Industry Pulse: What 2026 Convention attendees say are midstream’s biggest challenges

Supply chain and labor issues were top-of-mind concerns in one-on-one interviews with 100 attendees of the 2026 GPA Midstream Convention, held Sept. 20-23 in San Antonio, Texas.

During the convention, I buttonholed 100 random midstream industry professionals on the convention floor to ask: "What do you think is the most important issue facing the midstream industry today?" The intentionally open-ended question invited convention attendees to share thoughts and engage in a discussion of the industry and its future.

Supply chain concerns dominated, with materials availability identified as the primary driver. While midstream professionals highlighted equipment, pricing, and lead times, the chief complaint was the simple lack of availability of nearly everything - tubes, pipes, rolled steel, wiring, and other equipment.

Labor, a perennial issue including craft labor and general manpower, was the second-ranked issue, and regulatory uncertainty/permitting was a strong third-ranked issue. Consolidation, data centers, politics (including geopolitics and national elections), and messaging rounded out the primary concerns identified.

Interestingly, AI data centers, while ranking a distant fifth in direct concerns, appeared to be the lurking monster behind supply chain and labor issues. Data center construction is backed by substantial capital, and that funding absorbs resources necessary to build any project - paying whatever is required to win.

Large midstream capital expenditures for system expansion to move gas from producers to market, the normal source of competition for resources, were never mentioned as a source of supply chain and labor problems.

This result may be in part due to artificial intelligence headlines dominating news stories and national discussions. Still, total domestic investment in data centers and related infrastructure is projected to total $10.3 trillion from 2025-32, according to new estimates by economist Stijn van Nieuwerburgh published by the Brookings Institution. Domestic midstream sector capital expenditures is expected to total $280 billion to $336 billion over the same period, according to Wood Group.

Attendees described one data center construction project in West Texas seeking to hire 3,000 electricians. Another told of a data center project, unable to rent equipment, seeking to acquire the equipment rental company. Data center developers were compared to the Borg from the Star Trek: The Next Generation series - absorbing everything they touch and chanting, "Resistance is futile!"

The shift in national political leadership in 2024 was supposed to alleviate concerns about the regulatory environment, and it did - from 35% in 2024 to 26% in 2025 to 12% this year. That this concern remains in the top three is testament to the reality that regulatory change is a slow-moving, politically driven issue, and to the regulatory whiplash that has followed each election.

Since the 2025 Convention survey, midstream concerns have moved from an environment driven by regulatory uncertainty to an industry driven by data center construction and liquefied natural gas demand. Concerns of industry professionals have shifted from uncertainty about planning to something more fundamental: the inability to gather materials and labor necessary to meet demand.

Unlike 2025, when many of the midstream industry's biggest challenges could be directly addressed by companies, 2026 concerns involve more partners and stakeholders:

1. Supply Chain. Speedily building artificial intelligence infrastructure drives survival in that sector, and the immediate cost of that build-out is of secondary importance to decisionmakers. Midstream's competition for materials and equipment with data center developers appears to be something to be endured over the next few years. While companies are constrained in responding to supply chain issues, they can still revisit planning processes and perhaps explore strategic relationships with service companies and competitors.
2. Labor. Some of the labor issues stem from the fact that the midstream sector is booming and expanding to meet LNG export needs, but the data center build-out rampage has introduced a new, if temporary, component to labor competition. Companies can meet this labor competition and mitigate the effects of an aging workforce and general recruiting challenges with specific actions. For example, executives can consider modifying mandatory retirement ages and instituting retention policies for critical people. Companies should reassess existing training programs to ensure they're meeting business needs and then make targeted investments. Companies can also hire and retain needed personnel by instituting incentive programs offering periodic cash bonuses or expanding existing stock option plans or creating new ones.
3. Regulations/Permitting. These issues are politically driven on the local, state, and federal level. Addressing them requires skilled advocacy work that supports regulatory and permitting reform at all levels of government. Messaging is an important part of this effort - targeting citizens and voters, as well as regulators and politicians.

Multiple speakers at the 2026 Convention said companies and organizations such as GPA Midstream are on the right path when they collaborate to constructively engage in discourse with regulatory and political leaders. The goal of that engagement is to equip policymakers with the resources they need to make smart, practical decisions for our energy system.

This message also points to the need for the industry to work collaboratively to better engage and educate society and voters about the value of the midstream industry to them. One such initiative is GPA Midstream's Let's Clear the Air campaign, which industry professionals can support.

GPA Midstream has a history of working cooperatively with regulatory agencies and legislators to achieve practical solutions to statutory and regulatory goals. To join the effort to engage with government policymakers, consider joining a GPA Midstream committee. These committees are forums where industry peers work together to provide detailed comments responding to regulatory proposals and to advocate on behalf of the midstream.

Thomas Kalb is Director of the Coastal Bend Midstream Program at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. He is a regular contributor to the Let's Clear the Air blog and Midstream News, where he writes about issues, policies, and considerations impacting how we produce and use energy.