Gulf Coast Refining Rides Out Hurricane Isaias, Washington Invokes the Defense Production Act to Expand Delek's Tyler Refinery as Morgan Stanley Leads Financing for a 4 Billion Dollar Brownsville Refinery, Seven Gulf LNG Terminals Pursue 75 MTPA of Expansions as Feedgas Hits 19.7 Bcf/d, Taylor Texas Approves a 1 Gigawatt Data Center Campus, and Contractor Backlog Climbs to 8.7 Months

Gulf Coast Refining Rides Out Hurricane Isaias as Offshore Production Comes Back Online

Isaias peaked as a Category 3 hurricane and came ashore on the Florida Panhandle on the night of Friday, October 9. At the Friday peak, about 72 percent of Gulf of America oil production was shut in, according to CNN. Gulf Coast refining accounts for about 9.88 million of the 18.2 million barrels per day of U.S. operable capacity and was running near 95 percent going into the storm, and catastrophe modeler BMS estimated insured losses at 3 to 5 billion dollars, reported Insurance Business.

The refining system held. Chevron reported no storm damage at its 356,000 barrel per day Pascagoula refinery, which kept running normally, and the 88,000 barrel per day Vertex refinery near Mobile also came through unscathed, according to Energy News Beat. BP, Shell, and Chevron began restoring Gulf production that Sunday with no damage reported, including Shell's Mars, Olympus, Ursa, Vito, and Appomattox platforms and BP's Na Kika and Thunder Horse, reported Seeking Alpha.

Washington Uses the Defense Production Act for Delek in Tyler as a 4 Billion Dollar Brownsville Refinery Starts Raising Capital

On October 13 Vice President JD Vance said in Tyler Texas that the Defense Production Act will be used to help Delek expand its 74,000 barrel per day refinery to produce both commercial fuel and military specification fuel, reported Argus. Bloomberg also covered the visit, and local coverage carried on AOL said the project is expected to create hundreds of jobs. The size and timeline of the expansion were not disclosed.

Two days later, America First Refining said Morgan Stanley is leading an equity and debt fundraise for its planned 4 billion dollar refinery in Brownsville, which would be the first major new U.S. refinery in about 50 years, according to Bloomberg. At a Port of Brownsville press conference the same day, the project was described as a site of more than 240 acres designed to run 100 percent domestic shale crude with hydrogen powered systems, creating about 500 direct jobs paying 80,000 to 100,000 dollars, with permits in progress, reported Texas Border Business.

Seven Gulf LNG Terminals Pursue About 75 MTPA of Expansions as U.S. Feedgas Hits 19.7 Bcf/d

Expansions proposed at seven Gulf Coast LNG terminals over the past 14 months would add about 75 million tons per year of capacity, roughly 14 percent, reported the Louisiana Illuminator. The list covers Plaquemines, CP2, and Commonwealth in Louisiana and Port Arthur, Brownsville, and Corpus Christi in Texas. Plaquemines received approval for 7 MTPA more in June after applying in May for another 11.7 MTPA, and the Port Arthur expansion would double that terminal to 54 MTPA. On October 14, during the Americas LNG Summit in Lake Charles, Under Secretary of Energy Kyle Haustveit toured the 20 billion dollar Sabine Pass terminal and said, "If Louisiana was a country, it would be the largest LNG exporter in the world, at north of 10 BCF per day," reported KPLC.

Demand on the system is climbing. U.S. LNG feedgas reached 19.7 Bcf/d on October 13, the highest since April, as Golden Pass posted a record run and a Freeport train returned to service, according to Marcellus Drilling News. FERC opened an added scoping period for Gulf South's Texas Gateway project, 155 miles of 36 and 42 inch pipe moving 1.8 Bcf/d from Carthage toward Southeast Texas and Southwest Louisiana, reported Pipeline and Gas Journal. And QatarEnergy is in advanced talks to buy LNG from Louisiana and Texas projects, according to Energy Connects.

Taylor Texas Approves a 1 Gigawatt Data Center Campus as Gulf States Build Private Power and TCEQ Pauses Permits

Taylor City Council unanimously approved the Taylor Technology Campus from Big Watt Digital and PowerHouse Data Centers, a 664 acre site planned for up to 1 gigawatt with behind the meter power, reported Yahoo Finance. The city will provide 500 megawatts with an option for 500 megawatts more, construction is planned from 2027 through 2029, and first power is targeted for the first half of 2028, according to Connect CRE.

Across the region, data center developers keep building their own power. Baxtel reported One Nuclear's Project Cayman, a 2.88 gigawatt gas plant with a 700 megawatt, 2.88 gigawatt hour battery system near the RiverPlex MegaPark in Louisiana, and the 15 billion dollar Hueco Ranch campus in Hudspeth County Texas, which broke ground October 7. At the same time, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality has paused air and water permits for infrastructure directly supporting data centers, with a compliance update due October 19 and an ERCOT report to the PUC due December 10, reported TechTarget.

Contractor Backlog Climbs to 8.7 Months While Input Costs Rise 8.9 Percent

Associated Builders and Contractors reported its Construction Backlog Indicator rose to 8.7 months in September, up 0.2 months from both August and a year earlier, with commercial backlog at its highest since July 2025 and heavy industrial backlog at its lowest since March, according to ABC. Contractors with data center work, about 15 percent of respondents, carry 11.3 months of backlog, while profit margin expectations fell, reported Construction Dive.

Costs are moving the wrong way. The Associated General Contractors of America found that inputs to new nonresidential construction rose 8.9 percent from August 2025 to August 2026, with war and tariff impacts disrupting projects, according to AGC. AGC also reported construction employment at 8,364,000 in September, average hourly earnings up 4.3 percent, and only 359,000 unemployed jobseekers with recent construction experience, down 11 percent from a year earlier, reported The Mecklenburg Times.

The Bottom Line

This week the Gulf Coast came through a hurricane intact and immediately turned to growth. Refineries in the path of Isaias kept running, Washington put the Defense Production Act behind a refinery expansion in Tyler, and Morgan Stanley started raising capital for the first major new U.S. refinery in about 50 years. Seven Gulf LNG terminals are pursuing about 75 MTPA of new capacity as feedgas hit 19.7 Bcf/d, Taylor approved a 1 gigawatt data center campus, and contractor backlog climbed to 8.7 months as input costs rose 8.9 percent.

Refinery expansions, greenfield refining, LNG trains, private power plants, and data center campuses all draw on the same steel, the same shops, and the same craft. PSV Industries is built as the vertically integrated JV that executes scope of work across the Texas and Louisiana Gulf Coast: shop based structural steel fabrication, process modules, modular skid assembly, field installation and construction, shutdowns and turnarounds, and backlog relief, delivered by a craft workforce we own inside a single execution model. When the financing closes and the permits clear, owners need a partner already mobilized. That is PSV.