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Microsoft has publicly announced cloud and machine-learning partnerships with oil companies, and The Atlantic reported that internal documents and interviews described broader efforts to sell technology for finding and producing oil and gas. That supports scrutiny of Microsoft’s fossil-fuel business, but “secretly selling AI” overstates what the available evidence establishes: some partnerships were public, the reported internal sales activity is attributed to The Atlantic, and there is no complete current inventory of Microsoft’s oil-and-gas contracts.
What Microsoft announced publicly
Microsoft’s public announcements establish that it pursued technology work with major oil companies. They also describe applications connected to exploration and production—not simply general-purpose software or emissions monitoring.
ExxonMobil and XTO Energy: Permian operations
On February 22, 2019, Microsoft announced that XTO Energy, an ExxonMobil subsidiary, would apply technologies including Azure, machine learning, IoT and Dynamics 365 to its Permian Basin operations. The proposed work included analyzing drilling and completions, putting field data to use, and improving access to emissions data so teams could respond to methane leaks more quickly.
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Microsoft said the project was anticipated to improve capital efficiency and support production growth of up to 50,000 oil-equivalent barrels per day by 2025. That was a forecast in the 2019 announcement, not a verified result: the available sources do not establish whether the increase occurred. The release also quoted Staale Gjervik, then XTO Energy’s senior vice president for Permian Integrated Development, saying the collaboration would “help drive growth in the Permian.”
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Chevron and Schlumberger: exploration and production applications
On September 17, 2019, Microsoft announced a collaboration with Chevron and Schlumberger to build Azure-native applications in Schlumberger’s DELFI cognitive exploration-and-production environment, initially for Chevron. The planned work included cognitive-computing capabilities across the exploration-and-production value chain. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella described the opportunity as bringing cloud and AI technology to the energy sector; Chevron executive vice president Joseph C. Geagea said the tools could help analyze data for exploration opportunities and bring prospects to development.
What was reported about internal sales efforts
In a September 13, 2024 investigation based on hundreds of pages of internal documents and interviews with 15 current and former employees and executives, The Atlantic reported that Microsoft had sought to pitch technology to fossil-fuel companies including ExxonMobil and Chevron for finding and developing reserves and maximizing production. Its account included a 2023 strategy memo about pitching OpenAI models to Chevron.
The Atlantic also reported that a January 2022 internal Microsoft slide deck estimated its tools could help ExxonMobil increase annual revenue by $1.4 billion, including $600 million associated with what the deck described as “sustainable production.” Those figures are a reported internal estimate, not realized revenue or an independently validated outcome. The public partnership announcements confirm selected technology relationships, but they do not independently verify every detail of The Atlantic’s account.
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In October 2024, Microsoft proxy materials included a shareholder proposal requesting a report on AI and machine-learning tools for oil and gas. The proposal’s supporters argued that these tools could enable continued fossil-fuel expansion and create risks for the company and investors. That is the proponents’ case, not a finding that the proposed report itself established.
Why the same technology can support efficiency and more production
Operational improvements and production growth are not mutually exclusive. Better analysis, field data and computing may help an operator work more efficiently or detect methane leaks sooner; similar capabilities can also help identify exploration opportunities, develop reserves or increase output. Microsoft’s and its partners’ announcements described both kinds of use cases.
These examples establish intended applications and business goals, not their net climate effect. The sources do not provide a verified measure of how much any efficiency or methane-monitoring benefit reduced emissions, nor an independent estimate of the overall climate impact of Microsoft’s AI sales to fossil-fuel companies. It would therefore be inaccurate to treat an emissions-monitoring feature as proof that a partnership reduced climate harm—or to infer a quantified net effect from the production forecasts.
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Microsoft’s environmental progress alongside its emissions trend
Microsoft continues to describe 2030 environmental commitments and reported contracting 34 gigawatts of new renewable energy across 24 countries in its 2025 sustainability reporting. That is a company-reported procurement figure; it does not by itself show that the company’s total emissions fell or settle the implications of its fossil-fuel-sector business.
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One free scan finds every outdated or missing driver and matches the right update for your exact hardware.Free scan · exact hardware matchIn its May 29, 2025 sustainability reporting, Microsoft said its total Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions were 23.4% above its 2020 baseline. The company attributed the increase to growth-related factors, including expansion of AI and cloud services. For context, Microsoft also reported energy use 168% above that baseline and revenue growth of 71% over the same period.
| Measure | Microsoft’s 2025 report, relative to its 2020 baseline |
|---|---|
| Total Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions | 23.4% higher; Microsoft attributed the increase to growth factors including AI and cloud expansion. |
| Energy use | 168% higher. |
| Revenue | 71% higher. |
Renewable-energy contracting, emissions, energy use and revenue describe different things. Read together, the company’s figures show both an effort to procure more renewable electricity and an increase in reported total emissions compared with its baseline; neither set of figures, on its own, measures the net climate effect of providing AI tools to oil and gas companies.
What the evidence does—and does not—show
- Established by Microsoft’s announcements: named 2019 technology collaborations involving ExxonMobil’s XTO Energy and Chevron, with applications for Permian operations and exploration and production.
- Reported by The Atlantic: internal sales efforts involving fossil-fuel companies, a Chevron strategy memo, and an internal estimate of potential ExxonMobil revenue.
- Reported by Microsoft: its 2025 emissions, energy-use, revenue and renewable-energy figures, as well as its 2030 commitments.
- Not established by these sources: whether the 2019 production forecast was achieved, the present status or full scope of Microsoft’s fossil-fuel contracts, or a quantified net climate impact of the AI and other technology sales.
The most defensible conclusion is that Microsoft has publicly pursued technology work serving oil-and-gas operations, while an investigation reported broader internal sales efforts. Its environmental commitments and renewable procurement are real elements of the company’s public account, but they do not erase the reported commercial relationship or resolve its climate consequences.
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