The sudden drop in temperatures across 14 states in the US, including the country's energy capital, Texas, may have longer-term implications for energy transition in the world's largest fossil-fuel producer.
Severe storms blanketed the southern state under snow, with temperatures falling as low as -8 degrees Celsius (17.6 Fahrenheit), equivalent to the weather in the country's northern-most state of Alaska.
More than 4.3 million households and businesses faced an electricity blackout, while nearly 400,000 homes in states stretching from Louisiana in the south-east to Ohio in the mid-west were also cut off from power.
The disruption of natural gas exports to Mexico, which lies to the south of the US, took power stations offline, leaving more than 4.7 million homes without power.
Critical energy infrastructure including oil and gas, as well as wind, which accounts for 25 per cent of supply in the winter, failed to generate electricity as equipment froze in the Arctic-like temperatures.
Wind turbines stopped rotating as the equipment was not designed to withstand severe climatic conditions such as those witnessed across nearly a third of the US.
The severe weather event could throw a major spanner in the works of the US's ongoing energy transition, the world's largest producer of oil and gas, according to Stephen Innes, chief global market strategist at Axi.
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Pump jacks operate in the Permian Basin in Midland, Texas. The Arctic freeze gripping the central US is raising the spectre of power cuts in the state and placing pressure on energy already trading at record prices. Bloomberg -
Brett Archibad entertains his family as they try to stay warm in their home the Blackhawk district in Pflugerville, Texas. Anger about the state’s power grid failure mounted on Tuesday. AP -
Howard and Nena Mamu eat dinner at their home in the Glenwood district in Hutto, Texas. AP -
People queue to buy food at a petrol station in Pflugerville, Texas. Most homes in the area had been without electricity for nearly eight hours. Power companies performed rotating cuts to protect the grid. AP -
People queue to fill their empty propane tanks in Houston. The temperature stayed below freezing on Tuesday. AP -
Christopher Harris, left, his wife Novi and their daughter Keeva occupy an office suite at a pop-up warming centre in Richardson, Texas. It is one of seven such places in the city, offering a place to keep warm and charge devices. AP -
Freezer sections are closed off at Fiesta supermarket on February 16, 2021, in Houston, Texas. Winter storm Uri brought historic cold weather, power cuts and traffic accidents to Texas as storms swept through 26 states. AFP -
Shell Timewise service station in Pflugerville, Texas, turned away people who needed petrol. Most homes in the area were without power for nearly eight hours. AP -
The grounds of the Capitol in Austin, Texas, are covered in snow. AP -
A car park is covered in snow at DIY store Home Depot in the Westbury district in Houston. A winter storm that is making its way from America’s southern plains to the northeast is affecting air travel. AP -
The Trinity River is mostly frozen after a snow storm in Fort Worth. A frigid blast of winter weather across the US has left more than two million people in Texas without power. AP -
Annie Boon, 5, creates a snow angel while sledging with her family in Austin. AP -
People play in the snow in Butler Park in Austin. AP -
A worker clears snow from a car park in Midland, Texas. Blackouts triggered by frigid weather have spread to more than four million homes and businesses across the central US and parts of Mexico. Bloomberg -
Francisco Sanchez wipes snow off his car with a boogie board before going out sledging with his kids at Memorial Park in El Paso, Texas. Reuters -
Horses wait for the ice in their trough to be broken in Bastrop county, near Austin, Texas. Reuters -
Mia Donjuan, 4, falls off her sledge as she slides down a hill in the Elmwood district of Dallas. AP -
Baylor University students enjoy their snow day without classes while posing near a fountain on campus in Waco, Texas. AP -
Pedestrians walk on along a snow-covered street in Austin. Winter storm Uri has brought unusual cold to Texas, causing traffic delays and power cuts. Storms have swept across 26 states. AFP -
Honey Russell clears the pavement outside her home after heavy snowfall in Fort Worth, Texas. Winter storm Uri has brought freezing weather to Texas. AFP -
People push a car free after spinning out in the snow in Waco, Texas. A winter storm that brought snow and ice across the southern Plains stretched its frigid fingers down to the Gulf Coast. AP -
A woman walks through falling snow in San Antonio. AP -
Two people play in the snow in San Antonio. AP -
Snow ploughs clear a lane of the I-30 motorway in Dallas. The Nashville Predators and the Dallas Stars NHL hockey game on Monday was postponed at the request of Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson owing to a power shortage. AP -
The sun sets as a lone vehicle sits in a snow-covered parking garage at American Airlines Centre. AP
"I think we're going to see more of a pivot back to shale from an investment perspective," he said.
Around 1 million barrels per day of US production has been taken offline, with the benchmark West Texas Intermediate surging above $60 per barrel for the first time in a year.
The production currently offline could return in "two weeks" with the energy industry likely to make upgrades to infrastructure and capitalise on the recent price rallies, Mr Innes said.
A resurgence of shale on the back of scepticism over the endurance of renewable energy in such conditions is likely to deter the US's ongoing transition plans.
President Joe Biden's administration plans to push for a $2 trillion clean energy investment agenda, nudged by the green elements of the Democratic caucus.
Mr Biden, who reversed major changes to the US energy policy such as rejoining the Paris Agreement upon inauguration and halting drilling across federal lands, is likely to face pushback from the energy industry as well as politicians from within his own Democratic party.
The deep freeze across the US is likely to energise the oil industry to lobby on the premise of the indispensability of fossil fuels in dire climatic conditions.
Apart from wind, the icy temperatures also shut down natural gas, coal and nuclear power plants, which together make up around two thirds of the energy mix in Texas.
Questions are being raised about the operability of wind and solar under such conditions, even as the scenario sheds light on the change in weather patterns due to climate change.
"Climate deniers are unlikely to be shaken by the recent events, probably arguing that the world should be getting hotter, and not snowing outside," said Jeffrey Halley, senior market analyst, Asia Pacific at Oanda.
"That misses the point that climate change will mean parts of the world will get hotter, and some much colder. Meaningful acceptance of climate change will need to come from the top down, which starts in Washington DC," he added.
Mr Biden will have a long road ahead pushing for meaningful clean energy investments even as he tries to pass a contested $1.9tn stimulus package, Mr Halley said.
Mr Biden's presidential campaign pledge of a $2tn green agenda may not translate into reality, he added.
With 13 people dead across the US, the deep freeze may well be a reminder to the White House to push for much-needed upgrades in power generation systems.
"The blackouts in the central US and Mexico are not solely due to wind turbines freezing," Mr Halley said, adding, "[its] rather a cascading series of failures across the whole energy value chain."
