DeepSeek fears subside, US power companies spend more on data centers
U.S. Electric utilities are increasing their spending plans by tens and even hundreds of millions of dollars in order to upgrade the grid and build new power sources as artificial intelligence data centers and cloud computing drives up energy consumption. PPL Corp announced on its earnings call that it will increase capital investment by almost 40%, to $20 billion. Dominion which is the largest provider of data centers in Northern Virginia and Exelon, the utility giant, both revised their capital plans in the past week.
AEP considers a $10 billion increase in its five-year capital expenditure plan to meet data center demand
American Electric Power said on Thursday that it would consider adding $10 billion to the $54 billion capital plan, which is a record. The demand for data centres in the Midwest and Southern service areas of this U.S. utility has increased. The U.S. Power Companies have raised their capital investment and load forecasts as the technology industry invests billions in expanding energy-hungry cloud computing and artificial intelligence data centers. AEP has committed to 20 gigawatts in new power through 2029.
Chevron will build gas plants for data centers in the AI boom
The oil and gas company Chevron announced on Tuesday that it will build natural gas power plants near data centers in the U.S. as the energy demand for artificial intelligence growth is expected to grow. The second largest U.S. oil and gas producer has partnered with Engine No. The project is a partnership between Engine No. 1 and electric service company GE Vernova. Chevron announced the project a day after Chinese startup DeepSeek revealed an AI model it claims uses much less computing power than leading models in the United States.
Upwind, a cloud security company based in Israel and the United States, raises $100 Million
Upwind, a cloud security company based in the United States and Israel, announced on Monday that it had raised $100m from private investors to meet increasing demand as businesses move their data rapidly to cloud storage. Craft Ventures led the round, with new investors TCV, Alta Park Capital, and existing investors Greylock, Cyberstarts and Leaders Fund as well as Sheva founded by former NBA star Omri Casspi. The total funding for the company since its inception in 2022 is $180 million. These funds are mainly used to expand in the U.S.A. and Europe.
MARA, a cryptominer, taps the power generated by U.S. Shale Patch in a new pilot program
MARA Holdings Inc. has announced that it is now producing electricity in the U.S. Shale Patch as part of a program pilot to power 25 megawatts for its mining operations using excess natural gas. The company said that the move was made in response to the intensifying competition between Big Tech AI data centers for electricity, which has caused the crypto industry to change its business strategy and either market AI or find a way around the power battle.
Digitalization: Trust - The Keystone for Digital Transformation
The slowdown of the world economy and plummeting energy consumption have eclipsed most other industry news. Oil exporting countries are coming to terms with limiting production to sustain reasonable prices, and operators are looking for ways to improve efficiency. At the same time, the marketplace created by the pandemic is forcing companies to work differently. Telepresence and remote work have become the norm, and this directly impacts how work is organized and relationships are maintained.
Partners Bring AI to Energy
Baker Hughes, C3.ai, and Microsoft Corp. announced an alliance to bring enterprise artificial intelligence (AI) solutions to the energy industry on the Microsoft Azure cloud computing platform.This alliance will enable customers to streamline the adoption of scalable AI solutions for the energy industry that help promote safety, reliability, and sustainability. It leverages the energy technology expertise of Baker Hughes, C3.ai’s AI platform and applications, and the Microsoft Azure cloud computing platform.
G42, ADNOC JV for AI in Oil and Gas
With a goal of creating more artificial intelligence (AI) led solutions for the oil and gas sector, Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) has signed a deal with compatriot technology company Group 42 (G42) to create a new joint venture.The JV will be tasked with developing and commercializing market-leading AI products for the energy sector.The agreement was signed at the Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference (ADIPEC) by Omar Suwaina Al Suwaidi, Director, Executive Office Directorate, ADNOC, and Peng Xiao, CEO of G42.
Woodside to Implement Schlumberger's DELFI
Australia's largest oil and gas operator Woodside Energy will leverage Schlumberger's DELFI cognitive cloud-based software environment in an effort to increase consistency, reduce study cycle time and foster innovation in its subsurface characterization and development activities, Schlumberger announced on Tuesday.According to Schlumberger, the DELFI environment delivers extensive integration and connectivity across E&P domains from planning to operations, built around openness and extensibility.
Total Launches New Supercomputer
Energy major Total said its new supercomputer - which has propelled it to a world ranking as the most powerful computer in the sector - will enable its geologists to find oil faster, cheaper and with a better success rate.The Pangea III computer build by IBM will help process complex seismic data in the search for hydrocarbons 10 times faster that before, Total said on Tuesday.The computing power of the company has been increased to 31.7 so-called 'petaflops' from 6.7 petaflops in 2016…
Schlumberger Taps Google as Preferred Cloud Provider
Services company Schlumberger said on Monday it has renewed and expanded its agreement with Google Cloud to develop cloud-native exploration and production (E&P) applications to help its customers derive actionable insights from data and harness the power of Google’s cloud infrastructure and artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities.Schlumberger has deployed its oil and gas petrotechnical software suite, including WesternGeco Omega geophysical data…
Repsol, Emerson Pact for Geoscience R&D
Emerson and Repsol announced they have established a strategic alliance to deliver advanced subsurface geophysical technologies to reduce the time to prospect and produce first oil.Emerson, a global engineering and technology company, will work collaboratively with Spanish energy company Repsol to implement and deploy advanced subsurface imaging technologies, with core technologies developed by Repsol as part of Kaleidoscope, its 10-year innovation…
Exxon, Microsoft Ink Cloud Computing Deal for U.S. Shale
Exxon Mobil Corp and Microsoft Corp have agreed to use cloud technology in the U.S. oil producer's shale operations, they said on Friday, helping to boost profitability in the nation's largest shale field.The companies will collect data from Exxon's wells and other production assets in the Permian Basin of West Texas and New Mexico, where the world's largest publicly traded oil and gas company holds 1.6 million acres, and make it immediately accessible to Exxon workers.The value of the agreement was not disclosed.
BP Invests in New AI Technology
BP has invested further in artificial intelligence (AI) technology as part of an effort to accelerate project lifecycles, from exploration through to reservoir modeling.The super major announced Monday that its technology investment arm BP Ventures has infused $5 million into a Series A financing for Houston technology start-up Belmont Technology, which has developed a cloud-based geoscience platform that uses AI.Belmont’s platform, nicknamed Sandy…
Weatherford Rolls Out ForeSite Optimization Platform
Irish-domiciled multinational oilfield services company Weatherford said it has made a major enhancement to its ForeSite production optimization platform, which combines physics-based models with advanced data analytics to improve performance across wells, reservoirs, and surface facilities on a single, secure platform.Weatherford, which first introduced the ForeSite platform in May 2017, said the new release expands predictive failure analytics…
ExxonMobil, IBM Partner on Quantum Computing
Oil supermajor ExxonMobil announced Tuesday it has signed a partnership agreement with technology giant IBM to advance the potential use of quantum computing in developing next-generation energy and manufacturing technologies.The agreement sees ExxonMobil become the first energy company to join the IBM Q Network, a worldwide community of Fortune 500 companies, startups, academic institutions and national research labs working to advance quantum…
Digitalization Can Save Upstream Business $73 Bln a Year
Energy firms could save an annual $73 billion within five years in oil and gas exploration and production by making better use of existing computing technology, energy consultancy Wood Mackenzie said.Exploration and production, known as the upstream industry, requires energy firms to analyze huge amounts of seismic and geological data and to monitor and maintain offshore platforms and other complex assets, often in high-risk environments.In a report on how technology can be used for these tasks and potential savings…
Cryptocurrency May Light Up Renewable Energy in Moldova
Moldova, a small, landlocked country in eastern Europe, imports three-quarters of its energy and has seen its energy prices rise by more than half in the past five years.But that could soon change, according to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), which this year will launch an innovative effort to power a Moldovan university with cryptocurrency-funded solar energy.The initiative with Sun Exchange, a South African solar power marketplace…
Eni Boots up World's Biggest Industrial Supercomputer
Italian oil and gas group Eni said on Thursday it had installed new capacity at its supercomputing centre near Milan to create the world's most powerful industrial computer. The new capacity quadruples the group's computing power, allowing it to process up to 22.4 quadrillion operations per second, the company said. "In our industry it is increasingly important to be able to process ever-increasing amounts of data, ensuring more accurate and faster results," Eni CEO Claudio Descalzi said.
Ardiseis, CGG Complete Highest-Density Seismic Survey
Ardiseis, subsidiary of the Arabian Geophysical and Surveying Company (ARGAS), the Middle East’s seismic acquisition specialist, and its technology partner, CGG, have announced the successful completion of the world’s highest-density broadband seismic survey ever acquired onshore or offshore. The ultra-high density of the data recorded on the West-Kalabsha survey on behalf of Apache Corporation (Apache) heralds a step-change in the quality of seismic…
