By Tom Kalb

Director, Midstream Research

Texas A&M Corpus Christi

March 6, 2025

Concerns about aging infrastructure, government policy, and the midstream workforce were at the forefront for midstream professionals in a survey by GPA Midstream and the Coastal Bend Midstream Program (CBMP) at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi.

The survey of top issues facing the midstream drew responses from a cross-section of GPA Midstream membership and CBMP midstream industry contacts. According to survey results, the top ten issues facing the midstream industry in 2025 are:

1. Aging Infrastructure
2. Government/regulatory
3. Tariffs/Trade
4. Permitting
5. Human Capital
6. Public Perception
7. Supply Chain
8. Safety
9. Upstream Behavior
10. Planning Difficulties

The 2025 results reveal a shift in primary concerns for midstream professionals. In the 2024 survey, Human Capital and Government/Politics/Regulation dominated, followed by Aging Infrastructure and then what might be considered day-to-day operating concerns. This year, Aging Infrastructure and Government/Regulatory matters rose to the top with Human Capital dropping to fifth after Tariffs/Trade and Permitting.

The top issues are interconnected — aging infrastructure is affected by government regulation and permitting. They’re ranked separately because each reflects different aspects of the concerns of midstream professionals. For example, Tariffs/Trade and Permitting are government-related issues distinct from federal government regulation of operations.

The survey asked respondents to provide the three top issues facing the midstream industry. Those concerns were sorted into 15 general categories. A count of responses in each category determined the top ten. Last, a panel of industry executives ranked those top ten categories in terms of importance, independent of the respondent vote, which yielded the Top Ten Issue list.

This process revealed differing views between industry executives and respondents in general. In the past, the ranking produced by respondent votes closely matched the final ranking produced by the forced ranking of the executive panel, but not this year. Executive panelists materially differed from the total respondents on the importance of four of the ten categories:

Executive Panel vs Total Respondents

• Aging Infrastructure — 1st vs 9th (Panel vs Respondents)
• Permitting — 4th vs 10th
• Upstream Behavior — 9th vs 4th
• Planning Difficulties — 10th vs 5th

Aging Infrastructure was ranked number one by the executive panel and ninth by survey respondents. Permitting was ranked fourth by the panel and tenth by respondents. These outcomes may be the natural outcome of comparing the views of two groups with differing responsibilities. Executives tend to focus more on longer-term strategic issues related to the business, while non-executive respondents are primarily dedicated to shorter-term operational issues.

However, the divergence between the groups this year is unique when compared to the four previous surveys, and it may suggest an opportunity for improved communication on strategic goals in some companies.

The Top Ten Issues Facing Midstream in 2025

1. Aging Infrastructure (up from # 5 in 2024 survey) Cost of inspection and maintenance, safety, and increasing capacity requirements pushed Aging Infrastructure to number one. Opponents of hydrocarbon energy and development have embraced a strategy of hindering system maintenance and replacement of older assets to promote capacity reduction and pipeline shutdowns. This issue is important to executive management and less of a concern to survey respondents.
2. Government/Regulatory (same as 2024 survey) Incoherent energy policy caused by volatile national politics makes it difficult for midstream companies to plan capital budgets and manage costs to deliver fuel safely and reliably. Government/Regulatory behavior is an important issue for both executives and non-executive survey respondents.
3. Tariffs/Trade (new in 2025) Continued growth in the midstream sector to serve shale basins and growing LNG export capacity requires steel and related equipment, as well as a competitive market for American LNG. Artificially increasing costs will undermine American LNG and damage the midstream industry. Executive management views Tariffs/Trade as relatively important, but views widely differ, whereas this issue is important to survey respondents as a group.
4. Permitting (up from #9 in 2024 survey) Permitting difficulties flow from tribal, county, state, and federal behavior, as well as NIMBY complaints and an activist legal system where permits can easily be challenged in court. Permitting is important to executives and less so to survey respondents.
5. Human Capital (down from #1 in 2024) Retirement of key professionals along with recruitment of new talent remain an important issue, particularly in operations and maintenance. Respondents blame Public Perception and remote locations for this consistent problem. Human Capital is important to respondents as a group but has diminished as a concern to executives.
6. Public Perception (down from #2 in 2024) Concerns about Public Perception of carbon energy systems have dampened since the November 2024 national election but remain a hurdle in permitting, government regulation, and human capital issues. Public Perception is of middling importance to everyone and is being addressed by programs such as GPA Midstream’s Let’s Clear the Air campaign.
7. Supply Chain (up from #10 in 2024) Increased Supply Chain concerns since 2024 and related prices are mostly driven by developing Tariff/Trade policies of the new federal administration. Supply Chain issues are of middling interest to everyone.
8. Safety (new in 2025) For the first time, Safety emerged as a Top Ten issue. A desire to implement certain safety protocols used in the downstream sector appears to be developing. Safety continues to be a major focus of the midstream industry and comments from respondents and executives indicate priorities are more about maintaining safety vigilance and continuous improvement than concerns that industry operations are not safe.
9. Upstream Behavior (new in 2025) For the first time, upstream industry behavior has made its way into the top ten. Survey respondents focused on operations expressed concern about the impact on midstream companies of upstream consolidation and related contracting and scaling back of operations, which has made planning and integration more challenging. Upstream Behavior is important to survey respondents as a group but was not a high concern for executive management.
10. Planning Difficulties (new in 2025) Volatility flowing from upstream and midstream consolidation, Tariff/Trade issues, shifting national energy policy, increasing costs, and ongoing permitting issues make planning of long-term asset development difficult. Planning Difficulties is something of a catchall category reflecting the interconnectedness of higher-ranking issues.

Categories deserving honorable mention but not making the Top Ten included cybersecurity, mergers and acquisitions, and power/electrification.

The Top Ten Issues Facing the Midstream Industry survey will be jointly conducted annually by GPA Midstream and CBMP. Generally, industry participants will be surveyed in November of each year and results will be published by year-end.

Contact Tom Kalb to learn more about supporting the Coastal Bend Midstream Program at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.

Go deeper: Read analysis of previous Top Ten Issues Facing the Midstream Industry surveys.