Oracle has again asked the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to speed approval of Transwestern Pipeline’s Green Chile natural-gas project, which would supply on-site power for the company’s Project Jupiter data-centre campus in Doña Ana County, New Mexico. Bloomberg reported on 13 October 2026 that Josh Pitcock, Oracle’s senior vice president of government affairs, wrote to FERC that “Time remains of the essence” and that further delay “threatens to delay Project Jupiter’s operations and the resulting jobs, economic activity, and community benefits.”
TSN has not read the FERC filing itself (docket CP26-80). The letter and its wording are attributed here to Bloomberg’s reporting, with pipeline details corroborated by Pipeline & Gas Journal and Data Center Dynamics.
What Green Chile is
According to Pipeline & Gas Journal, summarizing Transwestern and the Oracle push, Green Chile is about 17.77 miles of 24-inch interstate pipeline (Bloomberg said 17.8 miles) plus metering and appurtenances in Doña Ana County. It would provide about 400 million cubic feet per day of firm transportation. Deliveries would feed fuel cells procured from Bloom Energy to power a dedicated microgrid for the campus, the reports say, rather than drawing the same load from the wider public grid.
Transwestern, an Energy Transfer subsidiary, holds a long-term precedent agreement with shipper Green Chile Ventures for 100% of capacity, P&GJ reported. FERC staff issued an environmental assessment on 4 September and, per P&GJ, recommended a finding of no significant impact with conditions. Oracle argued that with the comment period closed and Transwestern’s responses on file, no further procedural steps are needed before the Commission can act.
Why the timeline slipped
Bloomberg reported the pipeline’s in-service date has slipped to February 2027, “well past an earlier targeted in-service date of Aug. 15.” The delay followed New Mexico officials rejecting the original route across state lands; the line was rerouted across federal lands. New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez has pressed FERC to revise the assessment or issue a full environmental impact statement, Bloomberg and DCD reported — evaluating the combined footprint of the data centre and the pipeline.
Jobs and output — Oracle’s projections
DCD, citing the letter via Bloomberg, said Oracle projects the development will support nearly 5,800 peak construction jobs and generate up to US$1.1 billion in annual economic output for the local county. Pipeline & Gas Journal separately reported Oracle saying 1,230 New Mexico residents, including 630 from Doña Ana County, have already worked on Project Jupiter, with projections of more than 3,100 jobs across the county once a four-building campus is fully operational, including 1,500 direct operational jobs.
Those employment and output numbers are Oracle’s projections, not independent forecasts. DCD also describes the campus as a 2.5 GW project — company/reporting scale for the site, not a FERC finding.
Background, not this story
TSN’s earlier roundup on who pays for AI power (20091) covered Oracle trucking gas and a related force-majeure notice. That is background only. This post is a standalone on the renewed FERC expedite request for Green Chile; it is not folded into 20091. Bloomberg noted trucking gas is “likely only capable of helping Project Jupiter complete initial commissioning work” — a constraint that explains why Oracle wants the pipe, not a re-litigation of the trucking story here.
Why it matters
AI campuses that plan behind-the-meter gas or fuel cells still need interstate pipe certificates when volumes cross FERC’s threshold. Green Chile is a short lateral, but the fight over environmental review scope — pipe alone versus pipe-plus-campus — is becoming the template dispute for data-centre gas projects in the Southwest.
What is still unknown
FERC has not issued a final order in the materials TSN reviewed through secondary reporting. Whether Torrez’s EIS demand prevails, and whether February 2027 holds, remain open. Exact letter text should be checked against the eLibrary filing when published in full.
What to watch next
- FERC action on CP26-80
- Any revised environmental review schedule
- Whether Project Jupiter’s commissioning plan still assumes February 2027 gas
Sources
- Bloomberg (Julian Hast) via Yahoo Finance syndication, “Oracle Asks Regulators to Expedite Gas Pipeline for Data Center”, 13 October 2026. https://finance.yahoo.com/energy/articles/oracle-asks-regulators-expedite-gas-203711536.html
- Pipeline & Gas Journal, “Oracle Renews Push for Expedited FERC Order on Transwestern’s 400-MMft3d Green Chile Pipeline”, 14 October 2026. https://pgjonline.com/news/2026/october/oracle-renews-push-for-expedited-ferc-order-on-transwestern-s-400-mmft3d-green-chile-pipeline
- Data Center Dynamics, “Oracle renews attempts to secure natural gas pipeline approval for Project Jupiter data center – report”, 15 October 2026. https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/oracle-renews-attempts-to-secure-natural-gas-pipeline-approval-for-project-jupiter-data-center-report/
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