Houston’s Energy Patch Taking Seismic Shift

The energy industry of Houston’s is in the midst of a “seismic shift” with much of the discussion which is now funding the focused on clean energy instead of oil and gas like it was a year ago. John Arnold was the one who earned a fortune from trading and was also the former head of natural gas derivatives. In a Twitter thread, Arnold wrote, “There’s been seismic shift in the Houston energy industry of late.”

Most of the talk in Houston’s energy scene last year was related to oil and gas. Arnold wrote, “Three-quarters of discussions now are about wind, solar, batteries, transmission, lithium, cleantech, etc. Even those who are not ideological believers are taking the cues from the financial markets, which have no interest in oil production growth anymore.”

The legendary trader said that the financial markets are rewarding the industries with high growth potential like clean energy at the expense of the oil and gas sector. He claims that the capital for fossil fuels has dried up. Every energy PE firm in town is trying to raise funds for clean energy. Many people are pitching an oil fund to a university endowment now.

Arnold says that the shift has made him more optimistic about the future of Houston and the speed of decarbonization. Decarbonization requires large-scale and financial resources which only large companies possess. The fossil fuel industry is also now focusing on the low carbon future of the world. Venture capital fund manager Energy Transition Ventures had said earlier this month that it had launched the first venture fund for Texas.