Short answer: Microsoft has publicly announced cloud, machine-learning and industrial-data partnerships with ExxonMobil’s XTO Energy and with Chevron through Schlumberger. Separately, The Atlantic reported that internal documents and interviews described broader efforts to sell Microsoft and OpenAI technology to oil companies for exploration, development and production. That makes “secretly selling” an incomplete description: some relationships were public, while the reported sales strategy was not fully public. Microsoft also reports major renewable-energy contracting and 2030 environmental commitments, but its 2025 sustainability reporting says total emissions remained above its 2020 baseline.
What is established—and what is not
The public record supports three separate propositions, which should not be collapsed into one claim:
- Microsoft announced named energy-sector collaborations, including an ExxonMobil/XTO project in 2019 and a Chevron–Schlumberger project later that year.
- The Atlantic reported in September 2024, citing hundreds of pages of internal documents and interviews with 15 current and former employees and executives, that Microsoft pursued additional pitches to fossil-fuel companies for finding reserves, developing fields and maximizing production.
- Microsoft reports environmental initiatives and targets, while its own 2025 figures show total Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions above its 2020 baseline.
The available evidence does not establish a complete, current inventory of Microsoft’s oil-and-gas contracts. It also does not verify that the production or revenue projections described below were achieved.
Timeline of Microsoft’s fossil-fuel technology work
| Date | What the evidence says | How to read it |
|---|---|---|
| February 22, 2019 | Microsoft announced that Dynamics 365, Azure, machine learning and internet-of-things tools would be applied to ExxonMobil subsidiary XTO Energy’s Permian Basin operations. The release described drilling and completions analysis, field-data applications and improved access to emissions data. | A public partnership announcement. Microsoft said the work was expected to improve capital efficiency and support production growth of up to 50,000 oil-equivalent barrels per day by 2025; that was a forecast, not a verified result. |
| September 17, 2019 | Microsoft announced a collaboration with Chevron and Schlumberger to build Azure-native applications in Schlumberger’s DELFI exploration-and-production environment, initially for Chevron. | The planned applications covered the exploration-and-production value chain and included cognitive-computing capabilities. |
| January 2022 | The Atlantic reported that an internal Microsoft slide deck estimated its tools could help ExxonMobil increase annual revenue by $1.4 billion, including $600 million associated with maximizing production described as “sustainable.” | This is a reported internal estimate, not realized revenue or independent validation. |
| September 13, 2024 | The Atlantic reported that Microsoft 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 account is attributed to the publication’s document review and interviews. Microsoft’s public releases verify selected partnerships, not every detail of the reported sales activity. |
| October 2024 | Microsoft’s proxy materials included a shareholder proposal titled “Report on Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Tools for Oil and Gas.” Proponents argued that these tools could enable continued fossil-fuel expansion and create risks for the company and investors. | Those statements are the proponents’ argument, not a finding by Microsoft or an independent climate assessment. |
| May 29, 2025 | Microsoft’s sustainability reporting compared its total Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions with a 2020 baseline and discussed energy use, revenue growth and AI- and cloud-related expansion. | These are company-reported figures and explanations. They describe Microsoft’s corporate footprint, not the net climate effect of its customers’ production. |
Why the same AI capability can look like efficiency—or expansion
Operational and safety uses
Microsoft and its partners described applications that can analyze drilling and completion data, connect field equipment, improve maintenance and make emissions information easier to access. In the XTO announcement, Microsoft said better data access could shorten methane leak detection and repair response times.
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Production and exploration uses
The same optimization systems can help operators identify prospects, decide where to drill, improve recovery and increase output. Chevron’s executive vice president for technology, projects and services, Joseph C. Geagea, said the collaboration would accelerate analysis that could generate “new exploration opportunities” and bring prospects to development more quickly and with more certainty.
That dual use is the core accountability issue. A tool can reduce waste per barrel while also making it easier or cheaper to produce more barrels. None of the cited sources provides a verified, lifecycle calculation showing that the efficiency gains outweigh the emissions from additional fossil-fuel supply.
What Microsoft and its partners actually said
In the 2019 XTO announcement, then senior vice president of Permian Integrated Development Staale Gjervik said: “The combination of Microsoft’s technologies with our unique strengths in oilfield technologies, production efficiency and integration will help drive growth in the Permian and serve as a model for additional implementation across the U.S. and abroad.” The statement explicitly connected the technology with growth, while also emphasizing efficiency and integration.
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Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said of the Chevron–Schlumberger work: “There is an enormous opportunity to bring the latest cloud and AI technology to the energy sector and accelerate the industry’s digital transformation.” That is a statement of opportunity and intent, not evidence of a measured climate benefit.
Microsoft’s environmental record in its own numbers
Microsoft’s 2025 sustainability reporting says total Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions were 23.4% higher than its 2020 baseline. Microsoft attributed the increase to growth-related factors, including expansion of AI and cloud services. Over the same baseline period, it reported 168% more energy use and 71% revenue growth.
Microsoft also says it is pursuing 2030 environmental commitments and had contracted 34 gigawatts of new renewable energy across 24 countries. Renewable-energy procurement and emissions accounting measure different things: contracting clean power does not by itself show that total emissions have fallen, and neither figure resolves the climate consequences of enabling customers’ oil and gas operations.
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Is “secretly selling AI” accurate?
It is accurate to say that Microsoft had public fossil-fuel partnerships and that an investigative report described additional internal sales efforts. It is not accurate to imply that every such relationship was hidden, or that the available evidence proves a single undisclosed program covering all oil and gas customers.
The public announcements establish selected work with ExxonMobil/XTO and Chevron–Schlumberger. The Atlantic adds reported internal strategy and revenue estimates, including the account of a 2023 plan involving OpenAI models. Those sources should be read together but kept distinct: a company press release is not the same type of evidence as a journalist’s account of internal documents and interviews.
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- Whether the XTO production-growth forecast was achieved by 2025 is not established by the cited sources.
- The reported ExxonMobil revenue estimate has not been independently confirmed as realized revenue.
- No complete, current list of Microsoft’s fossil-fuel contracts or their present status is established.
- Microsoft’s reported emissions and renewable-energy figures are not an independent estimate of the net climate impact of its AI sales to energy companies.
- The evidence does not supply a reliable number for emissions caused or avoided by these specific products and partnerships.
Why this matters to investors and other Microsoft stakeholders
For investors, the issue is less a single headline than the interaction of growth strategy, reputational exposure and transition risk. Selling tools that improve extraction can generate enterprise revenue while drawing criticism that the business is extending fossil-fuel dependence. At the same time, rising infrastructure demand from AI can increase Microsoft’s own energy use and emissions even as the company expands renewable procurement.
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Useful questions for evaluating future disclosures include:
- Does Microsoft identify oil-and-gas revenue or material customer relationships separately enough to assess their scale?
- Does it report measured outcomes for methane detection, energy efficiency and production increases, rather than only projected benefits?
- Can it reconcile AI-driven energy demand with its 2030 targets and its total-emissions trend?
- Does it explain how it evaluates contracts whose principal effect may be to expand fossil-fuel production?
Until those questions are answered with comparable data, claims of environmental progress and claims about fossil-fuel enablement describe different parts of Microsoft’s business rather than a settled net result.
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