Oil & Gas Support Services NAICS 213112

Sep 27, 2025 - Industry Courts New Customer: AI

• Amid a slump in demand for their services from energy producers, oil field services companies are shifting to supply power to data centers, The Wall Street Journal reports. AI requires plenty of power to fuel data centers and oil field services companies, including Solaris Energy Infrastructure and Liberty Energy, are getting into the power business, installing and operating power-generation turbines typically used by energy-hungry frackers, according to WSJ. Compared to their usual customer base, tech companies have healthier growth prospects and bigger budgets. Microsoft alone plans to spend $80 billion on data centers supporting AI this year, 80% more than what major oil companies Exxon and Chevron combined are expected to spend on capital expenditures, per WSJ. Still, power isn’t a meaningful part of most oil-field service companies’ revenue yet and the shift carries the risk that tech companies will eventually connect to local utilities.
• Global demand for oil – a demand driver for oil and gas support services – is forecast to ease due to global trade tensions and a bigger-than-anticipated supply surplus if OPEC+ raises output beyond April, The Wall Street Journal reports citing the latest projections from the International Energy Agency (IEA). “New US tariffs will clearly act as barriers to global trade and economic growth,” the Paris-based agency said, adding “The lack of clarity due to their on-again off-again nature, combined with the potential for retaliation and escalation, has caused uncertainty to soar.” IEA lowered its demand-growth estimates for the fourth quarter of 2024 and first quarter of 2025 to around 1.2 million barrels per day (bpd). Its revised estimates see global demand growing by 1.03 million bpd versus 1.1 million bpd previously, reaching 103.9 million bpd on average, WSJ reports.

• On his first day in office President Trump declared a national energy emergency to maximize oil and gas production, speed permitting, roll back environmental protections, and withdraw the US from the 2015 Paris climate deal. But with US production at record levels, it remains to be seen if Trump’s actions will have any impact. Still, the mood in the oil and gas industry – a major customer for oil and gas support services – is optimistic, according to The American Oil & Gas Reporter. “It borders on exuberant,” described Karr Ingham, president of Texas Alliance of Energy Producers. The American Petroleum Institute, has a roadmap for the second Trump administration that includes swiftly authorizing liquified natural gas exports, expanding drilling on federal lands, making pipeline permitting easier, repealing strict vehicle emissions and fuel economy standards, and keeping current corporate tax rates in place.
• Producer prices for oil and gas support activities were flat in August compared to a year ago, after rising 5.9% in the previous August-versus-August annual comparison, according to the latest US Bureau of Labor Statistics data. Despite the recent easing, industry producer prices remain historically high. Employment by oil and gas support services firms shrank 3.2% year over year in July to its lowest level in two years, while the average industry wage rose 3.6% YoY in July to $35.81 per hour, BLS data show. Declining crude oil prices have contributed to US oil producers slowing their drilling and completion activity this year, reducing demand for oil and gas support services, according to the Energy Information Administration.