By Thomas Kalb
Director of Midstream Research
Texas A&M Corpus Christi
Analysis of past surveys on top issues facing the midstream industry provides powerful insight into current headwinds and trends midstream companies face. This information offers first-mover advantages to companies incorporating it into their strategic planning process.
The next installment — 2025 Top Ten Issues Facing the Midstream Industry survey — is coming soon. This year’s survey, sponsored by GPA Midstream and the newly formed Coastal Bend Midstream Program (CBMP) at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, can help with industry readiness and strategic planning.
While most of the top issues are interrelated (e.g., it is difficult to fund projects affected by constantly shifting rules and regulations), top issues identified by past 2022-24 surveys can be categorized into five primary categories, ranked in order of concern:
- Talent — attracting new talent and retiring expertise
- Infrastructure — aging and emerging engineering issues
- Government — regulation, permitting, energy transition, political environment, government policy
- Investment — capital markets, ESG
- Business — supply chain, technology development, emissions, overall business outlook
An informal survey conducted at the 2024 GPA Midstream Convention indicates “Government” could move up a spot in the ranking if concerns persist beyond the furor of the 2024 national elections.
“Ignorance,” which ranked second in the Convention survey, could also be included in “Government” as an important reason to educate students, general society, and policymakers about the role and value of the midstream sector. This education has emerged in recent years as an essential component of preserving social license to operate and influence policy. Education is a never-ending job for midstream companies and organizations supporting the industry.
The persistence of certain issues near the top in multiple surveys speaks to both their importance and the challenges in managing them.
2022 Survey
First conducted in 2022, the survey highlighted the interrelated nature of critical issues and a popular anti-carbon narrative that significantly impacted all aspects of society, government, and the midstream industry. Talent and Infrastructure dominated 2022.
2022 Top Ten Issues
- Aging Infrastructure
- Attracting Young Talent
- Energy Transition
- Technology Development
- Emissions/GHG/CCS
- Capital Markets
- ESG
- Curtailed Investment
- Cyber Security
- Government Interference/Regulation
2023 Survey
In the 2023 survey, human capital issues were the top concerns. Other responses reflected a wide range of opinions about other key issues the industry faced. Mega Rule 2 worries showed up in 2023 as a one-year issue, and the lack of political support for midstream projects made its first appearance as a top ten issue. The biggest issues were Talent and Infrastructure for a second straight year.
2023 Top Ten Issues
- Attracting New Talent
- Retiring Expertise
- Aging Infrastructure
- Regulatory/Permitting Burdens and Compliance
- Supply Chain
- Lack of Political Support for Project Investment
- Capital Markets/Investment
- Energy Transition
- Cyber Security
- Mega Rule Part 2
2024 Survey
In the 2024 survey, Attracting New Talent took first place again, and worry about the Political Environment superseded operating concerns and infrastructure.
Attracting New Talent and Political Environment were close in scoring and ranked well ahead of the other eight issues. The next two most important issues — New Regulations and Government Energy Policies — both relate to Political Environment, were significantly more important than the remaining six issues, according to survey results.
2024 Top Ten Issues
- Attracting New Talent
- Political Environment
- New Regulations (tie)
- Government Energy Policy (tie)
- Aging Infrastructure
- Business Outlook
- Emerging Engineering Issues
- Permitting
- Capital Availability
- Supply Chain
2024 GPA Midstream Convention Survey
During the 2024 GPA Midstream Convention in San Antonio, concerns about Government and Ignorance of midstream’s value dominated. Attracting New Talent, which was a leading concern in previous surveys, dropped to a distant third.
The survey was conducted by asking 100 random convention attendees for their thoughts on the most important issue facing the midstream industry.
This survey, completed just a few weeks before the 2024 national elections, may reflect a greater focus within the industry on potential outcomes for national energy policy than midstream professionals typically have in their normal day-to-day lives.
The upcoming 2025 Top Ten Issues survey will provide new data on what midstream leaders believe about the industry’s top issues in the years ahead.
The Bottom Line
In previous years, midstream executives could focus on balancing long-term asset planning with service demand, commodity production and price volatility.
Today’s environment is more complex with midstream companies also forced to manage through an unstable government policy environment on the federal, state, and local levels — a variable more volatile than commodity prices.
While the policy environment has swung based on election results, there is no uncertainty around the need for midstream assets and services, as well as the growing need for substantial expansion of those assets and services.
In this climate, it’s never been more important to educate students, society, and policymakers about the midstream industry. This effort is a critical part of mitigating risk, enabling better planning and service, and achieving greater corporate profitability. CBMP and GPA Midstream’s Lets Clear The Air program are dedicated to meeting this educational need.
The 2022-24 Top Ten surveys were conducted by Thomas Kalb when he was leading the midstream center at Lamar University.
