Oracle trucks natural gas to AI data centers amid pipeline delays

Oracle Corporation is utilizing an unconventional and expensive strategy to maintain its artificial intelligence data center expansion amid significant pipeline delays. To avoid stalling critical projects, the company is trucking compressed natural gas directly to server farms, a method that costs approximately four times the standard hub price once labor, equipment, and fuel are included.

This logistical workaround has already been deployed to support a data center near Salt Lake City and is currently powering early work at an OpenAI campus in Shackelford County, Texas. Oracle is also considering similar measures for ‘Project Jupiter’ in New Mexico, where the New Mexico State Land Office has twice refused rights-of-way for an Energy Transfer pipeline, pushing the project start date to February.

The reliance on trucking highlights the intense pressure to bring AI capacity online. However, the strategy introduces financial risks; delays in power availability could postpone revenue generation while infrastructure-related obligations and capital expenditures continue to accumulate. Oracle reported $55.7 billion in fiscal 2026 capital expenditures, and analysts note that investors remain sensitive to any power constraints that might delay the timeline for positive free cash flow.