{"id":312457,"date":"2026-05-28T14:44:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-28T14:44:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/312457\/"},"modified":"2026-05-28T14:44:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-28T14:44:14","slug":"south-texas-drought-adds-fuel-cost-risk-layer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/312457\/","title":{"rendered":"South Texas Drought Adds Fuel Cost Risk Layer"},"content":{"rendered":"

LUBBOCK, TEXAS (RFD NEWS) \u2014 South Texas drought is becoming more than a farm and ranch water issue as Corpus Christi refineries and chemical plants face possible water surcharges. According to OPIS<\/a>, the city is preparing for a projected Level 1 Water Emergency tied to a prolonged five-year drought.<\/p>\n

The region includes Valero<\/a>, Flint Hills Resources<\/a>, and Citgo<\/a> refineries, with a combined crude distillation capacity of 900,000 barrels per day. That equals about 5 percent of U.S. refining capacity.<\/p>\n

Most analysts do not expect major refinery production impacts on refinery production for now. Companies have been recycling, reclaiming, and reusing water, and some may absorb added costs rather than cut operations.<\/p>\n

Still, drought near a major refining and petrochemical hub poses a risk to agriculture. If shortages worsen, producers could eventually feel pressure through diesel, freight, irrigation fuel, chemicals, plastics, and fertilizer-related costs.<\/p>\n

The concern grows if drought overlaps with hurricanes, outages, strong summer demand, or tight inventories.<\/p>\n

Farm-Level Takeaway: Corpus Christi\u2019s water shortage may not disrupt fuel supplies now, but it adds another cost risk for diesel, freight and farm inputs.<\/p>\n

Tony St. James, RFD News Markets Specialist<\/p>\n

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\n Washington growers say this year\u2019s cherry crop may be smaller than last season but still strong enough to support promotions.\n <\/p>\n

May 27, 2026 11:48 AM<\/p>\n

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\n USDA approves disaster aid for Pennsylvania orchard and specialty crop growers after April freezes caused major crop damage statewide.\n <\/p>\n

May 27, 2026 11:29 AM<\/p>\n

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\"Crop<\/p>\n

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\n Drought and Planting Shape Weekly Crop Condition Recap\n <\/p>\n

May 26, 2026 04:07 PM<\/p>\n

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\"cotton<\/p>\n

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\n Drought remains a major risk, with the ERS reporting that 98 percent of the U.S. cotton production area was affected by drought in early May.\n <\/p>\n

May 26, 2026 02:32 PM<\/p>\n

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\n Low snowpack and rapid melt are heightening irrigation concerns across the West as farmers face falling reservoir levels and strained water supplies.\n <\/p>\n

May 26, 2026 12:25 PM<\/p>\n

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\n Farmers say weather extremes and rising costs are creating a more challenging season across Georgia peach country.\n <\/p>\n

May 26, 2026 12:09 PM<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00b7\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LUBBOCK, TEXAS (RFD NEWS) \u2014 South Texas drought is becoming more than a farm and ranch water issue…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":150853,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[27,29,28],"class_list":["post-312457","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312457","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=312457"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312457\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/150853"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=312457"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=312457"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=312457"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}