Kinetik said in its Q2 2026 earnings call that its Permian operations were boosted by structural tailwinds from gassier production, increased natural gas takeaway capacity and surging power demand.
By 2050, Kinetik said it expects the gas-to-oil ratio (GOR) in the Delaware Basin to increase by nearly 75% to ~7.1 Mcf/bbl (left side of chart below) as activity shifts to gassier benches. It said highly productive gas plays like the Barnett, Woodford and Alpine High become increasingly attractive as gas fundamentals improve. Kinetik also said it expected ~5 Bcf/d of egress capacity additions by Q1 2027 (middle section of chart) to drive pipeline utilization below 90% for next two years, narrowing Waha’s price discount.
Source: Kinetik
“Conditions across the Permian continue to improve as Waha pricing has recovered from the extreme dislocations experienced for the first 5+ months of this year, driving a step change in producer curtailments since mid-June,” President and CEO Jamie Welch said. “At the same time, the more constructive crude oil environment continues to support attractive development economics, we're seeing a continuation of customer activity pull forward across our footprint, with some of that benefit to materialize in the second half of 2026.”
On the power side, it said ERCOT peak demand (right side of chart) was forecast to rise ~44 GW by 2030, with data centers accounting for nearly half of incremental peakload growth. It said flexible power solutions like behind-the-meter (BTM) generation and microgrid adoption can provide meaningful upside and mitigate grid bottlenecks, with Welch citing Kinetik’s 40-MW Diamond Volt BTM project in the Delaware South.
