Many of this year’s most popular RBN blogs gravitated toward familiar energy market themes — rising exports, shifts in oil production, weak natural gas prices, surprising NGL pricing dynamics and the like. However, we also noted a significant uptick in interest in topics beyond the traditional energy realm, including hydrogen, carbon capture and sequestration (CCS), electric vehicles (EVs) and even the role of artificial intelligence (AI) and data centers. It’s not that RBNers have shifted their focus away from oil, gas and NGL markets. Rather, it reflects a growing recognition that the renewable and alternative energy landscape — fueled by regulations, subsidies and tax incentives — is reshaping the energy world. For anyone in the energy business, staying one step ahead (or maybe three steps) means understanding how these trends intersect with traditional energy markets. In 2024, our readers made it clear: The interplay between renewable and conventional energy commodities is becoming increasingly important.
Posting a daily blog focused on a singular subject and blasting it to an audience of 45,000 readers gives us a unique opportunity to gauge significant market trends by tracking readership metrics. Each year for the past 11 years, we have looked back to see which topics rank at the top of the hit parade and posted an end-of-year blog titled “Top 10” to distill common themes from what amounts to crowd-sourced market intelligence. Today’s blog is our latest edition of this tradition.
Just like any year-end Top 10 list, we’ll start with #10 and work our way up to #1.
Here Are the Top 10 blogs of 2024 (in reverse order, by number of website hits):
#10 – 8/6/24 – Crude and NGLs: Are You Ready For A Dogfight – Gulf Coast Export Terminals Vie For NGL And Crude Oil Market
Competition among Gulf Coast crude oil and NGL export terminals really heated up in 2024. Exports of crude and NGLs, which grew from a combined 1 MMb/d in 2016 to over 6 MMb/d in 2024, fueled a heated rivalry among Corpus Christi, Houston and Port Arthur/Nederland. Corpus had dominated crude exports in recent years thanks to key pipeline expansions and the cost advantages of partially loading VLCCs at Enbridge’s and Gibson’s facilities in the Corpus/Ingleside area. But in 2024, Houston made a strong comeback as pipeline capacity from the Permian to Corpus maxed out, forcing barrels to other destination markets — mainly Houston. A big question is how this will continue to play out, especially if a new offshore single-point mooring (SPM) terminal project capable of fully loading VLCCs gets approved. Over time, that would dramatically reshape the crude oil export landscape. On the NGL export front, Houston has historically been the leader, but new infrastructure projects from Energy Transfer and Enterprise in the Port Arthur/Nederland/Neches River region are expected to shift the competitive balance. This fierce competition underscores how connectivity, infrastructure and economics reshape U.S. liquids exports.
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About the song
“Gimme Three Steps” was written by Ronnie Van Zant and Allen Collins and appears as the third cut on side one of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s debut album, Pronounced Leh-nerd Skin-nerd. The song was written about an incident that happened to singer Ronnie Van Zant at a bar in Jacksonville, FL, called The Pastime. Ironically, “Gimme Three Steps” failed to chart when it was released as a single in November 1973; it has since become one of the band's most popular songs. On a side note, mega-selling Los Angeles band Poison played this song regularly as a part of their set in LA clubs before being signed to their first record deal. Personnel on the record were: Ronnie Van Zant (vocals), Gary Rossington (lead guitar), Allen Collins (guitar), Ed King (bass), Billy Powell (keyboards), and Bob Burns (drums).
Pronounced Leh-nerd Skin-nerd was recorded between March and May of 1973 at Studio One in Doraville, GA, with Al Kooper producing. Most of the songs on the album had been played and tested live for some time and were rehearsed to perfection at the band’s rehearsal space: Hell House, a non-air-conditioned cabin with a tin roof outside of Jacksonville, FL. They liked the spot because they could play loudly at all hours with no neighbors or police within earshot. Hell House has since burned to the ground and the land on which it sat is now a gated residential subdivision with street names that pay homage to Lynyrd Skynyrd song titles. The album was released in August 1973 and went to #27 on the Billboard 200 Albums chart. It has been certified 2X Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. Two singles were released from the LP.
Lynyrd Skynyrd is an American rock band formed in Jacksonville. The band’s roots go back to 1964, performing under a variety of names, with different personnel, before deciding on the moniker Lynyrd Skynyrd in 1969. The name came from Leonard Skinner, a high school gym coach in Jacksonville who hated rock and roll and long-haired guys who played it. They have released 14 studio albums, 14 live albums, 23 compilation albums and 30 singles. The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2005. More than two dozen band members have passed through their ranks since their formation. The last original member, Gary Rossington, passed away in March 2023 at the age of 71. Rossington hand-picked Damon Johnson (Brother Cane, Black Star Riders) to be his replacement. Cane, along with Johnny Van Zant, Rickey Medlocke, Michael Cartellone, Mark Matejka, Peter Keys and Keith Christopher, continue to record and tour as Lynyrd Skynyrd. After touring the U.S. on the mega-successful Sharp Dressed Simple Man Tour with ZZ Top, the band began their Celebrating 50 Years of Lynyrd Skynyrd Tour in December 2023. The tour resumes in March 2025.
