Just two years ago, U.S. pipeline operators were rushing to build pipelines in Texas to move surging Permian oil and gas production to the refining and export centers on the Gulf Coast. This year’s crash in oil demand and prices led to a U.S. shale production decline as many operators in all major shale plays curtailed output to sit out the sub $40 oil prices at which they don’t make money. The shale production crash spilled over to the midstream sector, which was caught between falling oil production and pipeline utilization from the upstream and crumbling demand for fuels in the downstream. Something had to give in the U.S. midstream sector. And it did. Pipeline infrastructure companies started to announce deferrals of final investment decisions and start-up dates for planned oil and gas pipelines, especially in the Permian, which suddenly found itself with a overbuild of capacity as production […]