Howard Reynolds & Kent Britton: Leadership in Energy and Infrastructure

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the nationally syndicated Energy Mix Radio Show, produced
by the Energy Network Media Group. The Energy Mix Radio
Show will give you an inside look at the energy
industry and how it affects you by talking with industry leaders, experts,
and government officials on the Energy Mix Radio Show.

Speaker 2 (00:15):
Welcome to a landmark edition of the Energy Mix Radio Show,
our five hundredth episode and nearly a decade on the air.
We are taping today from the Porter Corpus Christie, a
site that was chosen with purpose and pride. The port
isn't just a gateway for US energy exports. It's a
living symbol of resilience, innovation, and leadership in the energy sector.

(00:39):
I'm honored to be joined by two trailblazers who helped
shape that legacy, Mike Howard, Chairman and CEO of Howard Energy,
and Kent Britton, CEO of the Porter Corpus Christie. Mike's
journey from Agua Duce roots to building a three billion
dollar midstream infrastructure company is a testament to vision and grit,

(01:01):
and Kent, with years of financial leadership and a deep
commitment to community, now steers the largest US energy port
into the future of a global impact. I'm fourteen years later.
When we launched Energy Network Media Group, it was a
simple concept and mission to make energy understandable for the

(01:23):
general public. What began as a passion project has grown
into a platform that informs, connects, and advocates for one
of the most vital and yet often misunderstood industries in
the world. And along the way, I have learned that
energy isn't just about power, It's about people. And I

(01:44):
want to thank our listeners, our readers, and supporters who
have walked this journey with us. And I'm especially grateful
to Howard Energy Partners and the Port of Corpus Christy
who have been partners with us from nearly the beginning.
This milestone is more than a celebration. It's a reflection
of the impact that we've made together. Let's keep leading,

(02:05):
learning and lighting the way forward. But before we jump
into the heart of today's discussion, I want to take
a moment to recognize the incredible legacy that both of
these organizations have built, and not just an infrastructure and innovation,
but in shaping the energy narrative across Texas and beyond,
the Port of Corpus Christy and Howard Energy Partners have

(02:27):
played a pivotal role in advancing midstream development, global exports,
and community investment. Their leadership has helped define what modern
energy looks like. So let's start by getting a little
personal Mike and Kent, before we start with the big questions,
I'd love for you to share a little bit about
your journey and what brought you to the energy industry

(02:49):
and what moments most stand out in defining milestones in
your leadership. Let's give our listeners a glimpse into the
people behind the progress and Kent, I'll start with you.

Speaker 3 (02:59):
Fantastic. Can you believe making it well to.

Speaker 2 (03:02):
Ten years nationally syndicated and we're the only show in energy.
Think about that. We've got a lot of work to
keep doing, but thank you for believing in what we're
trying to do.

Speaker 3 (03:13):
Yeah, we've been pretty much the whole ride. So it's great.
So when you talk about how I got into this,
so I'm originally a finance guy. I worked for one
of the big six county farms back when there were
a big six now they're only big four in Atlanta, Georgia.
I went to Georgia Tech in one of the few
non engineering majors, industrial management, got into accounting, went to

(03:35):
work for my biggest client, which turned out to be
got acquired within a year by Alcoa, the giant loom company,
and so I worked in large scale manufacturing for Alcoa
and Glencore for most of my career, and so ended
up down here in Corpus with my family. My kids
were only in second and fourth grade at the time,
thirteen years ago, working for an illumina refinery on the

(03:55):
other side of the of the Bay, and so we
were a customer of the port. Old plant sixty years old,
didn't compete well with the new production that had been
built in the Far East over the ten years before that,
and so we eventually shut it down and I was
very fortunate to land over here at the port. Actually
met Shawn Strawbridge, who was my predecessor here during the

(04:16):
bankruptcy proceedings up in New York City with one of
our commissioners, and you know, he was like, Hey, my
CFO is retiring in a year. What are you doing,
you know when this is all over, And I'm like,
I have no idea, but loved staying Corpus, and so
came in here as director of Finance, became CFO when
Dennis sta Freeze retired and then moved into this role
two years ago when Shawn left, and so kind of

(04:37):
fell into the into this space somewhat somewhat by accident.
I mean, I you know, you fall in behind. When
I was at Alcoa, for example, had a very strong
mentor there who helped kind of guide me through that,
had someone in Glencore that was the same way. And
then you know, it was fortunate to meet Sean at
the right time and come over here. And so yeah,

(05:00):
I was here when we issued the bonds to do
the channel deepening and widening project, and we can talk
a little bit about that because we're pretty much done
with that now. But that's that basically unlocked this gateway.
You know, at a time when the oil production in
West Texas was just ramping up, you know, tremendously, it
had nowhere to go, and so all these midstream companies
were having to decide, you know, or we're gonna we're

(05:20):
gonna build pipelines to Corpus or to Houston or somewhere else.
And now, granted, we have a we have an advantage
by being close closer to the Permian than anyone else.
But we also gave folks to the assurance through that
bond issue once that we were going to deepen and
widen this channel and they'd have fifty four feet here
where they wouldn't anywhere else. And so that's probably the
most momentous thing that's that's happened here. But every every

(05:43):
day here is a new challenge there is. There is
literally something new every day that you go, well, didn't
know I was gonna be dealing with that today. Welcome
to being a CEO. That's a lot about that too.
Absolutely in the order I let Mike chime in here
on his side of the first I was hurry.

Speaker 4 (05:58):
I'm I'm from you already mentioned Dulcie is about fifty
miles west of where we're sitting right now, you know,
and coming from an agricultural background. My dad was a
school teacher there in a little high school, and had
no intention of going to the energy business. I just
know I didn't want to work in fields anymore, doing
manual labor. So I went to a school in Kingsville,
Texas A and m Kingsville and got a chemical engineering degree.

(06:20):
And the only reason I got that degree because it
was the highest paying undergraduate degree they offered, and thank goodness,
energy companies recruited from there. And at that time, there
was no really midstream industry. This was in the early nineties,
and midstream were just the pipeline people inside of integrated
oil companies essentially, as I went to work for one

(06:40):
of them building gas plants and pipelines right out of universities.
This the only professional job I've had for thirty years
is in the midstream space, and it was for economic mobility.
That's the only reason I got into engineering is because
of the pay that was offered, and oil field was
a great place to make a better paycheck.

Speaker 3 (07:00):
It wasn't until.

Speaker 4 (07:01):
Many years later that I started figuring out when kind
of the industry was under attack and I was kind
of figuring out what I wanted to do for a living.
When I started Howard Energy fourteen years ago, kind of
in the middle of my career, thinking what can I
be doing as a meaningful endeavor and doing deep research
is how I found out that we are in the
business the powers every of the business. If you work

(07:23):
in energy, you work in the most important business. Every
other business is off of yours. And so we really
got energized in our company purposes to deliver positive energy,
not only in the interactions in the communities where we
live and work. If we do a lot of giving
back to communities in every community of four states and
two countries is where we operate now. And so we've

(07:46):
learned that that is part of the education advocacy stuff
that we love doing. As part of our strategy at
Howard Energy is to continue to educate people. And that's
why I just love what you've done. I've told you
this from the day that I met you many many
many years ago. I remember your four hundred show, and
now you're the five hundred show. They just keep flying by.
I love people, especially both of you that come from

(08:08):
non energy backgrounds that recognize the importance of energy. And
I just find that so interesting that y'all I had
to come to that conclusion inside the energy business. And
so for y'all to come that conclusion then do the
work that y'all do to support advocacy efforts, I just
I love that. And then when you talked about people,
it's not just about power, it's people that the grit

(08:28):
and perseverance that I find in this industry. The people
that you meet are just good people. I was in
Pennsylvania yesterday, are assets there, Whether we're in New Mexico
tech even that in Mexico, it's just the people working
in this industry just are inherently good. I just think
that business is a force for good and that we are.
We're very fortunate that I fell into this business, you know,

(08:49):
so not the summer to Kent and that you find
your way. There's some luck involved, I think, you know,
absolutely I agree with that.

Speaker 3 (08:57):
I will tell you one more personal story. When we
talk about people in the industry being inherently good, this
is one of them right here. So my very first
trip when I was appointed interim CEO, which was June
of twenty twenty three, first trip was to go to
San Antonio and meet with some of our customers. Took
my commissioners along just to reassure them that, hey, through

(09:19):
the transition, there's a lot going on here on really fast,
but hey, we're still looking out for our customers and
we know how important you are and what you do.
And that was my first time being a CEO. And
when we were done with the meeting, walking out, Mike
actually pulled me aside, and he was like, Hey, being
CEO is a tough job, and there's a lot of

(09:40):
times it only helps to talk to somebody who's done
that job. If you need any advice, want to talk
about anything, give me a call. And so he's a
good guy.

Speaker 4 (09:49):
Hope. Absolutely. I had a full head of hair where
I started at the year.

Speaker 3 (09:52):
Yeah, there's a lot aboves and bruises along the way.

Speaker 2 (09:56):
He is a great mentor because he's a mentor to
me too, and something that I'm not really sure I
know what I'm doing all the time.

Speaker 4 (10:01):
Inside you're CEO as well.

Speaker 2 (10:03):
Yes, and it's not that easy when it's ninety five
percent men and a woman trying to squeeze her way
in here and be taken seriously. But I am serious
about energy and I love talking about it, and I
think that we all, like you said a moment ago,
nothing happens without energy. I don't understand why people cannot
understand that, from the water you drink, to the food
you eat, to the car you drive, to the clothes

(10:25):
you wear, everything outside of being born and dying, that's
the only thing that energy doesn't affect. And we have
to start talking about it now.

Speaker 3 (10:33):
Just one other follow up on that, because it is
part of our job here as well. I don't even
think the folks in Corpus and the folks in Texas
recognize what the energy companies in this state do, not
just for all of us living here in Texas, but
for the rest of the country and the rest of
the world. Yeah, this port is ninety percent oil and gas,

(10:54):
and so we are all about liquid energy. That it's
primarily what we do, no matter how much we diverse
five other stuff. At the end of the day, it's
it's liquid energy moving out of this port and going
our to our trading partners and allies and folks who
have to keep the lights on. And no, you go
throughout and you speak to groups and people go, wow,

(11:15):
I hadn't. I had no idea that did we did.

Speaker 4 (11:18):
That kind of stuff and the newest things. I've been
fishing down here. I'm a little over fifty years old,
so I've been fishing down here for like fifty years.
When you fish now off offshore and you watch the
boats leaving the port here, how many of those boats
are full of energy. Just a conntinuous stream of LNG
ships of oil ships, refined products, barges and that sort
of thing, constant stream. That wasn't the way that twenty

(11:41):
years ago least right. No, So for y'all to do
what you've done is unbelievable for the United States of America,
for the world, for the state of Texas, for Corpus Christi.
It's unbelievable.

Speaker 3 (11:50):
The volumes moving out of this port have literally tripled
in the last ten years.

Speaker 4 (11:54):
Yes, it's unbelievable.

Speaker 2 (11:55):
And I felt blessed to be in this room with
both of you all, not because they think you all
or badasses, but y'all are and superstars. It's truly more
that to know that this port was not really in
that position just some years back. To see that this
is the most important port in North America period because
of what you're doing, your volumes number one, Crewed, second

(12:18):
L and G and then Mike. To see also that
where you started to build this three billion dollar midstream company.
And I want to talk about that. Your investment into
the people of Mexico, your positive reports that you send
out on how are we doing sends to me a
message about the both of y'all. You all care about energy,

(12:39):
you get it, but you're also just not that CEO
that sits in its office and just kind of ignores
what's going on. You actually get involved, you get engage,
and you give back to the community as well. We're
going to take a real quick break when we return,
we're going to get into some of the deep, big questions.
You're listening to the Energy Mix radio show.

Speaker 4 (12:57):
Mold be right back.

Speaker 2 (13:02):
And we're back. You're listening to the Energy Mix radio show.
My guest today Kent Britain, CEO of the Port of
Corpus Christy and my Coward, CEO of Poward Energy Partners. Guys,
thank you for giving me a wonderful intro into just
kind of debriefing. Let's talk about what you guys have
been doing, what are we all doing and catching up.
But now I want to get into some more I

(13:23):
want to get into some questions that are a little
bit more strategic. Kent, the Port recently approved a lease
for Harbor Island for DCEL. Can you share the details
and the NRA's plan and next steps. And for the
people who don't know what NRA is, please explain that
as well.

Speaker 3 (13:40):
Yeah, so the NRA is the Noises River Authority. So
they are a state agency, so very similar to us.
They're a sort of division of the state, right and
back in the vein of you wake up some days
and go, wow, I didn't know I'd be dealing with that.
We're an energy port, and yet we've spent a lot

(14:02):
of time and effort over the last for five years
really working on water resources for the region. City of
Corpus Christie is the water provider for the region. But
as you know by driving by any of our lakes,
we're running out of water and we've been under water
restrictions here for a while. The city is working on
a whole separate set of plans right to provision water

(14:24):
for the area. They're looking at groundwater, they're looking at
a decel plant here on the Inner Harbor. We did
hold property though, out on Harbor Island, which is literally
sitting just inside a barrier island separated from the Gulf
of America or Mexico. To been on who you talked
to down here, we've really gotten into the habit of
just saying the Gulf, and so it gave us the

(14:49):
We have envisioned that site for a long time as
the proper place to put a truly large scale desalination plant.
But to do that, it will protect the bay system
here where you know, boating, fishing, outdoor recreation is all
very important to the folks who live here. Take the intake.

(15:11):
So the water that's gonna be used in the plant
out of the golf and put the discharge, which is
a more heavily contact trail and salty brian back out
into the gulf. And the solution to pollution is dilution,
as I had a guy over the aquarium tell me yesterday,
and so that seemed like the right place to do it.

(15:33):
We are not, though, a water provider, right we report,
and so we leased that property. We treated it just
like any other deal that we would do. So we're
gonna be a landlord. Noways's River Authority will take that on.
Their plans are to partner with some private entity, so
they'll have a P three arrangement sharing those costs. They'll

(15:54):
n are will be able to bring state funds, hopefully
private entity will be able to bring funds out of
the private markets, combine and build a truly large scale
desalination plant. So we've been pursuing permits though in hopes
of getting ahead of the developmental process on this for
several years, and so we're way far down the road

(16:15):
on that now. As a matter of fact, the public
comment period for the last permit will need, which is
the discharge permit offshore, just closed in July. We had
no objections, no one asking for a contested case hearing,
and those are all good and so that permit should
continue to move through the state process. That's with the
TCQ fairly quickly. We've got a permit in with the
corp of Engineers which I think is administratively complete, and

(16:37):
they will issue that sometime in the next couple of
months and we'll transfer those permits for the NRA to
use there for one hundred million gallon a day plant.
I think NRA has aspirations for something even bigger than
that out there, and what they're responding to is kind
of a mandate from the state, right and it was
kind of led by Senator Charles Perry, who we had

(16:58):
actually hosted on a trip to Real a couple of
years ago. He got to see the Israeli model, which
is six to eight large scale diesel plants sitting on
the coast, piping water to the inland of their country,
and you now have an uninterruptible, reliable source of water.
And it's expensive though Deesael is probably the most expensive
way to get water, but it is uninterruptible and drought proof.

(17:22):
And twenty five years from now, I don't think anybody's
gonna fear what us or the city or whoever spent
to provision this water. Everyone's just gonna be really grateful
that we have a lot of cheap energy, right Yeah,
and so yeah, we're a landlord in Ora's a LESSI
we'll get the permits for him, we'll transfer those over
and then we'll kind of get out of the way
and see how this goes.

Speaker 2 (17:44):
And how much of this water, even if what it
starts with the amount that you discussed, will actually be
needed for the city of Corpus Christie and to continue
to help service this community. So is it a small amount,
we still need a whole lot more.

Speaker 3 (18:00):
So that depends on what new industry comes here and
how fast the population grows. And the city has that responsibility,
and I trust the city is going to get this
figured out. From my perspective, this is just another source
of water, right, So the city's going to have groundwater.
They've got the Lake system. They're going to do their
own de cel plant in the Inner Harbor. This is

(18:22):
just another place to provision water. And so what I
am hoping and we put some financial incentives in that
lease that would make it cheaper for the city to
buy than anybody else's buying for that plant, and would
also allow the NRA to make ten cents one thousand
more on water they sell the city, So they should
have an incentive to want to sell to the city.
So I think they will work together.

Speaker 2 (18:41):
That's such a idea, and.

Speaker 3 (18:45):
Hopefully that is just another source of water and so
some of that water stays in this region. But like
I said, NRA was trying to solve in a bigger
problem that the state had basically presented to all of
the kind of water provisions and these around the state.
We need water for all of the state, not just
one hundred percent, not just for each localized region. And

(19:06):
so it's a it's a grand plan. It requires a
lot of money. The states set aside some money in
the water fund this year to start doing that. There'll
be a referendum in November to vote on kind of
a twenty year commitment to take some sales tax and
provision a billion dollars a year into the water fund
as well, that I think will be important, and then
the state will have to continue funding this if they

(19:27):
truly believe in this model. And if you if you
talk to Senator Perry, he's got it all sketched out right,
and it looks a lot like the Israeli model of hey,
you can get water here, and it's not just desail, right,
I mean he would. He envisions moving water from places
they have loft of water, like East Texas, you know,
into lots into the places that don't have lots of
water like West Texas and the big metroplexis and so

(19:49):
it's a it's a grand scale plan, but we're in Texas, right,
I think.

Speaker 2 (19:52):
Big absolutely, water along with energy are the two most
important resources that we need here. We're going to take
a quick break, Mike. When we reach I want to
pivot to you and kind of ask you a few
questions about your M and A activity and your record
breaking numbers as well. In the billions you're listening to
the Energy Mix radio show and we'll be right.

Speaker 5 (20:11):
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(20:33):
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Speaker 2 (21:22):
And we're back. You're listening to the Energy Mix radio show.
My guest today Kent Britton, CEO of the Port of
Corpus Christy, and Mike Coward, CEO of Powered Energy. So, Mike,
I'm going to pivot to you and ask you your company,
Howard Energy Partner, how do you guys plan to sustain
it's You guys have hit record breaking numbers one point

(21:44):
one billion in M and A activity while maintaining operational excellence.
And I know your background. You're very seasoned in midstream
because of the previous experience and then on the job
training as you as you have stated, but these are
some really high numbers you, I mean, everything just has
to be whistling along to just kind of keep up

(22:06):
with that record and or continue to break it. And
you were telling us earlier before the show that this
is actually what you guys are doing is forecasting. So
talk to us a little bit about how are you
going to keep up with one point one billion in
M and A activity while maintaining operational excellence.

Speaker 4 (22:22):
So I worked for publicly traded companies for many years.
If my very first job out of college, we were
the number one drilling company in the US. We were
building more plants and pipelines than anybody. We were completing
a well a day. The company was called Uian Pacific Resources.
We were doing horizontal drilling in the nineties and being
the field engineer and the guy having to keep up
with that pace. That just kind of trained me at

(22:43):
what pace to run. So when the shell revolution started
in two thousand and five and I was with a
very large Mitstrium company, Energy Transfer, and it was my
team that built the first high pressure forty two inch
pipeline in Texas, we put more forty two inch more
compression and a five year period, I think we spent
over seven billion dollars in that five year period that

(23:04):
I worked there. And so that's just at the pace
in which I had learned to run and pace which
we were running then, and when I quit that job
and started Howard Energy, that's the pace we've run actually
from the day we started. So fourteen years in business,
we've probably grown at about one hundred and fifty percent
compound and annual growth rate. Last year happened to be

(23:24):
an accumulation of a number of things. One, we have
just the best executive team around me that it could
accomplish big things. We have the best investors that don't
think that we're not publicly traded. We're private.

Speaker 2 (23:36):
You know.

Speaker 4 (23:37):
I started it and used investors from the outside, some public,
some private. We've used sovereign wealth, we've used pension, we've
used infrastructure funds, and we use public bonds and to
grow our business over the last fourteen years. And so
last year was an accumulation of continuous strategy with great investors,

(24:00):
a great management team, and we had like one point
one billion dollars of opportunities landed our lap and we
had the balance sheet to do it. You know. So
what we're going to do this year, We've done a
lot this year.

Speaker 3 (24:12):
We're probably not.

Speaker 4 (24:12):
Going to announce some of it. But I was telling
you before. We think very long term. We think in decades.
Were not publicly traded. We think in quarters. So we're
looking at ways that we can position ourselves to intersect
with energy needs. So when we got into Mexico years ago,
it looks great now.

Speaker 3 (24:30):
Well, we got into.

Speaker 4 (24:30):
Mexico because it was we believed our solution to immigration
problems before immigration problems became a problem, even back in
the twenty twelve timeframe. We wanted to if you could
provide jobs and stability and more energy people want to
live in their home country, they don't want to come
to the US. And so our thought was that we

(24:52):
can get more energy to connect the largest natural gas
county in Texas to the largest natural gas user of
Latin America, which is monitor in Mexico. And we we
figured out how to put a pipeline into Mexico to
start that. Whenever we total came to the US and
wanted to build a custom gasoline export facility, which we

(25:12):
have in Port Arthur, we had land and had thought
ahead many many years to know that if we own
that piece of land and you have the largest refineries
in the Gulf Coast across the across basically the street
from you, they're going to need you eventually. Now we
have the largest renewable diesel terminal in Texas. We have
one of the largest gasoline export custom export facilities there

(25:35):
for Totel there in Port Arthur. We have a very
large diesel export facility here because we're the closest refining
complex to Mexico.

Speaker 2 (25:43):
This does sound very strategic, so like.

Speaker 4 (25:45):
So for many many many years we've been doing this
and just sat last year and the good news is
I don't have to break the record this year. We're
not we're not publicly traded. I believe if you're not growing,
you're dying. But also I'm not trying to meet the
next one point one. We have no growth expectations and
no exit strategy, so we're going to be in business
for decades.

Speaker 3 (26:04):
I want to be.

Speaker 4 (26:05):
You know, I'm still considering myself young, and that's what
I want to do. I'm having fun, as what you know.
I think we have the best team, so we're going
to continue thinking ahead. If you read about a strategy
in the Wall Street Journal, you're probably about three years behind.
So we try to stay three to five years ahead
of where everybody else is thinking.

Speaker 2 (26:24):
You know, very nice. I don't think retirement is really
what it's set up. I liked using my brain every.

Speaker 4 (26:30):
But it's not Marvel cabulary here. Yes, exactly.

Speaker 2 (26:33):
Let's take a quick break. When we return, I want
to pivot back to Corpus Christy, the Channel Improvement Project.
You're listening to the Energy Mixed radio show, and we'll
be right back.

Speaker 6 (26:43):
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four oh seventy one eighty eight.

Speaker 2 (27:22):
And we're back. You're listening to the Energy Mix radio show.
My guest today Kent Britton, CEO of the Port of
Corpus Christy and Mike Howard, CEO of Poward Energy. Kent,
let's talk about Corpus Christy Ship Channel improvement project that
is now completed. How will the deepening and widening of
the channel reshape the port's role in a global energy

(27:44):
export and attract new investment.

Speaker 3 (27:46):
I'd love to have your beautiful new bridge. So cool
it is and this is a great view. Yeah, grow
this the earlier you've been able to watch the Thank
you so much, so I will make this comment first.
First of all, the channel project, which I'll tell you
a little bit more about, was it the works basically
for thirty five years. This bridge has been in the
works for almost twenty years. Two giant infrastructure projects, and

(28:08):
they cut the ribbon on both of them within the
same month. Wow, which is just totally odd how that
all came together all at once. The Channel project specifically, though,
you know, six hundred million dollar project, it's a cost
share with the federal government and the Port of Corpus Christie.
So federal government is the owner of the channel, right,

(28:30):
we're the non federal sponsor of the channel. And you know,
similar to to Mike's comment earlier about you know, he's
not a public company, so he doesn't feel like he
has to break records. He doesn't have to doing. Yeah,
we've been blessed now to grow for seven consecutive years,
and we grew by about four percent in the first
half of the year also, but that's not our focus.

(28:51):
Our focus is to make our customers who have to
use this ship channel the most competitive in the markets
they're competing with you here in the US, most competitive
against the markets they're competing with around the rest of
the world, and make them the most efficient at getting
their jobs done, which is you know, in our case,
mostly moving energy. So the channel is just one part

(29:13):
of doing that in this project, by being able to
use bigger ships and fully load bigger ships, our customers
are saving roughly two hundred million dollars a year in
transportation costs. That's a huge number. Oil in particular is heavy.
So the more you can load and the deeper you
can get those ships, and the bigger ships you can
get in here, the more money you can save on
your transportation costs. And so we think we've done a lot,

(29:36):
and we did that without charging our customers any sort
of additional fees. Other ports have done channel deepening projects
and come back with a search charge, you know, on
their customers to help pay for that. We were able,
we were in a position, through the growth that was
occurring here because of the shale boom, to be able
to fund that ourselves. And so we put in two
hundred and twenty five million dollars of our own money

(29:57):
into that channel. And for a what is a relative
smallport that's doing a lot of big things, that's a
lot of that's a lot of money. And so we
re issued bonds in order to do part of that.
Gave the market certainty it was going to happen, and
it's done now. It took from really first first dirt
dug in twenty eighteen. It took us almost seven years

(30:17):
while to get it finished, but we had been working
on it. We did the feasibility study that was approved
by Congress or by the corp of Engineers literally thirty
five years ago, and it was first funded by Congress
in word of two thousand and seven, so eighteen years ago.
It has been a long road to get there, and
so I credit I really credit the former administrations because

(30:38):
it actually started under Harry PLUMERTI was the executive director
at the time, through John learruese tenure, through Shawn's tenure,
and then I.

Speaker 4 (30:46):
Had the Yeah, I was blessed.

Speaker 3 (30:48):
I was blessed to be the guy that was sitting
here when it actually got done and got to get
up on the stage and and take some credit for it.
But I tried to distribute that credit to all the
folks who have worked on it.

Speaker 2 (30:58):
I don't think that's our listeners quite stand though, that
some of the bottlenecks that we experienced. Ports ports are
one of the most vital and most important thing that
we have in exchanging commodities on anything. Rather, it's containers crude, LNG,
you name it. This was the first actual government funding

(31:19):
project of a port in how many years?

Speaker 3 (31:22):
It had been quite a while for this type of port.
So most of the focus in the US and still
I'm not going to complain about government funding, but even
still is heavily directed toward container ports. And so this
was a this was a big deal. And like I said,
it was it was authorized by Congress in two thousand
and seven, and we just kept asking for funding and
fighting for funding and talking to our congressman and senators

(31:45):
about funding and just couldn't get it there. And it
was actually Michael Cloud who had just the you know,
an opportunity to sit with President Trump during President Trump's
first term on Air Force One and Congress Cloud was
a brand new congressman at the time.

Speaker 2 (32:02):
He had the opportunity to can you event on the
job too week?

Speaker 3 (32:04):
No, I know you would one, sure, right? No, I
mean just to you know, it's customary, I think if
you've got, you know, congressman of your own party to
offer them right home. He got offered a ride home.
We had just briefed him on Hey, He's like, what
was sho I know about Poort Corpus Christie. Well, we
need funding for a channel project because it will unlock
this port and unlock the efficiency of American energy not

(32:28):
just for the rest of America, but for the entire world.
And man, he took that message and got asked, you know, hey,
what's important in your distrit great story. Well, I was
just int the port of Corpus Christie, and they need
money to do a channel deepening project. And once that
money starts flowing from the federal government, it doesn't usually stop. Now,
it did stop in the first year of the last administration,

(32:48):
the Biden administration, when they put restrictions on corp of
engineers not being able to use money to improve oil
and gas companies and benefit of oil and gas companies.
But then once the war in Ukraine started, I think
people everyone across parties realized the importance of American energy
and how important it was going to be to be
able to get that energy the rest of the world.

(33:08):
And so we can now fully load a Suezmax where
we couldn't before, and we can now load the very
largest crude carrier, which are vlccs, to about one point
six million barrels they hold too, and then they just
have to top them off offshore with a single small
ship that comes out. And so we're moving more oil
now than we were five years ago with fewer ships.

(33:28):
So that's good for the environment, that's good for UCY
efficiency here in the port, and makes all of our
customers more competitive.

Speaker 2 (33:36):
Well, speaking about crude and energy, Mike, what metrics do
you guys use to evaluate the success of more energy,
better carbon strategy, especially in the terms of admission reduction
and low carbon initiatives as well.

Speaker 4 (33:50):
Yeah, one of the things that we put out a
positive energy report every year and we don't.

Speaker 3 (33:53):
Know, we don't have to.

Speaker 4 (33:54):
It's kind of our annual report to show what exactly
it is we're doing. It's kind of unique for a
private company. And so you know by the projects that
we're doing renewable diesel in Port Arthur, the Pipeline of
Mexico alone, by converting off a fuel and coal for
the electricity converting to natural gas, that's like equivalent of
taking two million cars off the roads, the carbon equivalent

(34:15):
of removing two million cars off the road because you're
using a lower carbon fuel source. So we are not
going to uh and we also with the Port of
Corpus Christie partnership. We have, you know, a Department of
Energy grant for carbon sequestration. We don't make the market.
If the market wants carbon better products, if they want
cleaner ammonia, if they want you know, lower carbon uh,

(34:36):
natural gas, we are we have the technical expertise to
provide that. What we're not going to do is put
a bunch of money to hope that the federal government
continues to subsidize the business. So we believe the world
needs more energy, carbon better if they're willing to if
corporations and people are willing to pay for carbon better, great,
you know, we we have the bitch stream expertise, the
technical expertise to provide that. And so uh between our

(35:00):
natural gas projects, carbon sequestration, renewable diesel, those are all
examples of ways that we kind of measure our success
at lower carbon.

Speaker 2 (35:10):
I've been doing this job fourteen years and I just
want to say I've interviewed a lot of CEOs, and
truly all of them are amazing. But you not only
walk in a CEO in an energy spirit, but you
also actually walk to me in a way that is
just when you took that break and had to say
to yourself, because I've interviewed you many times that you

(35:33):
needed to answer the question are you harming the planet?
Are you helping the planet? And you embody that in
just how you run your companies and how the perception is.
You're right, you don't have to produce this positive energy report,
but yet you do it. And I think some of
it might be to keep telling yourself and your employees
we're doing the right thing. We are the guys with

(35:53):
the white capes, and we are making the world a
better planet and somebody has to do it. Let's take
a quick break when we were I want to get
back on strategic questions, drilling into a little bit more
what's going on here at the port. You're listening to
the Energy Mixed Radio show. We'll be right back, and
we're back. You're listening to the Energy Mixed Radio show.

(36:14):
My guest today Kent Britain, CEO of the Port of
Corpus Christy and Mike Coward, CEO of Powered Energy. Kent
what contingency plans are in place to address the delays
and safety concerns tied to the infrastructure project like the
Harbor Bridge removal, and which could impact the region logistically
and investors' confidence sure as well.

Speaker 3 (36:34):
We're still waiting to get a final commissioning plan, but
it should be that it should be closing in the
next couple of weeks because right now it still provides
access to North Beach, Okay, and then they need about
four weeks to get it ready and then it should
come down by the end of September. The main span,
the middle part the harbor bridge, is only sitting fifty
five feet from into this building, and so they've already

(36:54):
closed off this parking lot of the tier. They're starting
to work on preparation plans. So they're going to cut
the middle span well. First they're going to take four
big cranes and attach it to the top of the
middle span, the center span, cut it on both ends
and lower it down onto a barge. And then we're
going to take it out to a large heavy Haull
dock that's out on the Kinta Channel and they'll put
it up there. There's a heavy hall road that g

(37:16):
GCGV used when they were constructing their plant. They'll roll
it off into a big field and they'll cut it
up out there, and then they're going to start taking
this thing down one stick of the time, right, it's
a metal trust bridge. So so we're working with tech
dot on those plans. I mean, the original plan was
they wanted weeks to get it down, you know, so
the ship channel will be closed for weeks. Three hundred

(37:38):
and fifty million dollars a day of goods go through
this waterway. You can't close this even for days, right
without impacting the rest of the world. At the top,
he's to do business here. So we're working on that.
We've got some contingency plans. We'll have assets ready in
case something doesn't go perfect. On a more personally for

(38:00):
the folks at the port, we may have to work
from home for a month when there's do it the
but we we set ourselves up to do that during
COVID and we kept those in place, and so now
when we have a freeze event, for example, we just
tell folks now we're you know, unless you're critical here
and you're actually operating something, then work from home. I mean,
so we're going to work through all of that. I

(38:21):
think our customers know. I mean, obviously it's got to
come down. The new bridge is a tremendous step forward.
For Corpus. It's going to open this port up to
other forms of.

Speaker 4 (38:30):
Development's so beautiful, I appeal too.

Speaker 3 (38:35):
I mean it will be. It will be a signature
piece of Corpus Christy and they're gonna put the lights
on it. It's gonna have a light package similar facelift. Yeah, no,
it's it's beautiful and so we'll we'll take full advantage
of it from a port perspective. Over time, this one's
got to come down and then there are plans. There
are big plans for what will go in the old
right away of this bridge as well, so we'll create

(38:58):
some green space on this side. I think the aquarium
on that side. It's got some really big plans on
North Beach. Great for that test right away. There's just
a lot, a lot that can be done for development
and Corpus can continue to grow.

Speaker 1 (39:10):
Great.

Speaker 2 (39:10):
Excellent, Mike, I want to pivot to you. How has
your company leveraged AI driven energy demands, particularly from data
centers to shape the future infrastructure investments and are you
actually using some of that AI to actually help with
if we should ever have another COVID You're fully prepared
in the way it's cybersecurity and stuff that you've learned,

(39:31):
and is any of it being used to AI?

Speaker 4 (39:33):
Yeah, so that our business got more resilient.

Speaker 3 (39:36):
Right.

Speaker 4 (39:36):
We already had twenty four hour operations because we would
flow energy twenty four hours a day, seven days a week,
and our data centers that we have control centers for
doing that always stayed in business. It was the people
that we had to get some reliability on their side.
We're putting computers at their house so they can work
from home or the office depending on what's going on.
So now we're much more prepared from an AI standpoint.

(39:56):
We think of AI two different ways. One, we use
it internally as a thought partner, as a way that
we are It's helping us manage and ask better questions.
And I don't think it replaces and our business. It
doesn't replace employees. I think it amplifies the work they're doing.
That's say.

Speaker 3 (40:12):
I think it makes it better their thing is doing.

Speaker 4 (40:14):
Is it helps our business processes when we get data
in We've always had data coming in from our systems
from throughout the US and Mexico. It comes into a
central place and it's handled by many different people, many
different ways. With AI, it should improve those business processes.
So again you get more capacity out of the individuals
that are putting in data today, they will get rearranged
to do other things. So as we grow as a business,

(40:36):
you may not add as many people, but I don't
think it replaces people's jobs. From an energy needs standpoint,
every bit of data is energy. So if you look
at you know, Mark Mills, data from the NCEEA or
other people have documented this. You know your phone, your
iPhone uses about a refrigerator's worth of energy already, you know,
So there's a data center somewhere that holds this information

(40:57):
that you access with your iPhone or this YouTube video
that you've uploaded, and that every bit of data requires
energy and it's accelerating. So these data centers that you
read about now, and the lack of electricity that we've
built in the US, not just Texas. The energy consumption
of the US has been relatively flat for twenty years,

(41:17):
believe or not, because as we replace coal plants for
natural gas plants, those efficiency games, and also we've offshort
are manufacturing, so the industrial we have less industrial need
today for energy. We've actually been flat on energy use
in the US. Now we're seeing a velocity increase in
energy use because of AI and LNG export. That's the

(41:37):
two things that are increasing energy use in the US.
And we see, gosh, if you're using one hundred bcf
a day of natural gas, that's a term for natural
gas production. Right now, AI alve in the next five
years are playing the seven to ten more bcf to
day for electricity plants to feed data centers. And if
it's true that data is going to be tied to energy,

(41:58):
which I think it is, I don't see that stopping.
So our supply chains, our energy infrastructure. We're about to
go through a huge industrialization in the US for additional
power plants, additional distribution and transmission wires, additional pipelines, and
additional manufacturing. If if this administration is successful bringing manufacturing

(42:18):
to US, you need energy for that. So if you
can't tell, I'm very bullish on AI, very bullish on
energy in the US and the world together.

Speaker 2 (42:27):
Interesting, Ken, let me switch to you real quick. Is
the port Obviously you guys are aware of AI too.
How are you guys incorporating it for efficiency and stuff?

Speaker 3 (42:35):
Yes, so we're still on the very early stages of that. Now,
if you talk to our customers, I think you'll find
a different answer where they're starting to incorporate it into
the production processes and their control processes and those kind
of things. We're just kind of conduit, right, So we're
a landlord port. If I had to could, we could
shed down our computer systems and we could still get

(42:55):
boats in and out here. That's with old handheld handheld
radios talking to our pilots and our line handlers and
our tug companies.

Speaker 2 (43:04):
So that's nice to know that you all are not
dependent on today's technology, which I think is we get
more and more accustomed to it. I can't do without
co pilot to day, but I can, and I think
I am kind of addicted to.

Speaker 3 (43:18):
Yeah, But from an administrative standpoint and actually running the
port and keeping up with accounting and all of our
revenue record keeping that starts actually in our harbourmaster office,
we are exploring, now how does AI handle that? Then
you take how do we predict where we're gonna get
shoaling on our ship channel, for example, so that we
can do proactive dredging instead of reactive dredging. We just

(43:41):
actually did a reactive dredging incident that we handled on
our on our own, but we were actually having a
draft restriction at the entrance start looking to the channel
that was keeping one of our key customers from bringing
in fully leaderships. And so we addressed it really quickly
because the government doesn't move quite as swiftly, but it
would have been really nice to go we know that
area shoals more frequently, or hey, we just finished the

(44:04):
dredging project and so maybe we're going to get some
material that comes off of that before it really gets settled,
which takes several years. How can AI help us do that?
And so we actually have a team that's on our
digital Transformation team where we're trying to figure out how
to how to use that effectively to again make our
customers who use the waterway the most effective and efficient

(44:27):
organizations they can possibly be, because that's, at the end
of the day, I mean, that's what we're here for.

Speaker 2 (44:30):
I think it's so strange though that two entirely different
types of companies in mind a media company, the way
that we're going to be able to utilize AI in
a way that is specific to our needs to help
us become more efficient and grow. It's just it's massively
growing gentlemen, thank you for being a guest on a
very very special episode to US five hundred show. Thank

(44:51):
you for joining me to again.

Speaker 3 (44:52):
Congratulations, congratulations. Thanks, I'm proud of The.

Speaker 1 (44:55):
Energy Mixed Radio show is where we explore topics that
affect us all in the oil and gas industry. Every week,
our host will interview the movers and shakers in this
fast paced industry. As you'll hear from industry experts, collected officials,
and many more on the Energy Mix Radio Show.