Diamondback pursues JV for gas-fueled plants to power Permian data centers

(Bloomberg) – Diamondback Energy Inc. is in talks to form a power joint venture that would solve some of the shale giant’s own needs in the Permian Basin while also selling electricity to artificial intelligence data centers in West Texas.

Diamondback says it’s looking for an equity stake in a gas-fired power plant that would be built on some of its 65,000 surface acreage to supply electricity primarily to data centers. The biggest independent oil producer in the world’s busiest shale patch detailed plans to investors on an earnings call Tuesday.

“There’s been a lot of discussions around power,” President Kaes Van’t Hof said on the call. “Obviously, we’re short power in the basin.”

It’s the latest iteration of a Permian producer looking to cash in on the expected boom in data center development in Texas and the rest of the US. Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp. have also announced interest in recent months for supplying power in various arrangements for AI data centers.

The shale producer could also benefit two-fold by supplying some of its own natural gas to the plant and by receiving some of that power for its own field operations, Van’t Hof said.