Oil and Gas Investor Magazine - January 2025

In this issue of Oil and Gas Investor, Executive Editor-at-Large Nissa Darbonne explores the "Great AI Race for Electrons" as data-center developers scramble to secure 24/7 power to support generative AI and U.S. gas producers line up to meet that demand.

Additionally, OGI presents the special report, Shale 2025, where our expert editors take an in-depth look into the state of U.S. shale and what to keep an eye for in the coming year.

OGI Features

BYOP (Bring Your Own Power): The Great AI Race for Electrons
Data-center developers are scrambling to secure 24/7 power as generative AI has upped the tech game to, well, a nuclear level. U.S. gas producers are being called to meet demand as natgas is the quickest way to get more electrons into the taps.

Pickering Prognosticates 2025 Political Winds and Shale M&A
For oil and gas, big M&A deals will probably encounter less resistance, tariffs could be a threat and the industry will likely shrug off "drill, baby, drill" entreaties.

Special Report: Shale 2025

Back to the Future: US Shale is Growing Up
The Patch’s maturity will be tested in 2025 amid ongoing consolidation and geopolitical dissonance.

Q&A: Enverus CEO Manuj Nikhanj
Widespread consolidation throughout 2024 reshapes the list of top public producers.

Permian Basin: The Once and Future King Keeps Delivering
The core is in full-scale manufacturing mode, with smaller intrepid operators pushing the basin’s boundaries further and deeper.

Eagle Ford: Sustaining the Long Plateau in South Texas
The play lacks the growth profile of the Permian Basin, but thoughtful M&A and refrac projects are extending operator inventories.

Appalachia: Natural Gas is Poised to Pay
Increasing demand for gas is expected to rally prices and boost midstream planning as the new administration pledges to loosen permitting and set the stage for M&A in the region.

Uinta Basin: Horizontal Boom to Continue
After two large-scale transactions by SM Energy and Ovintiv, the Uinta Basin is ready for development—and stacked pay exploration.

The AI-Synergy
An abundance of data enables automation that saves time, cuts waste, speeds decision-making and sweetens the bottom line. Of course, there are challenges.

Gas-Powered Expansion
Rising electricity demand may finally push natural gas demand to catch up with production.

E&Ps Making More U-Turn Laterals—And Problem Free
Of the more than 70 horseshoe wells drilled to date, 35 were in just the first nine months of 2024 as operators find 2-mile, single-section laterals to be problem-free while more economic than two 1-mile straight holes in their isolated acreage.