An Oracle force majeure notice has gone to the developer of Project Jupiter, the 2.45-gigawatt Stargate data centre campus in New Mexico. First reported by Bloomberg on 24 September 2026, it would let Oracle delay the start of rent if the site misses its 2028 opening. Oracle says it is not leaving the project.
What the Oracle Force Majeure Notice Actually Changes
The notice preserves a contractual right. It does not cancel the lease, and it does not end Oracle’s commitment to the campus.
Force majeure is a contract clause that excuses a party from an obligation when an event outside its control makes performance late or impossible. In this case the event Oracle points to is the arrival of electricity at the site.
If Oracle and the developer agree that such an event has occurred, Oracle could win a three-year delay on rent commencement — the date on which full lease payments begin — according to Bloomberg’s report. Oracle would still owe rent across the full lease term once those payments start.
In the meantime Oracle continues to pay the lower development-stage rent that applies while a campus is being built, along with other project costs. It has not asked to give up its position as the anchor tenant.
Why the Power Is Late at Project Jupiter
Project Jupiter is built around gas, not the grid. The campus, in Doña Ana County in southern New Mexico, is designed to run on Bloom Energy solid oxide fuel cells, devices that convert natural gas into electricity through a chemical reaction rather than by burning it. Reports on the design put the site’s requirement at about 400 million cubic feet of gas a day.
That gas was to arrive through a 17-mile pipeline built by Energy Transfer. A 0.6-mile section of the route crosses New Mexico state trust land, and Energy Transfer applied for two rights of way and one business lease to build it. A right of way is permission to run infrastructure across land the applicant does not own.
New Mexico Land Commissioner Stephanie Garcia Richard, the elected official who manages the state’s trust lands, refused the application in March 2026 and, in a letter dated 14 July 2026, refused to reconsider. Her office cited high greenhouse gas emissions, the expected strain on water and a threat to ecosystems, and said the line offered little benefit to the trust’s beneficiary institutions, the local community or the state. “In New Mexico, we truly mean it when we say ‘water is life,'” she said in the State Land Office’s announcement of the second denial.
The pipeline’s in-service date has since moved from September 2026 to 1 February 2027, a slip of close to six months.
The Dates That Decide Oracle’s Claim
Whether a force majeure event has occurred turns on approvals that have not yet been granted. As of 25 September 2026, none of the following had been settled.
| Date | What Is Due |
|---|---|
| 23 November 2026 | New Mexico Environment Department deadline to decide the air-quality permit for the fuel cell system |
| 1 February 2027 | Revised in-service date for the Energy Transfer gas pipeline |
| 2028 | Target for the campus to come online, the date the notice is measured against |
One earlier obstacle has cleared. On 17 September 2026 the New Mexico Supreme Court denied writ petitions brought by the clean energy group New Energy Economy and by the Center for Biological Diversity — petitions that had asked the court to order state agencies to act — and lifted a stay it imposed on 23 August. That allowed the air permit proceeding and well drilling at the site to resume.
What Oracle and Blue Owl Have Said
Oracle’s position is that nothing has slipped. “Project Jupiter remains on our planned schedule,” the company said, adding that it is “fully committed to New Mexico and confident in our path forward”. Oracle also described force majeure notices as commonplace in developments of this scale and said the notice preserves its rights.
Blue Owl Capital, the American asset manager whose Stack Infrastructure unit is developing the campus, said the notice “does not change the financial commitments to this multi-year project” and that the two parties are “fully aligned on Project Jupiter”.
Where the Money Sits
Project Jupiter carries a reported investment figure of about $165 billion and is one of five sites in Stargate, the artificial intelligence infrastructure programme that Oracle, OpenAI and SoftBank announced with a stated commitment of $500 billion.
Construction is funded in part by an $18 billion loan from roughly 20 banks, Bloomberg reported. That project debt was trading below 90 cents on the dollar around the time the notice became public, a level at which lenders are pricing in the risk of trouble rather than repayment on the original terms.
Oracle shares fell 4.4% on 24 September 2026 and Blue Owl shares fell 3.7% the same day, according to Bloomberg; CNBC put Oracle’s decline at more than 3% on the day. Share prices move continuously, and both are single-session readings rather than settled figures.
The notice lands in an expensive year for Oracle. The company reported first-quarter capital expenditure of $28.5 billion in its September 2026 earnings, and separately disclosed restructuring costs alongside job cuts earlier this month. Rival developers of AI capacity, including Crusoe, have been raising private capital against contracted demand rather than leaning on bank debt alone.
What Is Still Undecided
- Whether a force majeure event has occurred: Oracle has asserted the right; the developer has not publicly agreed that the trigger has been met.
- The air-quality permit: still pending before the New Mexico Environment Department, with a 23 November 2026 decision deadline.
- The gas route: Energy Transfer has been refused the state-land crossing twice and has not announced an approved alternative alignment.
- The 2028 opening: Oracle says the schedule holds. The notice exists in case it does not.
Oracle Force Majeure Notice: Frequently Asked Questions
What Is a Force Majeure Notice?
It is a formal letter telling the other party to a contract that an event outside the sender’s control may prevent or delay performance, and that the sender is preserving the rights the contract gives it in that situation. Sending one does not by itself establish that the event qualifies.
Does the Notice Cancel Oracle’s Lease?
No. Oracle has not sought to exit as anchor tenant of Project Jupiter, and Blue Owl Capital said on 24 September 2026 that the notice does not change the financial commitments to the project.
What Is Holding Up Project Jupiter?
Power. The New Mexico campus is designed to run on gas-fed fuel cells, and the pipeline meant to supply them has been refused a state-land crossing twice and pushed back to 1 February 2027. A separate air-quality permit for the fuel cells is still pending.
When Is Project Jupiter Meant to Open?
2028 remains the stated target as of 25 September 2026. Oracle says the schedule is unchanged; the force majeure notice concerns what happens if the date slips.
Who Is Building Project Jupiter?
The developer is Stack Infrastructure, a unit of the American asset manager Blue Owl Capital. Oracle is the anchor tenant, leasing capacity used for OpenAI workloads under the Stargate programme.
