Chevron's Boeing Business Jet lands in Midland the week of its Microsoft data-center power deal

Chevron's Boeing Business Jet, tail N884GL, was tracked flying a 23-minute hop from Cavern City Air Terminal in Carlsbad, New Mexico, to Midland International Air and Space Port on July 1. The short crossing across the Permian Basin followed an earlier arrival from Houston earlier in the day.

If Chevron executives were on board, the timing would align with the company's most consequential deal of the month: a 20-year power agreement with Microsoft to fuel a 2.67-gigawatt data center in Reeves County, announced June 22 per the Houston Chronicle and Morningstar. Project Kilby, co-located with the Microsoft facility, will burn Permian natural gas on-site to sidestep grid constraints, targeting first power in 2028. The same week, Chevron also rolled out its largest-ever layoffs — up to 8,000 jobs tied to the Hess merger integration, per a Hoodline report.

Chevron's Houston-based fleet has been unusually active in the Permian corridor this week: the Boeing Business Jet flew three round trips between Midland and Houston between June 25 and July 1, while a second hop from Midland to Carlsbad on June 25 matched the same pattern. For a company cutting costs at home while betting $13.8 billion on Argentine shale — and now powering AI in West Texas — the shuttle is routine, yet says everything about where the energy giant sees its future.