Exxon Mobil in talks to power data centers with natural gas and carbon capture
Darren Woods, chairman and chief executive officer of Exxon Mobil Corp., speaks during a panel discussion at the opening of the Pennsylvania Energy and Innovation Summit at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA, on July 15, 2025.
Brian Kaiser | Bloomberg | Getty Images
ExxonMobil CEO Darren Woods said Friday that he is in advanced discussions with power providers and technology companies to reduce emissions from natural gas-based AI data centers using carbon capture technology.
“I hope that a lot of these hyperscalers are being sincere when they talk about the desire to have low-emission facilities, because we’re the only realistic play in town that can certainly achieve that in the near to medium term,” Woods said on Exxon’s earnings call.
Hyperscalers refer to companies such as: Alphabet, Amazon, Meta And Microsoft They are building large data centers to train and run AI applications.
Exxon aims to capture 90% of carbon dioxide emissions from natural gas plants that power its data centers, Woods said. The oil giant said it was in talks with energy companies to decarbonize its facilities.
“We are pretty advanced in the talks,” the CEO said.
The tech sector has mostly secured renewable energy to offset emissions from data centers, but they are now investing heavily in nuclear power as well.
In addition to searching for reliable energy, some companies are also turning to natural gas. For example, Meta signed an agreement with the utility Entrance in louisiana power a data center campus with natural gas.
“We have secured the locations. We have the infrastructure in place; we certainly have the know-how in terms of capture, transport and storage technology [carbon dioxide]” said Woods.
