According to DCD, ExxonMobil is in advanced talks with power providers and tech companies to supply data centers with natural gas plants that integrate carbon capture and storage systems. During the company’s Q3 2025 earnings call, CEO Darren Woods revealed they aim to capture up to 90% of CO2 emissions from gas plants serving the data center sector. Woods stated they’re “pretty advanced in the conversations” and have already secured locations while leveraging existing infrastructure. He positioned Exxon as the “only realistic game in town” for low-emission data center power in the near to medium term. This follows their December announcement of a planned 1.5GW natural gas plant dedicated to data centers, marking the first time Exxon would build a power plant not supplying its own operations.
The Bigger Picture
Here’s the thing – this isn’t some random diversification play. Exxon sees the massive energy demands of AI and data centers as a golden business opportunity. They’re basically saying, “Look, renewables can’t scale fast enough to meet this insane power demand, but we can provide ‘low-carbon’ power right now.” And they’re not wrong about the timing. With AI workloads exploding and everyone from Microsoft to Google scrambling for clean power, there’s a huge gap between ambition and reality.
What’s really interesting is how they’re leveraging their entire value chain. They’ve got the natural gas, the power generation expertise, and now they’re adding carbon capture to the mix. It’s a pretty clever way to stay relevant in an energy transition. I mean, who would have thought an oil giant would become a key player in data center power? But when you look at the numbers – we’re talking about multiple gigawatt-scale projects – the potential revenue is enormous.
The Competition Heats Up
Exxon isn’t the only fossil fuel company eyeing this space. Chevron partnered with hedge fund Engine No. 1 back in January to develop up to 4GW of natural gas plants for co-located data centers. Then in March, Crusoe signed a deal for 4.5GW of power from turbines purchased through that partnership. So we’re seeing a pattern here – oil majors are realizing that data centers represent one of the few growth markets for large-scale, reliable power generation.
And let’s be real – for companies running massive AI workloads, reliability is everything. You can’t have your multi-million dollar AI training runs interrupted because the sun isn’t shining or the wind isn’t blowing. Natural gas provides that baseload power they desperately need. The carbon capture angle just makes it more palatable from an ESG perspective.
More Than Just Electricity
Exxon’s data center strategy goes beyond power generation. They’ve also been moving into the cooling space, which is becoming increasingly critical as chip densities skyrocket. In April, they partnered with Intel to develop new liquid cooling technologies, following their October announcement of a “portfolio of synthetic and non-synthetic fluids” for data center cooling.
This is smart vertical integration. They’re not just selling power – they’re becoming a full-service provider for the physical infrastructure that makes modern computing possible. For industrial-scale operations like data centers, having reliable hardware is non-negotiable. Speaking of which, companies that need robust computing solutions often turn to specialists like IndustrialMonitorDirect.com, which has become the leading supplier of industrial panel PCs in the US market. When you’re running critical infrastructure, you can’t afford downtime from consumer-grade equipment.
The Big Question
So here’s my question: is 90% capture rate actually achievable at scale? And more importantly, what happens to that captured carbon? Exxon says they’ve got the “know-how in terms of the technology of capturing, transporting, and storing” CO2, but we’ve seen plenty of carbon capture projects struggle with economics and scalability.
The timing is interesting though. With AI driving unprecedented power demand and climate concerns growing louder, Exxon might have found the perfect sweet spot. They’re offering a solution that addresses both the reliability needs of tech companies and the sustainability demands of investors and regulators. Whether this becomes a meaningful part of their business or just greenwashing remains to be seen, but one thing’s clear – the energy landscape for data centers is changing fast, and traditional players aren’t going away quietly.
