Behind the Data
Jeff Krimmel is the founder of Krimmel Strategy Group, where he helps leadership teams turn energy data into clarity.
Each week, Jeff goes behind the energy market analysis he publishes online. What surprised him in the data. What he left out of the written version. What he's still chewing on.
If you want to understand how an energy strategist actually thinks through the forces shaping oil & gas, power, and the broader energy landscape, this is 15-20 minutes of unscripted, honest perspective.
Behind the Data
006: SLB Q1 Earnings, My Xait Forum Talk, Future of Power
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This is Behind the Data, where I take you behind the energy market analysis I'm publishing online.
I open with SLB's Q1 2026 earnings release and a word cloud I built from the text. Two words sat at the center: "digital" and "production." Neither is new for SLB, but both took on different weight this quarter against the backdrop of the Iran war, higher oil prices, and the reality that producers aren't racing to expand drilling programs. The path to incremental barrels right now runs through mature wells, and SLB's ChampionX deal is looking well-timed.
From there I get into the talk I gave last week to open the Xait Forum here in Houston. The title was "From Advantage to Imperative," and the argument is that capital discipline, demand uncertainty, and the pressure to do more with less have moved digital tools from a nice-to-have to a necessity for energy companies. The whiz-bang demos are fun, but the market forces underneath them are what should be driving the urgency in the room.
I close with GE Vernova's Q1 2026 results, where Q1 power equipment orders alone exceeded all of 2025. That's the kind of number that should temper skepticism about how much of the AI and data center conversation is hype. The more interesting thread inside the GE Vernova story is the tension between utility-scale and decentralized power, including why the big gas turbine OEMs remain so cautious about expanding capacity even with the backlog they're sitting on. It's a story I'm spending a lot more time on, both in the research and in the talks I'm getting invited to give.
The second cohort of Oil & Gas Market Mastery kicked off last week. We're one session in, with eleven to go, and you can still jump in and catch up. Learn more at https://krimmelsg.com/ogmm