AI & Behind-the-Meter Energy

[00:00:00] Josh Lowrey: Welcome to the Energy Pipeline Podcast. My name is Josh Lowrey. We are coming to you from beautiful Tucson, Arizona at the 2026 Energy Workforce Technology Council annual meeting, um, where the theme this year is powering or energizing the future. And I am joined today by Good to see you, by the way.

[00:00:21] Josh Lowrey: Pleasure. I'm joined by Chris Berrie, the senior sales manager, customer facing midstream, ENP capital account. Corporate accounts. Excuse me.

[00:00:29] Chris Berrie: Yes.

[00:00:29] Josh Lowrey: Not capital accounts. This is, I've been dealing with some finance guys recently, so capital accounts is fresh on the brain here. Yeah, I always, I told you before we started that the intro is my least favorite part.

[00:00:38] Josh Lowrey: Look at the camera. Get it. All right. How are you doing?

[00:00:40] Chris Berrie: Doing well. Pleased to be here and as I say, great setting for our, our meeting.

[00:00:44] Josh Lowrey: Before we get into this, I asked you if you've done a podcast. You said you've not only been on one, but you've hosted

[00:00:49] Chris Berrie: a few times. Yes.

[00:00:50] Josh Lowrey: Did have you ever the intro or did, were you like a guest host and you were the cohos.

[00:00:55] Chris Berrie: A little bit of both. Um, but, uh, let's just say there was multiple takes for my [00:01:00] intro. So, you know, I, I can fully appreciate

[00:01:02] Josh Lowrey: Yeah, we won't tell the people how many takes I had on that one, but, uh, isn't this great?

[00:01:07] Chris Berrie: Oh, it's just beautiful. I mean, what, what a spot for us to be in today, and

[00:01:10] Josh Lowrey: it is awesome. Yeah.

[00:01:11] Josh Lowrey: Hopefully the audience, by the way, if you're just listening to us on audio, this is a great, uh, segue to say, go check out caterpillar.com oil and gas, and look at the, um. The videos because on video right now we are sitting outside overlooking whole number 18 at Los Ventana. Or excuse not Los Ventana. Uh, the, the Dove Mountain,

[00:01:31] Chris Berrie: Lowe's, Ventana,

[00:01:31] Josh Lowrey: Lowe's, Ventana, Los Ventana is a golf course over in, uh, um, in MidCentral, Texas there.

[00:01:38] Josh Lowrey: So, great course, but, uh, are you playing tomorrow?

[00:01:41] Chris Berrie: I'm not. Um, I'll be sort of partaking some of the other activities through the week. Are you a

[00:01:46] Josh Lowrey: golfer?

[00:01:46] Chris Berrie: I'm not, I'm not, I I'll, I, I'd embarrass myself on the course. I fair. I dare say. So. I'll, I'll let others, uh, from our team Yeah. Partake in that activity, but I'll be.

[00:01:57] Chris Berrie: I'll be, uh, with you all with, with some of the other activities. [00:02:00] The,

[00:02:00] Josh Lowrey: I think Craig Lang is out here this trip, isn't he? He's speaking.

[00:02:02] Chris Berrie: He's one of the moderators. Oh, that's right. He's a

[00:02:04] Josh Lowrey: former guy with

[00:02:05] Chris Berrie: you guys. That's right. Yeah. No, he, he, he retired from Caterpillar after a great and deep career. Great

[00:02:09] Josh Lowrey: career.

[00:02:10] Josh Lowrey: Yeah. I

[00:02:10] Chris Berrie: love Craig. Um, so, you know, I go out a lot of time for Mr. Lang and look forward to seeing him today. Yeah. But he, he's actually moderating one of the panels.

[00:02:17] Josh Lowrey: Good. Yeah. A lot of good. This is a great event. Um, alright, let's get to this here. We got a lot to talk about. Thank you for meeting with us today.

[00:02:23] Chris Berrie: No,

[00:02:23] Josh Lowrey: thanks

[00:02:24] Chris Berrie: for hosting.

[00:02:24] Josh Lowrey: I always see. Thank you. This is, you're already a good guest. This is, we, um, we had breakfast before you going, we had breakfast this morning and perfect morning, and we asked the waitress who said, can we sit outside? She's like, oh, it's a little buggy. And I'm like, a little buggy.

[00:02:38] Josh Lowrey: You're not from Houston? This is, you don't know a little buggy.

[00:02:40] Chris Berrie: Oh, this is just nice.

[00:02:41] Josh Lowrey: Yeah. Now that we're out there, there's a couple bugs.

[00:02:44] Chris Berrie: Yeah.

[00:02:45] Josh Lowrey: It's not this in Houston though. This is great. Um, alright. Why don't you just give the audience a quick sample of what, who you are, where you came from, how you got to where you're going, and then we'll get into the whole shtick here.

[00:02:56] Chris Berrie: Sure. Yeah. Chris Berrie, cat Oil and gas out of our [00:03:00] Houston office, uh, currently lead one of our commercial teams, you know, customer facing, um, on the relationship side. Uh, and, and our team, you know, are, you know, uh, the customer relationship team over midstream gas compression. Power generation activities as well as our EMP, uh, customers through, through that value chain.

[00:03:20] Chris Berrie: Um, so it's, I've been in, in the role a few months now. Okay. Uh, prior to this, uh, I headed up a, a similar team, but on the drilling completion side. Um, and of course, you know, beyond my role at Cat Oil and Gas, you know, an active member of the Energy Workforce Technology Council and. Uh, you know, that that's who have brought us all together in this great setting, as you mentioned earlier,

[00:03:41] Josh Lowrey: right?

[00:03:42] Josh Lowrey: Yeah. By the way, you just blew through with some really big stuff there. You've actually had quite a, quite a great career so far. You, you mentioned the Energy Workforce Technology Council. For those of you who don't know, EWTC also formerly called PISA and been around for 95 years, close to 95 years.

[00:03:57] Josh Lowrey: Great organization. If you're not a [00:04:00] member of it, I highly encourage you to, to be a part of it. You are, you were the, you're the vice chair of the Emerging Executives Committee.

[00:04:06] Chris Berrie: I was, you were. So, uh, I've held a, my,

[00:04:09] Josh Lowrey: who gave me my notes. This is, these are, I, I'm apparently three months off on everything

[00:04:13] Chris Berrie: here.

[00:04:13] Chris Berrie: That's okay. Yes. Not a problem. Um, no. I mean, we, we, as Caterpillar, we we're proud members of the, the association that have been for many, many years, you know, a great team and encourage others to, to, you know, reach out, engage. Um, but no, I was formally, uh, the, the chair of the Emerging Executives Committee.

[00:04:30] Chris Berrie: I currently head up as chair, the international. Um, committee.

[00:04:35] Josh Lowrey: Okay.

[00:04:35] Chris Berrie: Um, and, uh, yeah, it, it's just a, a joy and a pleasure to, uh, to represent Caterpillar, uh, with EWTC.

[00:04:43] Josh Lowrey: Now, I'm only laughing because this happened to me. Did you age out of the emerging?

[00:04:49] Chris Berrie: I did. I did. So in fact, they, uh, you know, I probably through COVID and all, all, all the other, um, uh, things at that time, I, I probably overstayed my tenure.

[00:04:59] Chris Berrie: Yes. [00:05:00] Uh, as you're one of these

[00:05:00] Josh Lowrey: college kids that got six years, six years of eligibility and

[00:05:03] Chris Berrie: just Yeah. Indeed, indeed. And then it was time I had to rotate out and then, uh, Molly reached out and said, Hey, we've, we've got a, we've got another assignment for you.

[00:05:11] Josh Lowrey: Right?

[00:05:11] Chris Berrie: Uh, and of course I, I accepted the office straight away.

[00:05:15] Chris Berrie: Um, and yeah, lead one of our international programs committees where we, you know, we, we engage and educate and we do a lot of work with, uh, some of the state department, uh, through the year. Right. Um, and, uh, yeah, it's, it's, it's a great position, uh, part of my extracurricular activities outside of oil, uh, caterpillar, oil and gas.

[00:05:33] Josh Lowrey: Well, I call that the business of business.

[00:05:35] Chris Berrie: Yes.

[00:05:35] Josh Lowrey: You need to do it. And I'm looking at you again, back to your just career, where, why would they even think about you putting on the international? Obviously your accent's not from Texas. Yep. Uh, if it is, it's a part of Texas. I haven't been to

[00:05:45] Chris Berrie: Yeah,

[00:05:46] Josh Lowrey: yeah. But you have a lot of, um, history internationally.

[00:05:49] Josh Lowrey: I do,

[00:05:50] Chris Berrie: uh, and, and Caterpillar, you know, global company. Um, you know, uh, so it's, it's been a great journey, uh, nearly, nearly 18 years with Caterpillar now. Okay. Uh, [00:06:00] specifically Wow. Really, uh, oil and gas and energy group. Um, so, and then, yeah, the last seven or so out of our corporate office here in, in, well out of Houston, uh, I should say.

[00:06:10] Chris Berrie: Um, but yeah, the, uh, my journey with Caterpillar's, you know, given me opportunities to travel internationally, meet customers globally, uh, across the. Different areas of, of our business. Uh, so, you know, it's a great, uh, great opportunity for me to then leverage some of that experience with the, with the international program.

[00:06:28] Josh Lowrey: So you, you've been with Cat Caterpillar for 18 years?

[00:06:31] Chris Berrie: Yes, sir.

[00:06:31] Josh Lowrey: Primarily, or all oil and gas.

[00:06:33] Chris Berrie: That's right. Absolutely.

[00:06:33] Josh Lowrey: That's kind of unique actually. Um,

[00:06:36] Chris Berrie: yeah.

[00:06:37] Josh Lowrey: How long has Caterpillar had an oil and gas division?

[00:06:40] Chris Berrie: Uh, well, uh. I

[00:06:43] Josh Lowrey: at 18 years

[00:06:45] Chris Berrie: plus. Yeah. More, more than 18 years. Okay. Um, you know, as we, we, we structured oil and gas, um, out of some of our power systems business.

[00:06:52] Josh Lowrey: Yeah.

[00:06:52] Chris Berrie: Prior. Now of course, caterpillar has been in the oil and gas since its, uh, creation, if you will, you know, uh, you know, decades and decades [00:07:00] ago. Yeah.

I

[00:07:00] Josh Lowrey: mean, I know they've been serving oil and gas for sure.

[00:07:02] Chris Berrie: There's but, but as a group,

[00:07:03] Josh Lowrey: right?

[00:07:03] Chris Berrie: Um, I wanna say, you know, pre, um, yeah, it's probably been over.

[00:07:10] Chris Berrie: Two and a half decades now.

[00:07:12] Josh Lowrey: Okay. Okay.

[00:07:12] Chris Berrie: Around that. Yeah. Don't quote me on that.

[00:07:14] Josh Lowrey: No, no. Well, I mean, by way, even, the reason I'm saying that is that it's, listen, this is not a knock on Caterpillar by any means. 'cause if there, there is nothing. If you've heard any of my other podcasts, which by the way another segue to go listen to these, my, there's not a world you can touch in manufacturing.

[00:07:30] Josh Lowrey: It's, which is my background. That you don't touch Caterpillar at some level. Or construction. Or mining. Or, or, or, right. And you know, so for Caterpillar, when they go into a market segment, they come in with lots of a decade worth of strategy, thinking and thought, and then execution.

[00:07:47] Chris Berrie: Oh, a absolutely. And you know, the, the, um, the joy of working at Caterpillar as well, that we can leverage.

[00:07:55] Chris Berrie: You know, um, our technologies, um, ways of, of, uh, helping [00:08:00] our customers from other segments of our business, as you mentioned. Mm-hmm. You know, uh, resource industries, construction, um, for, you know, just to name a few. Um, so as we see opportunities in adjacent, uh, areas of our business, we can leverage what we are doing in, in other areas as well.

[00:08:15] Chris Berrie: And vice versa, of course.

[00:08:16] Josh Lowrey: Well, back to me being the greatest podcast host ever, where do you think that what you just said shifts to naturally right now?

[00:08:25] Chris Berrie: Well, I think what we're seeing right now, um, you know, as cat oil and gas Yeah. Is, you know, the, the need for, uh, you know, need for power generation. This guy's

[00:08:34] Josh Lowrey: the best.

[00:08:35] Josh Lowrey: That's exactly where I was going.

[00:08:36] Chris Berrie: And, uh, you know, we, we've, we've seen some of the Ercot projections, you know, over through 2030, for example. Um, and some pretty bold statements made by Erhart, you know, I think 150 gigawatts by 2030. Uh, you know, I think what, what

[00:08:50] Josh Lowrey: does that even mean to the average person?

[00:08:52] Chris Berrie: Oh, it's just a tremendous amount of growth. Um, and, you know, and beyond that growth, you know, from Ercot, [00:09:00] I think it's around 14 gigawatts in just the Permian alone. Um, and, you know, we're obviously looking, you know, what, what's driving that demand? And for sure it's the, the, the data center, the ai. Mm-hmm.

[00:09:11] Chris Berrie: Uh, you know, uh, boom if you will. That, that we're seeing right now. Uh, but what we're looking at is cut oil and gas is, you know, how, how does that impact our, our customers, um, near the, uh, exploration production companies, the, the service companies, um, and how do we help them achieve their power goals when maybe they don't have access, uh, to reliable grid power or if there's a shortage or interruption.

[00:09:35] Chris Berrie: You know, utility power because of, you know, the supply and demand gap. Uh, so yeah, we are, we are doing a lot of work in that space right now and, and, and looking at what technologies and solutions we can provide as we speak to our customers, working customer back, understanding their problems, and, you know, using the, the breadth of Caterpillar, uh, to see where we can provide solutions and services to.

[00:09:58] Chris Berrie: To help them with their, with their end [00:10:00] goals.

[00:10:00] Josh Lowrey: So, I mean, let's just stick with you on the, on your oil and gas experience. 'cause I feel like what we're talking here is, I mean, since we're at Energy Workforce

[00:10:07] Chris Berrie: Yes.

[00:10:07] Josh Lowrey: Meeting, right. Let's, let's say the whole name Energy Workforce Technology Council, right? Yes,

[00:10:15] Chris Berrie: sir.

[00:10:15] Josh Lowrey: This is, this is something that, this technology that we're describing for the energy business, you, you know, you, this probably touches everything from drilling. All the way you mentioned EMP, but nothing really happens until the bit hits the ground.

[00:10:30] Chris Berrie: Yeah. So, you know, uh, within the cat oil and gas space, you know, we, we, we, uh, you know, we're very lucky and fortunate that we, we touch a multitude, um, uh, you know, of areas to the valley stream.

[00:10:43] Chris Berrie: So if you look at upstream, for example, uh, example, you know, the drilling, uh, you know, from the drill bit on up, right? You gotta drill complete the well in, uh, the completion space or fracking. Um, and then through to then production, how do you transport those molecules? Um, how do you compress the natural gas?

[00:10:59] Chris Berrie: [00:11:00] Mm-hmm. Uh, how do you store the natural gas? Uh, all the way down, you know, through to retail and as cat oil and gas, as well as our adjacent spaces in our construction, uh, division, for example, we, we touch all of that value chain in, in some fashion. Mm-hmm. Uh, way or another. So yeah, we, we are highly focused right now on, you know, those technologies, those services we can bring, uh, from.

[00:11:23] Chris Berrie: You know, where it's, where the journey begins and the upstream activities from drilling all the way through to, uh, uh, production.

[00:11:30] Josh Lowrey: So I heard somebody talking last night about how everybody wants to be on the grid, but not possible. Right. So behind the meter. Mm-hmm. Which is the world that you guys are playing and, right.

[00:11:38] Josh Lowrey: That's right. So what does that demand look? Have you ever seen anything like this in your career?

[00:11:44] Chris Berrie: I mean, it, it, it certainly, uh. You know, an exciting time for us right now. And you know, we, you mentioned just earlier the, there's a supply and demand gap that we're seeing from the utility, and that's where, you know, our customers are looking at.

[00:11:58] Chris Berrie: And you mentioned it right there, you know, [00:12:00] is it behind the meter? Is it, you know, a microgrid, so completely off grid? Um, and you know, what, what, uh, what technologies, uh, are out there at, at their disposal in order to. Uh, to provide, you know, their, their power for their long-term goals. And, you know, as Caterpillar oil and gas, you know, we've, we've been working with our customers very heavily using natural gas as, as that, as that fuel.

[00:12:24] Chris Berrie: Um, you know, whether that be natural gas, reci, uh, generators, if you will, you know, uh, G 35 20, for example, the 2.5 megawatt block and all the, you know, our solar turbines division, right? Um, you know, four megawatts and on earth. Uh, using, you know, an abundant, um, relatively low cost fuel, natural gas, uh, at the wellhead or in basin.

[00:12:47] Josh Lowrey: Mm-hmm.

[00:12:47] Chris Berrie: Uh, and that allows our customers to build up their, uh, um, their needs, whether it be behind the meter, may, whether it's two island mode, uh, or combination thereof to, uh, [00:13:00] to power their long term strategies.

[00:13:01] Josh Lowrey: You know, I'm just, I'm sitting here thinking about how, while you're talking, I'm, I'm. It's, it's difficult to host these podcasts as a single host because you want to just, you get so enthralled with what you're saying that I, I only wanna listen, you know, I really, I just wanna listen because, but I have questions that I, I'm, I want to ask and I need to ask, but all I can think about when you're talking is, man, this guy is so perfectly positioned from 18 years in oil and gas from drilling.

[00:13:33] Josh Lowrey: To the like, again, actually there's a lot of value in coming from a mining, for instance, and then you, you understand different techniques, et cetera. Mm-hmm. But like to be able to go to an e MP guy today and say, Hey, you're gonna want to think about this.

[00:13:46] Chris Berrie: Sure.

[00:13:46] Josh Lowrey: Because of here's what I dealt with in 2008.

[00:13:50] Chris Berrie: Sure. Yeah. And, you know, I'm, I'm, that's

[00:13:52] Josh Lowrey: unique. That really is unique.

[00:13:53] Chris Berrie: Yeah. And I'm only as good as, as, as the team that, you know, support, you know, the Caterpillar and or Caterpillar [00:14:00] enterprise as well as cat oil and gas. And, and we've just got the, the most talented individuals in the team, uh, you know, those subject matter experts we can pull in.

[00:14:07] Chris Berrie: Mm-hmm. Whether it be, you know, power generation for drilling, whether it's power generation for, you know, gas mechanical drive for frack, for example. Um, or it's. It's looking, how do we further optimize our midstream space with our, you know, natural gas engines that, you know, help transport those molecules and store those molecules.

[00:14:26] Chris Berrie: Um, so, you know, we, it's great being in that position where I can draw from a wealth of experience. Uh, I'm 18 years, but there's a lot of folks who are mm-hmm. Beyond my tenure within oil and gas and, and as Caterpillar. Yeah. So we can leverage all of that. Subject matter expertise as we talk to our customers and help solve how try and solve their problem.

[00:14:44] Chris Berrie: You,

[00:14:44] Josh Lowrey: it needs to be stated. We've said this before, but it, you know, not everybody listens to every podcast and that's fine, but Caterpillar's a hundred years this year, a hundred years old.

[00:14:51] Chris Berrie: We're celebrating that. Uh, that's right.

[00:14:53] Josh Lowrey: That's incredible.

[00:14:54] Chris Berrie: It is amazing. And, and we we're very proud of that.

[00:14:57] Josh Lowrey: I you and they should be.

[00:14:58] Josh Lowrey: Right.

[00:14:59] Chris Berrie: A great celebration.

[00:14:59] Josh Lowrey: It's a big [00:15:00] deal.

[00:15:00] Chris Berrie: It is, it is,

[00:15:01] Josh Lowrey: man. That's incredible. You know, back to EWTC hitting 90, I think again, 94 or 95 years this year.

[00:15:07] Chris Berrie: Yep.

[00:15:07] Josh Lowrey: And. M Molly and Tim, the co-CEOs of the organization, we, I talk with 'em quite a bit on certain things. Yeah. You realize like, you know, there was another Chris at Caterpillar 50 years ago.

[00:15:19] Josh Lowrey: Mm-hmm. There's another Josh at EWTC 60, 70 years ago. Sure. And at some level, your job and my job and person X listening to this across the way, we have to leave these things better than we found them.

[00:15:30] Chris Berrie: Mm-hmm.

[00:15:30] Josh Lowrey: You know, and whoever was the Chris 50 years ago, probably never dreamed. The Caterpillar was gonna have an oil and gas division that would go from drilling into behind the grid power

[00:15:43] Chris Berrie: Oh yeah.

[00:15:43] Josh Lowrey: In data centers.

[00:15:44] Chris Berrie: Yeah, absolutely.

[00:15:45] Josh Lowrey: It's just an amazing, but I bet you that guy had, or girl for that matter, had, um, a, a level of excellence that you carry today. I bet they did their job just as focused today as, or [00:16:00] then as we do today. Isn't it amazing what, how that kind of, when you think about that cycle of excellence to go for a hundred years?

[00:16:06] Chris Berrie: Yeah.

[00:16:06] Josh Lowrey: Because if Chris wouldn't have done a good job in 1950, you wouldn't be here today.

[00:16:11] Chris Berrie: Sure. And it's, it is how, how do we, you know, take that legacy and look to the next a hundred years. Right. And keep investing in our people.

[00:16:17] Josh Lowrey: Mm-hmm.

[00:16:18] Chris Berrie: Keep investing in the technologies that we, we develop to serve our customers and, and continue, continue that legacy.

[00:16:25] Chris Berrie: Energy and, and oil and gas is a great example of it. 'cause we, we are innovators and every, every day, every week, every month, you know, you know, we, we are hearing it at these events that we're at today or this week. Right. And, and others that, you know, we're, you know, it's a, it's a very innovative, innovative, um, area of our business, which is, which is the thrill for me.

[00:16:45] Josh Lowrey: So, we'll come, we'll come back to this here, but I mean, like, what are you hearing internally within Caterpillar? Or like, Hey, here's, we're at a hundred but we're going to 200. What kinda mindset is there for that 200th?

[00:16:54] Chris Berrie: Yeah, I, I think, you know, for sure, and, and we've been doing this already, you know, in oil and gas, and we're [00:17:00] gonna continue to, uh, to do this going forward.

[00:17:02] Chris Berrie: It, it's, it's really being customer back and being close with our customers, understanding their biggest challenges, um, their needs and, and, uh, and, you know, working back from there to see, okay, well how do we leverage, you know, the breadth of Caterpillar to help solve those and, uh, you know, help, uh, help their, their operations.

[00:17:22] Chris Berrie: And, you know, we've, we've spoken a little bit, you know, earlier on, on this podcast, on, on, you know, the, the natural gas, um, power generation. But we, we are leveraging that, you know, across the segments. You know, you look at drilling, for example, uh, you know, a couple decades ago would've been all diesel power.

[00:17:41] Chris Berrie: Mm-hmm. Um, then we introduced, uh, uh, DGB, the dynamic gas blending element, right. To then help offset some of the. You know, the diesel cost emissions, um, you know, and as you bring in natural gas and we've, and we continue to innovate on that and we've just launched our DGB Gen two, again, pushing the boundary of how [00:18:00] much natural gas we can then use in combustion there.

[00:18:03] Chris Berrie: And, you know, that that's a meaningful impact to our, our customers 'cause it's, you know, lower fuel cost for their operation. Uh, lower emissions, of course. Uh, without any compromise on, um, on performance and that, and that's just drilling. Yeah. And we're looking at across the,

[00:18:17] Josh Lowrey: well, I mean, so, but speaking to that, that matters.

[00:18:19] Josh Lowrey: I mean, it's, we're not in easier places to drill anymore. Right. And so I would imagine that power becomes the constraint at some level where they can drill. So how's, how are the technologies, um, affecting where people can drill and what you guys are doing, like that access to power, is that dictating where people can drill?

[00:18:37] Chris Berrie: Uh, I think it, it's,

[00:18:39] Josh Lowrey: or develop assets. Probably a better way to say

[00:18:40] Chris Berrie: that. Yeah. I, I think as you know, some of the customers look at, you know, where those wells are. You know, they're gonna look at, okay, how, how do we fuel that rig? You know, is it close to a utility? Um, and can, can, and, and is there the supply to, you know, connect that rig to the, to uh, to the infrastructure And, you know, for the points raised just [00:19:00] earlier, uh, that the supply and demand gap is meaningful.

[00:19:02] Josh Lowrey: Mm-hmm.

[00:19:03] Chris Berrie: Um, you know, that's a challenge right now. Um, and then the. Then, then they're looking, okay, well what other alternatives do we have? And, you know, natural gas is at location or in basin. Uh, it's low cost, you know, relatively low emissions. Right? And how do we use, uh, natural gas in other operations such as drilling like they have been doing already and for decades in gas compression.

[00:19:26] Chris Berrie: Uh, and we're seeing the same for well service or the completion space where, you know, again, we've. You know, we, we as Caterpillar developed our DGB in, in, in frack.

[00:19:35] Josh Lowrey: Tell everybody what that is real quick, just so they know.

[00:19:36] Chris Berrie: Dynamic gas blending. So it's, it's the technology of, you know, using natural gas to displace diesel in combustion.

[00:19:43] Chris Berrie: So at the

[00:19:44] Josh Lowrey: site,

[00:19:44] Chris Berrie: uh, on, on, on, on engine. Absolutely. So, you know, whether that be, uh, field gas, c and g pipeline, you know, we, we can run on a variety of gases, which is, which is great. Unbelievable. It gives a lot of great flexibility. Uh, but again, it's, it's. [00:20:00] You know, what does that really mean to the operator?

[00:20:03] Chris Berrie: Uh, or the customer? It's, well, lower fuel cost.

[00:20:06] Josh Lowrey: Mm-hmm.

[00:20:07] Chris Berrie: Um, without any interruption for their, uh, operational performance and, you know, they get, get the added, uh, benefit of lower emissions footprint as well. So, like we've done in drilling, we, we brought out different options in, in frac or completions. Uh, and, uh, you know, recently we've been talking about our GMS Gas mechanical system.

[00:20:27] Chris Berrie: Where it's a hundred percent natural gas driven, um, uh, you know, a drive train for completions. So again, just another example where, you know, through the valley chain of upstream, through to, uh, midstream and downstream where we're looking at different technologies.

[00:20:42] Josh Lowrey: I feel like we saw, didn't Andy Andy's behind the camera today, he's, he loves this job When we're on, on site, usually it's, uh, an hour or Caitlin, um, is, I feel, didn't we hear a stat of like 80% savings on.

[00:20:56] Josh Lowrey: On cost on some of these. Am am I making this number up [00:21:00] for

[00:21:00] Chris Berrie: you guys? No, I, I, on, on the, uh, dynamic gas blending. Yes. For example, uh, you know, it

[00:21:04] Josh Lowrey: was something just absurdly

[00:21:06] Chris Berrie: efficient. Yeah. We, we, we've, we've demonstrated that we've got upwards of, you know, 70% plus, uh, displacement of diesel to natural gas.

[00:21:14] Chris Berrie: Yes. Per, per, that's, that's per engine. And then beyond that, now with our full gas, you know, the GMS gas mechanical system, we can do a hundred percent natural gas on, on that trailer. Um, that's unbelievable. So it's, it again, it, it gives flexibility to our customers, um, and allows them to, uh, you know, lower their fuel cost.

[00:21:33] Chris Berrie: You know, there's an emission benefit.

[00:21:34] Josh Lowrey: Yes. This is what we're talking emissions safety money like that's what we were talking about on that. Like you, when you really break down like the true value to that, it's not just a dollar.

[00:21:44] Chris Berrie: No. It's

[00:21:44] Josh Lowrey: significant.

[00:21:45] Chris Berrie: It's meaningful that yes. It's to to customer operations.

[00:21:47] Chris Berrie: Absolutely.

[00:21:49] Josh Lowrey: My favorite joke I like to make when we do these is to. Is to tell your communications team that they gimme a bunch of notes that I don't, [00:22:00] they're so, your team is so smart, and they gave me all these great, really well worked notes and I'm like, do they really think I can read all this? So I, I try to get to certain things and I'm like, I don't even know what this word is.

[00:22:13] Josh Lowrey: What am I supposed to do here? Um, but thank you. They do, they do a great job.

[00:22:19] Chris Berrie: Not a problem.

[00:22:19] Josh Lowrey: I mean. Listen, what do I need? What do I need to know? What is that? What are the, what do the people need to know, Chris?

[00:22:25] Chris Berrie: Well, I, I think, you

[00:22:26] Josh Lowrey: know, you've been a, you've been a co-host before and, and Yeah. Help me, let's, let's make this, what, what is we talked about the widget.

[00:22:32] Chris Berrie: Yeah.

[00:22:32] Josh Lowrey: What's the widget gonna do for people? Like when you're out there really selling Yeah. And talking and building, what are you really trying to get people to understand?

[00:22:39] Chris Berrie: Well, I think it's, it's working cus this is

my

[00:22:40] Josh Lowrey: favorite

[00:22:40] Chris Berrie: part by the way. Yeah. I, I think it's working customer back to understand, you know, what they want to achieve at their specific location and using the right technology fit for their needs.

[00:22:49] Chris Berrie: Um, and then beyond that, you know, we spoke a little bit as, as we were getting set up, you know, today of, you know, it's, yes, you can have the solutions, but how do you [00:23:00] optimize those, right? It's how do you optimize, you know, the, those, you know, those solutions at site. So beyond, you know, gas power generation, uh, that we've, we've spoken about, it's okay, how do we bring, you know, site level controls to optimize where, where the energy's coming from?

[00:23:14] Chris Berrie: How are you loading those assets to get best optimal performance? And efficiency for the site. How do we incorporate other technologies like energy storage, uh, with a control strategy to complement the gas power generation? So it's, it's looking at all those different facets, uh, to really provide the most optimal solution, um, which again, has meaningful impact to the customers, whereas you talk efficiency and lowering their cost of operation.

[00:23:40] Josh Lowrey: I don't think I've ever given an answer to that professional my entire life.

[00:23:43] Chris Berrie: Thank you.

[00:23:44] Josh Lowrey: I really don't. I'm, as you were talking, I'm like, is it his accent or is he just that, that good at what he does?

[00:23:52] Chris Berrie: Well, I mean that it, we, we, we love what we do and as I say, I've got, uh,

[00:23:57] Josh Lowrey: how big is your team?

[00:23:58] Chris Berrie: Um,

[00:23:59] Josh Lowrey: because [00:24:00] you're probably building it out.

[00:24:00] Josh Lowrey: You've been there a couple.

[00:24:01] Chris Berrie: Yeah. As I say, um, I think, uh, caterpillar, as we look at Cap Enterprise, you know, we're. I haven't, I'd have to look, you know, at a, our recent earnings call, but I think we're over a hundred thousand people as Caterpillar. Uh, and then if you include our dealer network, which. You know, um, I

[00:24:18] Josh Lowrey: love those guys.

[00:24:19] Josh Lowrey: You got some great dealer network people.

[00:24:20] Chris Berrie: We do. And, you know, that adds again, an additional, uh, you know, um, um, workforce, you know, to, to Caterpillar Inc. And we've got some great dealers that actually some, some are representing this week, um, you know, with this event. And you know that that's a huge strength for Caterpillar having, you know, uh, global dealers, uh, close to the customers.

[00:24:41] Chris Berrie: Uh, local service. Um, and, and, you know, looking after those, uh, those customer operations. So if you, you know, if you look at our, the Caterpillar family between dealer. Um, and Caterpillar, we've got huge amount of expertise and you know, that, that allows me to learn from my colleagues.

[00:24:58] Josh Lowrey: Do you, do you go work with the dealer networks as well?[00:25:00]

[00:25:00] Chris Berrie: Absolutely.

[00:25:01] Josh Lowrey: You know, we, yeah. So you, you're where you're kind of a, you go where you need to go.

[00:25:03] Chris Berrie: Yep. Uh, as I say, we, we, we've got, um, you know, great link. You know, we've got great teams that work day in, day out with our, our dealers. Uh, you know, the, the team I represent, uh, also do the same. Uh, so it's, it's, it's a one team approach.

[00:25:23] Josh Lowrey: I'm just looking at my questions here. This, they actually have a pretty good, this is a pretty good question. These, is it, is it gonna be a technology limitation or infrastructure limitation as you see it going forward?

[00:25:34] Chris Berrie: Well, I, it,

I

[00:25:35] Josh Lowrey: like that question.

[00:25:36] Chris Berrie: No, it is a very, very insightful question. Um, you know, we, we spoke about Ercot, uh, projections over 150 gigawatts by 2030.

[00:25:44] Chris Berrie: We know that, you know, some infrastructure, you know, the wait time for permits. Building out infrastructure is not a one year or two year timeframe. It's, it's, it's in the five to 10 years, for example. Right. Um, so for sure the infrastructure will build out, [00:26:00] but I, I think as customers have looked at gas power generation.

[00:26:05] Chris Berrie: Initially as a bridge strategy, I think longer term, that's probably a longer term plan, you know, over, you know, five to 10 year period rather than a short term bridge strategy as they look at natural gas power generation whilst waiting for some of the infrastructure to come online. Okay. Which, you know, there, there's, it'll be here, there's plans, it'll be here, but as a

[00:26:25] Josh Lowrey: minute, it's gonna be a minute.

[00:26:26] Chris Berrie: It's gonna be a minute. Right. And you look at the sheer demand growth, and again, it's, it's, it's for sure, um. Being energized by the, the data center, the ai, you know, boom. Yes. And I think, you know, uh, Daniels came out with, with, uh, a stat the other day of, you know, they, they saw that total data centers for the us.

[00:26:47] Chris Berrie: Um, energy would be, you know, on the high side, 17% I think of total, um, uh, power. So it, so it is a huge growth and the infrastructure has to and will grow out, but it's the [00:27:00] timing and, and when that comes online. That's where we mentioned on some of our customers, they, you know, they have strategic plans in the oil and gas arena.

[00:27:09] Chris Berrie: Um, and, you know, they're gonna look to, you know, gas powered, um, microgrids behind the meter, um, island mode, if you will. As they as, mm-hmm. They need the power to, to, to fuel their strategy.

[00:27:24] Josh Lowrey: You know, I always ask people, I, I'm a huge believer in, um, that we're not in an ai we're in, there's lots of bubbles going on.

[00:27:31] Josh Lowrey: The one I'm not a big believer is that I don't believe we're in an AI bubble. I think that, uh, I, like you use it. Do you use the Theis at all?

[00:27:42] Chris Berrie: Sure. You know, and, and again, I, I'm a, an early learner, if you will. Yeah. You know, just, just on the fringes of, of trying to test things out of its capabilities and whatnot.

[00:27:51] Chris Berrie: Um, and for sure, you know. As, as with then I think things will become more efficient. Yep. Um, but you know, from what we've seen, uh, lately, [00:28:00] and we'll, we'll, we'll have to just continue to keep close to it, is, you know, it's, uh, it's, it's certainly driving a lot of demand power right now.

[00:28:06] Josh Lowrey: Well, and so my, my question always goes, so I ask people, are you an AI user?

[00:28:10] Josh Lowrey: People like, yes, I am. For the most part. Right. And then you say, all right, is your wife or husband? Uh, yes. Or maybe no, except depending. Right. Okay, great. Is, is your mom? No. Okay. Then we're not in a bubble yet. Mm-hmm. Until your mom and your sisters and your brothers, and your dads and your cousins, until they're all on it.

[00:28:29] Josh Lowrey: We're not in a bubble because until it's touching everyone that you know is life in some way. Yeah. We're just not there. And because it is, there's so much technology that's about to come out mm-hmm. That and it's gonna happen immediately,

[00:28:41] Chris Berrie: quickly. Yeah.

[00:28:42] Josh Lowrey: Very quickly. And uh, and by quickly, you know, quickly used to be five years.

[00:28:46] Josh Lowrey: Mm-hmm. This, I, I mean, look, I don't even think I'm on a limb here when I say we're talking 24 months

[00:28:52] Chris Berrie: mm-hmm.

[00:28:52] Josh Lowrey: In some of these transitions. So I just believe in it and I believe Caterpillar's perfectly positioned. So, you know, again, I, I appreciate you [00:29:00] coming on this. I appreciate you kind of messing with us.

[00:29:02] Josh Lowrey: I mean, you really went on a limb here to come out and just lum it, lum it with us.

[00:29:06] Chris Berrie: No, I mean, we, we, we, we appreciate the invitation.

[00:29:09] Josh Lowrey: So before I let you go, um, tell us what you're working on with the EWTC. You're, you're in the international committee. Have this already started for you or are you about to go onto that

[00:29:18] Chris Berrie: committee?

[00:29:18] Chris Berrie: Oh no, I've, I, I've been in the seat now, um, you know, through last year as well. Okay. Um, so, you know, we, we were fortunate enough to host, um, a delegation from. Uh, the State Department Okay. Earlier this year. Um, and part of the energy workforce is, you know, part of their, one of their pillars is the educate

[00:29:34] Josh Lowrey: Okay.

[00:29:35] Chris Berrie: Uh, pillar, um, of the energy workforce. And, you know, we, we, we hosted as a community of, of, um, uh, member companies as well as the EWTC themselves. Okay. Uh, through a week worth of education with, you know, with, uh, with the US State Department. Uh, they, they, it's a

[00:29:50] Josh Lowrey: great organization. They do

[00:29:51] Chris Berrie: that. It is. And they, they got to, or

[00:29:52] Josh Lowrey: program, I should say.

[00:29:53] Chris Berrie: It is. And you know, and we appreciate the service for those foreign offices as well. Uh, but it's great they, they get to come in, that they [00:30:00] get to speak to member companies. Uh, they get to hear about some of the, um, uh, technologies, uh, through,

[00:30:06] Josh Lowrey: to actually see it,

[00:30:07] Chris Berrie: to see it, you know, through the member companies of the energy workforce.

[00:30:10] Chris Berrie: Um, and you know, as they go back to their postings, they, uh, you know, they, they get a flavor of what, what the energy industry's Yeah. Uh, up to, and, uh, and that hopefully helps them in their, in their posting.

[00:30:21] Josh Lowrey: Well, you're long term a good addition to that for sure. So that's, that's out outstanding. Yeah. Is there anything we've missed?

[00:30:26] Josh Lowrey: People that the people need to know?

[00:30:28] Chris Berrie: Uh, no. I, I think we, we, we touched on, you know, a lot of the key, key, uh, activities which we're involved all the way from the, the well haired through to uh, uh, you know. Uh, completions, midstream and downstream activities. Uh, I mean, for me it's, you know, it's a big thank you really to yourself, you know, for, for hosting us today.

[00:30:47] Chris Berrie: Dude,

[00:30:47] Josh Lowrey: love you guys.

[00:30:47] Chris Berrie: Um, and

[00:30:48] Josh Lowrey: I've become a big fan of Caterpillar during this process.

[00:30:50] Chris Berrie: Oh,

[00:30:50] Josh Lowrey: you know, I mean, look, please hear that. Look, Caterpillar's ca it's just a, it's Coca-Cola, you know what I mean? It's a brand you grew up with and you just always saw it. And [00:31:00] again, I go back to what we said off camera.

[00:31:01] Josh Lowrey: You just forget that it's a hundred thousand plus people doing something for a hundred years.

[00:31:07] Chris Berrie: It is

[00:31:08] Josh Lowrey: excellently

[00:31:09] Chris Berrie: and you know a lot of folks, you know, they know us from, you know. Things that they, they, they grew up with, right? It could have been the ach, you know, the machines, the mining.

[00:31:16] Josh Lowrey: Right.

[00:31:17] Chris Berrie: Uh, but as I say, as, as, as we speak to our customers and we, we educate them, you know, that there's, there's a lot of things that we, we, uh, we support our broader network with and we.

[00:31:28] Chris Berrie: It's a continued education on, on what we can, what we can do so

[00:31:32] Josh Lowrey: well, well thank you very much for your

[00:31:33] Chris Berrie: time. No, it's a pleasure. Thanks for hosting us. Thank you, sir.

[00:31:35] Josh Lowrey: Well listen, that wraps us up for today from beautiful Tucson, Arizona at 2026 Energy Workforce Technology Council annual meeting. Uh, thank you very much Chris for your time today.

[00:31:44] Josh Lowrey: If you have any questions, look us up@caterpillar.com. Oil and gas. They actually, you guys back to your communications team. They haven't, it's very easy to index any subject you're interested in looking into. Just kind of go there, type it in and you can find whatever you wanna talk about. I'm Josh Lowrey.

[00:31:57] Josh Lowrey: Look us up on all our social media channels. Thank you very much [00:32:00] for your time today.