Project Jupiter: 4,400 workers on site, and what Oracle's force majeure notice means

Project Jupiter in Santa Teresa, New Mexico, posts the highest per diem on our board this week. It's also the project with the most headlines about delays. Both things are true at once, so here's what's actually going on.

On the ground

About 4,400 construction workers are on site, including more than 600 from Doña Ana County, according to an ABC-7 KVIA tour published October 13. The campus covers about 700 acres. Oracle is the tenant, STACK Infrastructure is the developer, and construction is expected to finish in 2028.

The site will run on about 7,000 fuel cells that turn natural gas into electricity on site, instead of drawing from the grid.

The force majeure notice

In late September, Oracle sent the developer a force majeure notice, according to Bloomberg. A force majeure clause covers events outside a company's control. Here, the trigger is power:

• Pipeline delay - the Energy Transfer gas pipeline that will fuel the fuel cells was due to start in September 2026. After the New Mexico State Land Office repeatedly denied permits on its proposed route, it was pushed back to February 1, 2027.
• What Oracle wants - if the delay is agreed to be a qualifying event, Oracle could defer rent for up to three years after payments begin. It is not walking away as the tenant.
• What doesn't change - one source told Bloomberg the notice is not a default on the $18 billion construction loan. Oracle said such notices are "commonplace in developments of this scale," and Blue Owl, whose STACK unit is developing the site, said the notice doesn't change the project's financial commitments.

Why it matters to crews

A rent dispute between a tenant and a developer doesn't stop construction by itself. What can slow the job is a site finished with no power to commission it. Watch for the pipeline: if February 1 holds, energization and commissioning work should follow in 2027.