a loss of more than $100 million after 13 years of ownership. The purchase also includes an adjacent parking garage, Glen Jasek, a Williams senior vice president, told local reporters. Jasek said the deal gives the company more room to grow its presence in Houston. Williams Tower sits at 2800 Post Oak Blvd. in Houston's Galleria/Uptown district. The 1.4 million-square-foot building rises about 901 feet, making it one of the tallest office towers in Texas outside a downtown core. Developer Hines completed it in 1983 as Transco Tower, and it was renamed after Williams acquired Transco Energy Co. in 1995. The tower is about 83% leased, according to Tulsa's News on 6. Williams does not plan to relocate its corporate headquarters from Tulsa to the tower, News on 6 reported, but the company said it intends to invest in the building and add amenities for employees and other tenants. Williams employs roughly 800 people in Houston, compared with about 1,300 in Tulsa, according to the station's report. Why Invesco sold Williams Tower in Houston at a loss. Invesco Real Estate, a unit of Atlanta-based Invesco Ltd., acquired Williams Tower from Hines for $412 million in 2013, Bloomberg reported at the time. Monday's $300 million sale to Williams means Invesco recovered roughly $112 million less than it paid, even after more than a decade of ownership through a period that included the 2015 oil-price downturn and the pandemic-era shift away from office work. The sale is also a notable case of a company becoming owner-occupant of the building carrying its own corporate name, rather than remaining a tenant. The transaction adds to a wave of activity in Houston's office and broader commercial real estate market this year, as banks have returned to commercial real estate lending after a slower stretch and analysts have described the office sector as stabilizing after several difficult years. What it means. The 2026 purchase price, closing date, buyer and seller come from KHOU's reporting; the 2013 acquisition price comes from Bloomberg's contemporaneous coverage of that earlier sale. RealtyWire was unable to independently verify a county-recorded sale price, since Texas does not require public disclosure of transaction amounts in deed filings. Jasek's characterization of the deal as an opportunity for growth is the company's own framing, not verified fact. RealtyWire's analysis: the gap between the 2013 and 2026 sale prices reflects a broader decline in Houston office values over the past decade amid elevated vacancy and higher interest rates, though this piece does not predict where office values go from here.

Last week in power markets: PJM and NYISO under pressure. By: Bob Barron, VP, Energy Management, Competitive Power Ventures (CPV) The protagonist in the movie and book No Country for Old Men was quoted saying, "if this ain't the mess, it'll do until the real mess gets here." Let's hope the current situation in the power markets is the real mess and solutions start percolating because the challenges are real and mounting. The state of New York just announced a one-year moratorium on permitting new hyperscale data centers requiring at least 50 MW of electricity. The goal is to give regulators time to establish rules that protect ratepayers, maintain grid reliability, and ensure the cost of serving these massive new loads is not borne by existing residential and commercial customers PJM's most recent Base Residual Auction (2028/2029) unsurprisingly priced at the cap of $325/MW-day and still left a 6800 MW shortfall. The upcoming December BRA for 2029/2030 is also expected to price at the cap which is forcing PJM to run a special one-off Reliability Backstop auction in September. It will also award 15-year contracts to projects that meet specific conditions for commercialization timing. The hot weather has elevated spot and forward power prices as PJM demand reached an adjusted peak of 168,000 MW in early July. It is this confluence of events that the entire industry is grappling with as solutions prove elusive and no quick fix appears likely. For commercial and industrial buyers trying to budget energy costs is even more difficult given the volatility of prices and the collective uncertainty outlined above. The underlying fundamentals suggest grid conditions will remain tight and elevated prices may persist in the near term. While these challenges are unlikely to be resolved overnight, they reinforce the importance of proactive planning, informed procurement decisions, and strong market partnerships. The CPV Retail team remains committed to helping customers navigate this evolving landscape and identify opportunities in an increasingly dynamic power market. PJM regulatory review. * PJM's Base Residual Auction for the 2028/2029 delivery year was announced on July 14 and, as widely anticipated, cleared at the negotiated price cap of $325/MW-day. A capacity shortfall of approximately 6,800 MW is expected to be addressed through PJM's upcoming FERC approved Reliability Backstop Procurement program in September. * Another mini heatwave has pushed power demand in PJM back at or above 160,000 MW which, like the prior July 4th event, dramatically increased prices and hourly volatility. * Day-ahead prices at West-Hub cleared at $420/MWH yesterday and the peak price for hourly prices is still ahead of CPV Retail. NYISO regulatory review. * The retirement of Danskammer has been postponed once again into January of 2027 as the NYISO continues to wrestle with overall tighter supply conditions. Given the bankruptcy status moving forward, is there a possibility of a RMR contract to help support the troubled project financially? * The state of New York just announced a one-year moratorium on the activation of data centers that exceed 50 MW of capacity. This could impact the ISO's demand forecast and overall short-term power supply requirements. * The recent outage on the newly energized Champlain Hudson Power Express (CHPE) underscores the challenges of relying on major transmission infrastructure to meet growing electricity demand. While the project remains an important source of new supply for New York, the outage serves as a reminder that reliability depends not only on adding new resources, but also on ensuring those resources are resilient and available when they are needed most. Market Drivers. Market Drivers as of July 17, 2026. * Gas Storage/Year over year difference. A positive number is bearish, and a negative number is bullish. * Production /Year over year growth/trend is important in the context of demand growth. * LNG Exports/Year over year growth means demand is growing and should be looked at in comparison to production trend. * Mexican Exports/Add to LNG Exports to show a trend in exports compared to the production trend. * PJM Outages- generally seasonal in Spring or Fall/Can support short-term prices. * Gas Focused Rig Count/Is drilling increasing to grow production versus demand growth. This can be seen as impacting price in the future based on expected load growth. Energy market update. * Natural gas prices remain under pressure even as power prices rally into another widespread heat wave which has PJM forecasting load above 160,000 MW. Day-ahead power prices ripped up to $420/MWH for July 15th and total gas-fired demand reach a year-to date high of 51.6 BCF/D. * Pipeline expansions out of Waha have relieved the basin of an egress shortage and the negative gas price resulting from these long-standing constraints. With the early start-up of Energy Transfer's Hugh Brinson 42-inch pipeline Permian Basin producers may finally see the end of plague of negative prices. * The announcement that the natural gas infrastructure company, Williams, and Blackstone Credit & Insurance are partnering to develop behind-the-meter generation for AI data centers in Ohio further illustrates how the market is evolving. Rather than waiting for grid infrastructure to expand, developers are increasingly investing in dedicated power solutions that can deliver reliable electricity directly to large loads. * Calendar/2027 NYMEX continues to trend lower as the market looks to be comfortable with projected winter storage balances and strong US production even as total exports push above 25 BCF/D. Forward pricing.