Recorded live on the morning of day two at the 2025 North American Gas Forum, this episode of the Energy Perspectives Podcast captures a midpoint reflection on what had already emerged from day one discussions and what leaders were focused on as the forum continued.

Will Bernholz moderates a conversation with Monika Simoes, CEO of Energy Dialogues, and Mara Abbott, Chief of Staff at OpenMinds, to synthesize insights heard across panels, private conversations, and policy remarks during the opening day of NAGF.

Together, they compare notes on where alignment was clearly forming, where constraints were surfacing, and what participants were eager to hear as the dialogue moved into its second day.

The discussion reflects:

• How operators emphasized the infrastructure bottlenecks shaping projects outcomes
• What policymakers said about permitting reform and regulatory certainty
• Where investors flagged data center demand colliding with long lead times

This episode offers a real time checkpoint from inside the forum, grounded in what was heard at NAGF and the questions still shaping conversations.

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Learn more about Energy Dialogues and upcoming forums at: https://www.energy-dialogues.com

Learn more about the North American Gas Forum: https://energy-dialogues.com/events/north-american-gas-forum/

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In this episode of the Energy Perspectives Podcast, recorded on-site at Permian Energy Dialogues in 2025, Beth Garza sits down with James Lackey, Director of Customer Relations at Xcel Energy, to examine how utilities are responding to unprecedented load growth in the Permian Basin.

As electrification accelerates across oil and gas operations and broader industrial demand continues to rise, utilities are confronting system expansion timelines that strain traditional planning, permitting, and regulatory processes. Lackey outlines what it means to plan for a system that could double in size within a few years, while still maintaining reliability and affordability for customers.

From multi-gigawatt demand projections to customers waiting years for service, this conversation captures how infrastructure bottlenecks and regulatory sequencing challenges are already shaping investment decisions, customer behavior, and grid economics across the region.

Key Themes:

• Rapid system growth and compressed planning timelines

• Multi-gigawatt load driven by oil and gas electrification

• Interconnection delays and near-term economic impacts

• Customer self-generation and microgrid adoption

• Misalignment between generation and transmission approval processes

Register for upcoming Energy Dialogues forums: https://www.energy-dialogues.com

In this episode, Jason Bennett, Department Chair - Global Projects, Partner at Baker Botts L.L.P., sits down with Bret Estep, Vice President, Development at Tenaska, and Reid Calhoon, CEO of Climate Wells, live from the Carbon Solutions Forum 2025 in La Jolla. Together they explore how the energy industry is aligning profitability and decarbonization through infrastructure innovation, market incentives, and pragmatic investment strategies.

Key insights from the episode include:

• Profitability as a sustainability driver: why lasting decarbonization must include a viable business case and market incentives.
• Voluntary carbon markets gaining maturity: how independent verification and corporate demand are reshaping private-sector climate action.
• Infrastructure timelines and investment realism: balancing ambition with the operational realities of large-scale, low-carbon project development.
• Methane reduction as near-term impact: addressing legacy wells and emissions-intensive fields through practical, profitable solutions.
• Collaboration over polarization: why inclusive, cross-sector approaches remain the most effective path to "more energy, fewer emissions."

In this episode, recorded on-site at the 2024 North American Gas Forum (NAGF), Carolyn Kissane, Assistant Dean MS in Global Affairs, Global Security, Conflict and Cybercrime at NYU sits down with Kevin Skillern, Managing Partner at Energy Innovation Capital to explore why we're currently in a "golden age of innovation" for the energy sector and what it means for investors, operators, and policymakers.

Key insights from the episode include:

• Energy as the foundation of modern prosperity and the need to balance growth, emissions reduction, and security.

• Affordability and reliability as non-negotiables, keeping secure supply at the center of decarbonization strategies.

• Methane mitigation as the fastest lever: how large-scale detection can cut global emissions by 4–5% with technologies ready to scale today.

• Shifting supply chains and breakthrough technologies, from rare earths outside China to next-gen batteries driving 20–30% cost reductions.

👉 Register for upcoming Energy Dialogues forums: https://energy-dialogues.com/events/

In this episode of EDU Connect by Energy Dialogues, Michael Wood speaks with Chad Zamarin, President & CEO of Williams, about leading in a time of rapid change in the energy sector. The conversation covers Chad's career journey, the role of natural gas and infrastructure in delivering affordable, reliable, lower-emission energy, and why now is a defining moment for students and young professionals to build impactful careers in energy.

In this episode of the Energy Perspectives Podcast, recorded on-site at the Permian Energy Dialogues in September 2024, Tiffany Wallace, Manager, Policy & External Affairs at Oxy, Steve Coffee, President of the Produced Water Society, and Mike Hightower, Director of the New Mexico Produced Water Research Consortium, discuss the regulatory, cultural, and operational realities of scaling produced water reuse in the Permian Basin.

From trust-building and science communication to the need for clear regulatory frameworks, this episode examines what it will take to move produced water reuse from pilots to large-scale deployment.

Key Themes:

• Evolving from voluntary efforts to regulatory clarity
  
  

• Building public trust through transparency and education
  
  

• Aligning cross-sector collaboration for shared water challenges
  
  

• Reframing produced water as a resource with economic potential
  
  

• Leveraging data and demonstration sites to accelerate acceptance
  
  

Register for upcoming Energy Dialogues forums: https://www.energy-dialogues.com

From LNG and permitting to hydrogen and CCS, Rob shares insights on natural gas's evolving role in U.S. energy policy—and offers real-world advice for students entering the sector.

In this episode of the Energy Perspectives Podcast, recorded on-site at the Permian Energy Dialogues in September 2024, moderator Tillery Sims leads a dynamic conversation with Chris Johnson (CEO, Agrellus) and Andrew Walsh (VP Customer Success, Qube Technologies).
From methane tracking to carbon markets, the discussion explores how agriculture and energy are building shared frameworks for emissions data, verification, and voluntary market value.

Key Themes:

• Methane monetization opportunities

• Voluntary carbon market acceleration

• Cross-sector emissions data collaboration

• Financial and regulatory implications of carbon transparency
  
  

🔗 Register for upcoming Energy Dialogues forums: https://energy-dialogues.com/ped/register-2025/