Fact-Checking Abbott’s Gas Price Claim and the Venezuela Connection
Texas Governor Greg Abbott recently took to social media to celebrate falling gas prices in the Lone Star State, declaring that sub-$2 per gallon fuel is “coming to a station near you.”
Gas prices are going down in Texas.
— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) January 7, 2026
Below $2 a gallon coming to a station near you. pic.twitter.com/BA27SwbSoa
With recent headlines about U.S. military action in Venezuela, some are wondering if there’s a connection. Here’s what the data actually shows.
The Gas Price Reality
Abbott’s claim checks out. While the Texas statewide average hovered around $2.39 per gallon in early January 2026, numerous stations across the state have already broken the $2 barrier. Parts of East Texas saw prices dip below $2 in late December, and Houston stations were selling gas for as low as $1.98 by early January. Some locations reported prices as low as $1.90 per gallon.
This represents a significant drop from earlier levels. In early December 2025, the statewide average stood at $2.52 per gallon, meaning Texans have seen roughly 16 cents per gallon in savings over just a few weeks.
Not About Venezuela
The timing tells an important story. Gas prices in Texas had been declining steadily for weeks before the January 3, 2026 U.S. military operation that captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. The price drop appears driven by fundamental market forces rather than geopolitical events.
Industry analysts point to several factors: a global oil supply glut, declining gasoline demand, and the seasonal shift to cheaper winter-blend fuel. The International Energy Agency projects that oil supply will exceed demand in 2026 by nearly 4 million barrels per day. Interestingly, oil prices actually fell after the Venezuela operation, with Brent crude slipping to around $60 per barrel.
Even if the Venezuela situation eventually impacts oil markets, experts note that rebuilding the country’s deteriorated oil infrastructure would require years of investment. Any potential supply increases from Venezuela remain a long-term consideration rather than an immediate price factor.
Texas drivers are indeed seeing relief at the pump, and Abbott’s celebration is warranted. However, attributing this to recent military action oversimplifies a complex market dynamic driven by oversupply and weakening demand.
For now, Texans can enjoy the lower prices regardless of their cause.
An overnight shooting at a southwestern Travis County gas station has left one person dead and another injured.
A man from Buda was arrested on New Year’s Eve after allegedly stalking teen boys in Kyle.
Police are urging calm after a rash of recent homicides in the area.
The Austin Police Department is intensifying its focus on Club Rodeo following the fatal shooting of an off-duty Caldwell County Precinct 3 Deputy Constable.
A Bexar County daycare center employee is facing charges after video showed her physically abusing a child that resulted in a head injury.
Austin police are asking for the public’s help in identifying a suspect in an assault case from 2024.
Classes continued as normal Wednesday at three Austin ISD elementary schools after they were the subject of an online threat on Tuesday.
After 27 years without answers, police in Lexington, Kentucky, have brought Linda Rutledge’s family closure. Kentucky detectives believe the 44-year-old woman’s death in 1988 is linked to Robert Eugene Brashers, the accused killer in the 1991 Austin yogurt shop murders case.
PODCAST
On January 8, 1969, two University of Texas students were brutally murdered and the city of Austin barely noticed. Amid the nation’s first modern mass shooting, political violence littering the end of the decade, and the escalating Vietnam War, this shocking crime slipped through the cracks. But why was such a violent act erased from public memory? Host Nikki DeVaughn sits down with Texas Monthly contributor Steven Harrigan to investigate the forgotten murder, explore why it remained hidden for decades, and uncover the story Austin never knew it had.
APD released information about a fatal collision between a motorcycle and a bike in South Austin two weeks ago.
A woman was struck and killed early Monday morning on E. Koenig Lane.
Austin-Bergstrom International Airport will nearly double in size over the next decade.
We’re growing, together! ✈️
— Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (@AustinAirport) January 7, 2026
AUS, along with our airline and cargo partners, has finalized long-term agreements that pave the way for 32 new gates, a new Arrivals & Departures Hall and a redeveloped Concourse A experience.
Learn more here: https://t.co/X0LA8c0DyB pic.twitter.com/vIwppi6sAv
Construction is underway on Avalon Pointe, a 142-unit student housing development located near the University of Texas in Austin’s West Campus neighborhood.
The 10-story community will offer studio, one- and two-bedroom units.
Crews are still making emergency repairs after more than 100,000 gallons of untreated wastewater overflowed into the San Gabriel River in Georgetown.
A financial tech company is bringing hundreds of jobs to Austin with a new headquarters on South Congress Avenue. (KVUE-TV)
KXAN-TV‘s ‘s Avery Travis and Will DuPree sit down with Matt Mitchell from Austin Energy. He talks about what the utility group is doing to prevent wildfires as this week marks one year since those wildfires in California.
Cedar pollen levels were so high on Wednesday, there was a haze in the air.
Those aren't fires in Austin. It's cedar. @fox7austin pic.twitter.com/KffFGKAhxe
— Chris Walker (@WalkerATX) January 7, 2026
WEATHER
WEDNESDAY’S HIGH / LOW TEMPERATURES
AUSTIN-BERGSTROM INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT
CAMP MABRY
5-DAY FORECAST / AUSTIN, TEXAS
Texas lawmakers are weighing in on yesterday’s incident in Minneapolis where an ICE agent fatally shot and killed a woman.
.@JamesTalarico: When we win, we will launch a full investigation into ICE and we will haul these masked men in front of the Senate so the world can see their faces.
— Team Talarico (@TeamTalaricoHQ) January 7, 2026
We will pass a law requiring ICE agents to identify themselves, banning them from wearing masks, and banning… pic.twitter.com/KxOlc9RHdM
Texas Senator John Cornyn reposted this:
Deadly force is a predictable consequence of the decision to disregard the instructions of law enforcement and endanger their lives.
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) January 8, 2026
I’m grateful for ICE and the work they do to make our communities safer. pic.twitter.com/EQr4FJHKVv
ICE just murdered a U.S. citizen.
— Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett (@RepJasmine) January 7, 2026
This violence is the direct result of racist rhetoric coming from Donald Trump and his allies.
This is dangerous state-sanctioned violence. We will not stay silent while unqualified masked federal agents terrorize our communities.
As a civil rights attorney, I’m outraged by today’s ICE shooting in Minnesota that took a woman’s life. No family should lose a loved one this way. No community should live in this fear.
— Colin Allred (@ColinAllredTX) January 7, 2026
ICE has become a rogue agency — operating recklessly, terrorizing communities, and now… https://t.co/FaxXHN9i6h
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton reposted this:
I want every ICE officer to know that their president, vice president, and the entire administration stands behind them.
— JD Vance (@JDVance) January 8, 2026
To the radicals assaulting them, doxxing them, and threatening them: congratulations, we're going to work even harder to enforce the law.
Activist groups are planning a protest outside of Dallas City Hall this evening in the wake of an ICE agent killing a woman in Minnesota.
A judge presiding over the trial of a former school police officer charged after the deadly 2022 mass shooting in Uvalde, denied a motion by his attorneys Wednesday for a mistrial.
Faculty at Texas A&M University were told this week that roughly 200 courses in the College of Arts and Sciences could be affected by a new system policy restricting classroom discussions of race and gender, the implementation of which has already led administrators to direct a philosophy professor to remove Plato readings from a core course. (Texas Tribune)
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit Tuesday in Travis County District Court against the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) over a rule prohibiting religious ads in the Texas Driver Handbook and in DPS mailings.
The lawsuit argues that the rule infringes on Texans’ First Amendment.
Meanwhile, Paxton’s office says state investigators have detained 50 illegal aliens in the Houston area and turned them over to federal authorities for deportation. These immigration enforcement operations are being done in collaboration with President Donald Trump’s administration.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is beefing up its border security efforts along the Rio Grande, expanding on a controversial Texas strategy by placing large, floating buoys along more than 500 miles of the river.
WEX's @Anna_Giaritelli gets exclusive first look at wall of buoys installed in River at Texas border.
— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) January 7, 2026
MORE: https://t.co/6gFnoXtdXf pic.twitter.com/IZthiYRWV6
A U.S. Army veteran who was convicted of rape and suspected in as many as six murders will be dug up from a Texas military cemetery this year. The exhumation is the result of an online campaign by the son of one of the man’s victims, which caught the attention of Texas’ U.S. senators. (FOX 7 Austin)
A woman in her mid-20s was killed Wednesday afternoon after being shot in the head aboard a METRO bus in west Houston, leading police to launch an urgent manhunt for a gunman believed to still be in the area. (Houston Chronicle)
The Top 10 Most Stolen Vehicles in Texas for December 2025.
Autonomous semi-trucks are now on Texas roads.
A Texas woman is wanted for impersonating the family of a Camp Mystic victim and creating Spot Fund and GoFundMe fund raisers.
U.S. Rep. Dan Crenshaw sits down for an interview with host Jeremy Wallace to discuss why he supported President Donald Trump’s actions in Venezuela, but why he doesn’t believe U.S. soldiers will be needed on the ground there. The Houston Congressman is a member of the House Intelligence Committee and partly grew up in neighboring Colombia when Venezuela was a prosperous tourist destination. Also, Crenshaw responds to popular conservative podcaster Shawn Ryan, a fellow Navy SEAL, who has gone somewhat viral for accusing Crenshaw of threatening him – a charge Crenshaw calls bogus.
(Episode from January 7, 2026)
Texas hit a record number of sales for high-end homes this past year.
Bureau of Labor Statistics data shows more than 15 million people made up the state’s labor force.
SPORTS
NBA: It was a good night for the San Antonio Spurs. Not so much for the Houston Rockets.
Keldon Johnson scored 27 points, Victor Wembanyama added 16 points and 14 rebounds, and the San Antonio Spurs overcame Luka Doncic’s 38 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists to beat the Los Angeles Lakers 107-91 on Wednesday night.
San Antonio moved into second place in the Western Conference despite hitting just 4 of 25 3-pointers. (Yahoo! Sports)
Deni Avdija had a season-high 41 points and the Portland Trail Blazers won their fourth straight with a 103-102 victory over the Houston Rockets on Wednesday night. The Rockets have lost two of their last three games. (Yahoo! Sports)
ON THE SCHEDULE
The Spurs and Rockets rest tonight while the Dallas Mavericks travel to Utah.
STANDINGS
NHL: The Dallas Stars ended a six-game losing streak last night.
Radek Faksa scored a shorthanded goal, Casey DeSmith made 23 saves and the Dallas Stars ended their losing streak at six games by defeating the Washington Capitals 4-1 on Wednesday night. (Yahoo! Sports)
The Stars are off tonight and Friday. They resume action Saturday at San Jose.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL: Following a tragic accident that hospitalized Burnet native and former Texas Longhorn Jordan Shipley, the Burnet community is rallying around him.
Texas Football NEEDS Good Portal News Soon | LIVE | 1/8/26 | NFL | Texas MBB | Austin Sports Talk
Ted Danson and Woody Harrelson’s podcast Where Everybody Knows Your Name goes deep in the heart of Texas as they link up with Matthew McConaughey in his hometown of Austin! Matthew has stories for days: riding with Woody in Vietnam, Woody’s legendary hangs with Matthew’s mom, driving Woody nuts on “True Detective,” meeting his wife in a club, and more. The guys also get into Matthew’s writing, including his New York Times bestseller POEMS & PRAYERS.
The episode was recorded at Record ATX on North Lamar.
