Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) President and Chief Executive Officer Ron Gusek outlined the company’s expansion into power generation for data centers while reaffirming its long-term commitment to oilfield services during a keynote presentation at the 31st EnerCom Denver Energy Investment Conference.
Gusek said Liberty, which marks its 15th anniversary this year, has grown from a company founded in North Dakota into an organization employing about 6,000 people across North America. He said the company’s original objective was to build “the best damn frack company,” a goal that has since broadened into building “the best damn energy company.”
Energy supply and global demand
Gusek discussed the reported interruption of energy flows through the Strait of Hormuz, saying the route had carried 25% of global liquefied natural gas supply as well as meaningful volumes of crude oil. He estimated that roughly 2.5 billion barrels of oil had been removed from the global market during the preceding six months.
He said the disruption had not caused oil prices to reach “astronomical” levels because the market entered the year with substantial oversupply and floating storage, while China demonstrated an ability to reduce crude demand. However, he argued that disruptions in Asian refining supply had affected California, which he described as heavily dependent on imported refined products despite receiving 75% of its primary energy from oil and natural gas.
Gusek also highlighted U.S. oil and natural gas production growth over the past two decades, describing the shale revolution as an example of technological innovation and private investment unlocking previously difficult-to-recover resources. He said the United States had moved from being the world’s largest oil importer in 2006 to the largest crude producer today.
On the longer-term energy outlook, Gusek argued that the world is experiencing an “energy addition” rather than an energy transition. He said oil, natural gas and coal represented roughly 85% of global energy supply when he was born in 1971 and still account for about 85% today. Since 2010, he said fossil fuels have supplied about 75% of incremental global energy demand.
He cited rising per-capita energy consumption in South Korea and China as evidence that economic development supports continuing energy demand growth. Gusek said he expects the U.S. and Canada to play meaningful roles in supplying that demand.
Oilfield services remain central
While Liberty is expanding its business lines, Gusek said hydraulic fracturing remains a core business with a long runway. He noted that the North American market has become more efficient: about 200 frac crews are operating today compared with 450 when Liberty was founded, while oil and natural gas production has reached record levels. He also said drilling rig activity has declined to roughly one-third of its earlier level while still supporting record production.
Gusek said Liberty’s strategy has focused on maintaining expertise in fracturing rather than building a broad portfolio of unrelated oilfield service offerings. He cited the company’s purchase of C&J’s U.S. assets during the 2015-2016 downturn, after which Liberty chose not to retain coil tubing and cementing operations, as well as its transaction with SLB.
He said the company’s power-generation experience originated from its effort to supply electricity for its electric frac fleets in remote locations. Liberty operates five mobile power plants, each capable of generating roughly 25 megawatts to 30 megawatts of power, he said.
AI and data-center power opportunity
Gusek said Liberty is using artificial intelligence in logistics, equipment maintenance and frac operations. The company moves more than 20 million tons of sand annually, representing more than 1 million truckloads, and he said AI deployment reduced the number of trucks needed for those deliveries by 35%.
Liberty also streams about 2 billion data points into an internal AI platform called The Hive to monitor rotating equipment, according to Gusek. He said the system identifies potential maintenance issues and has helped extend the life of certain components, including engines, transmissions and power ends, by as much as 100%.
The company is testing agentic AI systems on about one-third of its frac fleets, Gusek said. The systems are intended to make operational decisions designed to improve equipment energy efficiency and job execution.
Liberty sees the growing electricity needs of artificial intelligence and hyperscale data centers as an opportunity to build a power-as-a-service business. Gusek said the company aims to deploy 3 gigawatts of power by 2029 and expects to announce more than 500 megawatts of Energy Service Agreements before year-end.
He cited a public partnership with Vantage for a potential 400-megawatt Wyoming site, along with joint ventures and partnerships involving PowerBridge, SLB, Oklo and Fervo. Gusek said Liberty intends to begin with natural-gas-fired generation while maintaining a path toward additional grid connections and next-generation energy technologies over time.
Separately, Gusek discussed Liberty’s Bettering Human Lives Foundation, launched in 2024. The foundation seeks to help convert 1 million homes and 1,000 schools from cooking with wood, dung, crop waste and other solid fuels to clean-burning liquefied petroleum gas through low-interest loans to local entrepreneurs.
About Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT)
Liberty Energy Inc provides hydraulic services and related technologies to onshore oil and natural gas exploration, and production companies in North America. The company offers hydraulic fracturing services, including complementary services, such as wireline services, proppant delivery solutions, field gas processing and treating, compressed natural gas (CNG) delivery, data analytics, related goods comprising sand mine operations, and technologies; and well site fueling and logistics. As of as of December 31, 2023, the company owned and operated a fleet of approximately 40 active hydraulic fracturing; and two sand mines in the Permian Basin.
