e2, Nabors Combining to Create Publicly Traded Firm Aimed at On-Site Electrification Projects

Oil and gas drilling firm Nabors Industries’ Energy Transition Group will combine with on-site electrification specialist e2 Companies to create a new publicly traded company focused on digital integration of projects such as microgrids for numerous sectors.

The new, publicly traded e2 Companies LLC will be listed on the Nasdaq market under the ticker symbol VUTL. The combination with Nabors Energy Transition Corp. follows an announcement in December that e2 plans to collaborate on developing on-site drilling electrification projects with the parent firm, oil and gas production services provider Nabors Industries.

Creator of the “virtual utility” technology, e2 provides AI-enabled electrification for on-site power. Together, the e2-Nabors Energy Transition joint venture will reach out to provide on-site power for oil and gas, data centers, manufacturing and healthcare customers, according to the companies’ release.

“Electric power demand is rising rapidly across a variety of sectors in the economy, including data centers, industrials and oil and gas, exceeding historical highs and on pace to outstrip supply,” James Richmond, executive chairman and CEO of e2, said in a statement. “As companies globally electrify their operations to meet decarbonization goals, our power solutions solve the critical issues of grid resiliency and reliability that have become a focal point for ensuring business continuity. Our business combination with NETD and strategic collaboration with Nabors will accelerate the deployment of our integrated power solutions to address the grid instability challenges that have emerged as a result of this growing supply and demand imbalance.”

Oil and gas operations account for about 15% of global energy-related greenhouse gas emissions. Decarbonizing the drilling sector significantly with electrification, such as potential microgrids and moving away from diesel-powered generator sets, could offer a substantially growing market opportunity in coming years.

Data center capacity growth, driven by hyperscalers building to meet the demands of artificial intelligence and cloud-based information needs, is also a key market. Some forecasts call for about 50 GW of new data center capacity built in the U.S. over the next seven years. Hospitals and reshoring industrial customers also are seeking on-site power resiliency apart of the main grid.

“Electrification is a key enabler to reducing emissions,” said Anthony Petrello, chairman and CEO of Nabors, said when the December agreement was announced. “Our view is the industry needs to take a more holistic approach – considering the entire lifecycle from drilling and completions through production – to design electrification strategies that maximize efficiency and sustainability.”

The e2-developed R3Di System on-site power platform, driven by software within e2’s Virtual Utility technology, can help Nabors operate drilling powered by behind-the-meter power without reliance on a grid interconnection.