Oil prices are their lowest since the pandemic, revenues are falling, and profits are shrinking, but some frackers and oilfield players are suddenly thriving in the stock market as they invest in power generation for data centers and ride the AI wave.
Liberty Energy—the fracking company cofounded by U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright—saw its stock jump 30% after announcing on Oct. 17 it would more than double its planned power generation capacity for data centers. Halliburton’s stock is up about 15% this month since revealing its 20% ownership stake in VoltaGrid and its plans to partner on powering data centers worldwide. Other major oilfield players such as Baker Hughes, industry leader SLB, and Solaris Energy Infrastructure are investing big in the data center power rush as well.
