STORY: :: Chevron executive says the energy company is

working on low-carbon options to power data centers

:: New York

:: December 11, 2024

:: Richelle Carey, Event moderator

"Just a few hours ago, Exxon made an announcement that they are going to be designing a massive natural gas fuel plant meant specifically to power data centers. What is Chevron doing?"

:: Jeff Gustavson, President, Chevron New Energies

"We are working on this as well. And I think this is something that our company is very well positioned to participate in. If I go back to the capabilities fit, we are a large natural gas company in the United States and elsewhere, we produce it, we transport it, we sell it. Today we operate very large power related equipment all over the world to power our own operations, including equipment, mostly equipment fired from natural gas.

We have a very large land position in the United States that can be used for data centers, can be used for other applications. We have deep construction capabilities in building some of this out, helping customers build some of this out. And we can also provide lower carbon pathways because customers in this space data centers and tech companies have very ambitious, lower carbon targets, which they need a lower carbon pathway.

The pathway we see here is carbon CCUS (capture, utilization, and storage) to start, but we can mix in other things over time, like geothermal baseload power, maybe some renewable power to make all of this work. So this is something that we're working on and we'll make you know, we'll provide more information at a later date."

Gustavson's comments follow a similar announcement by Exxon Mobil on Wednesday, which said it is working to help advance low-carbon electricity by adding carbon-capture to natural gas-fired power plants supplying data centers.

Chevron has been working on this for more than a year, Gustavson said on the sidelines of the event. He declined to provide additional details, saying the company will make detailed announcements at an appropriate time.

The rise of artificial intelligence and cloud computing is expected to drive electricity demand sharply higher, driving utilities to add new natural gas plants and delay the retirement of fossil-fuel power plants.