ProPetro (PUMP) 2026年第三季度业绩电话会：随着压裂产能售罄，PROPWR持续扩大规模

核心要点

• 2026年第三季度营收环比增长16%至3.55亿美元，而调整后EBITDA增长33%至6000万美元，相当于营收的17%。
• 净利润为1300万美元，即稀释后每股收益0.09美元，而上一季度净亏损为800万美元，即稀释后每股亏损0.07美元。
• PROPWR产生约800万美元的调整后EBITDA。管理层预计到2026年底将部署250至275兆瓦，到2028年初部署将超过500兆瓦。
• PROPWR已签约容量约510兆瓦，已锁定发电容量2.6吉瓦，其中包括超过1吉瓦的卡特彼勒10兆瓦发电机组。
• ProPetro目前运营约13支活跃的水力压裂车队，并称其可用产能已基本售罄。超过三分之二的活跃马力已签约，大部分续约定于2027年上半年进行。
• 管理层预计第四季度业绩将面临假日相关的季节性因素以及完井业务利润率持续承压，而PROPWR在2027年的增长预计将集中在下半年。

关键财务数据

业务与运营表现

PROPWR

随着部署增加以及项目级利润率符合管理层预期，PROPWR贡献了约800万美元的调整后EBITDA。公司预计到2026年底部署容量将达到约250至275兆瓦。

近期宣布的与Targa达成的约230兆瓦协议将已签约容量推升至约510兆瓦。管理层明确表示，到2028年初部署超过500兆瓦的目标反映的是当前已签约容量；潜在的新增数据中心合同将构成增量。

ProPetro已锁定约2.6吉瓦的发电设备。其中超过1吉瓦由卡特彼勒的10兆瓦往复式发电机组组成。管理层表示，这些较大机组适合高密度安装，而较小的2.6兆瓦机组则支持模块化、负荷可变性和冗余度。

该公司首个数据中心部署项目已在美国中西部投入运营。管理层表示，目前仍就涉及数百兆瓦的多个项目机会进行深入谈判，其中两个项目被形容为特别活跃。潜在的大规模部署可能于2027年晚些时候开始，并在2028年展开更广泛的部署。

完井业务

ProPetro在2026年期间重新启用了两支车队，使活跃车队总数达到约13支。最新一支车队于第三季度投入使用，早于最初预期。

运营活力的提升需要额外的招聘、库存、备件和泵车准备。这些重建成本超出了管理层的最初预期，拖累了第二季度和第三季度的利润率。

管理层表示可用压裂产能已基本售罄，并指出2027年的排期已基本排满。公司正优先考虑投资组合优化和专属车队合作关系，而不是增加新建马力。

燃烧天然气的车队（包括双燃料、天然气直驱和电动设备）需求最为强劲。管理层将其部分归因于柴油与天然气价格之间的价差。超过三分之二的活跃马力已签约，大部分协议将于2027年上半年到期续约。

管理层业绩指引

• 2026年全年已发生的资本支出预计为5.25亿至5.75亿美元。
• 完井业务资本支出预计约为1.25亿至1.45亿美元，这在一定程度上取决于年底及进入2027年期间的交付时机。
• PROPWR 2026年的资本支出预计约为4亿至4.3亿美元，较先前的指引收窄。
• PROPWR的资本成本指引维持在每兆瓦约140万至150万美元，其中包括辅助设备（BOP）以及卡特彼勒框架协议期内预计发生的通货膨胀。
• 管理层继续将PROPWR的投资回收期目标设定为四至六年。油气和中游项目预计更接近四年，而规模较大的数据中心项目可能接近该范围的上限。
• 首次FORCE电动车队买断预计将花费1500万至2000万美元。预计2027年还将至少进行三次买断，随着每笔交易的交割，相关租赁费用将相应下降。
• 由于设备交付、首付款以及卡特彼勒协议项下的里程碑付款，管理层预计2027年PROPWR的资本支出将超过2026年水平。
• 预计2026年第四季度将有约13支压裂车队保持活跃，尽管节日放缓预计将暂时降低产能利用率。
• 随着大型项目的上线，PROPWR 2027年的收益增长预计将偏向下半年。人员、场地准备和调配动员成本可能会先于相关收入和收益发生。

风险与关注领域

• 与重建运营产能相关的成本高于预期，使得完井业务利润率持续承压。管理层预计在2027年期间进行优化，但表示要发挥出全部效益可能需要一些时间。
• 第四季度的利用率和业绩预计将面临正常的节日季节性影响。
• 由于围绕项目范围、责任、违约赔偿和风险分担条款的谈判，数据中心合同签署周期有所拉长。并行的商业机会也可能会改变产能分配和时间安排。
• 新数据中心协议的规模、签署时机和结构可能会重大影响2027年资本支出的时机和金额，尽管管理层维持了其每兆瓦成本区间。
• 预订费可能会预先收取，但在资产部署并开始发电之前不会确认为收入或调整后EBITDA。因此，报告的业绩可能会滞后于已签约产能。
• 第三季度营运资金消耗了约1500万美元现金，尽管调整后EBITDA有所增加，但这导致了经营活动现金流较低。
• 随着数据中心建设和其他行业争夺蓝领工人，管理层正在密切关注劳动力可用性和工资通胀情况。

分析师问答要点

• 数据中心签约：管理层表示，涉及数百兆瓦的两个项目机会特别活跃。谈判重点集中在长期风险分配、范围、责任和履约条款上，而不是社区反对意见。
• 部署时机：某些项目已开始订购辅助设备。管理层认为潜在的初始部署可能在2027年晚些时候进行，而更大规模的部署将在2028年期间展开。卡特彼勒10兆瓦机组的交付预计将于2028年下半年开始，并在框架协议期内持续进行。
• 融资情况：截至季末，ProPetro拥有超过9亿美元的流动资金和超过7亿美元的现金。管理层还提到了未提取的3.5亿美元Stonebriar融资额度，并表示客户预付款可能会成为较大规模电力协议的一部分。
• PROPWR合同结构：对于数百兆瓦的基础设施级项目，管理层的目标是至少10年的合同期限。PROPWR打算提供包括运营和维护在内的交钥匙电力服务，而不是仅干租发电设备。
• 压裂重定价：管理层表示，部分电动压裂产能已经续约，而更多的FORCE车队产能正在谈判中。管理层预计所有电动设备将在2027年保持运行，并认为运营表现能够支撑极具吸引力的定价。
• 车队产能：ProPetro不打算重新启用老化设备或投资新建压裂马力。管理层表示，目前的首要任务是维持约13支活跃车队，同时平衡维护需求和设备可靠性。

业绩电话会议完整实录

---

完整财报电话会议逐字稿

管理层陈述

Operator

Good day and welcome to the ProPetro Holding Corp. Third Quarter of 2026 Conference Call. Please note that this event is being recorded. [Operator Instructions]

I would now like to turn the call over to Matt Augustine, ProPetro's Vice President of Finance and Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Matt Augustine

Thank you and good morning. We appreciate your participation in today's call. With me are Chief Executive Officer, Sam Sledge; Chief Financial Officer, Caleb Weatherl; President and Chief Operating Officer, Adam Munoz; and President of PROPWR, Travis Simmering. This morning, we released our earnings results for the third quarter of 2026.

Please note that any comments we make on today's call regarding projections or our expectations for future events are forward-looking statements covered by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act. Forward-looking statements are subject to several risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond our control. These risks and uncertainties can cause actual results to differ materially from our current expectations. We advise listeners to review our earnings release and risk factors discussed in our filings with the SEC.

Also during today's call, we will reference certain non-GAAP financial measures. Reconciliations of these non-GAAP measures to the most directly comparable GAAP measures are included in our earnings release. Finally, after our prepared remarks, we will hold a question-and-answer session.

With that, I would like to turn the call over to Sam.

Sam Sledge

Thanks, Matt, and good morning, everyone. ProPetro delivered a solid third quarter with higher revenue, net income and adjusted EBITDA in both our completions and PROPWR businesses. PROPWR posted a meaningful sequential step-up as we continue to advance its commercial and operational execution and activity increased across frac, cementing and wireline. While the costs of rebuilding our completions capacity continued to weigh on margins, our fleet is now essentially sold out and positioned to recontract into a tighter better priced market in 2027.

Let's start with PROPWR. Since our last update, we have made significant progress across the business. PROPWR generated approximately $8 million of adjusted EBITDA in the third quarter, a meaningful sequential increase. Results and margin performance at the project level continue to meet our already high expectations, which reinforces our confidence in the earnings and return profile we have outlined. We expect to keep scaling deployments through year-end reaching between approximately 250 megawatts and 275 megawatts deployed by the end of 2026 and stair-stepping to more than 500 megawatts by early 2028.

We expect this growth to come from three sources: scaling our currently contracted capacity, deploying or preparing to deploy on the Targa award which is scheduled to be fully deployed by early 2028 and beginning to scale one or more additional data center projects over time. Looking further ahead to 2027, much of our work will be preparing for larger infrastructure scale projects, including the Targa award and potential additional data center awards, which could begin deploying as early as late 2027.

As a result, we expect '27 earnings to be weighted toward the latter part of the year with growth following a stair-step pattern as projects come online rather than a straight line throughout the year. Projects of larger scale require significant lead time. We expect certain costs, including personnel, site preparation and mobilization to build ahead of these deployments before the corresponding revenue and earnings are realized. By emphasizing disciplined execution and actively de-risking these larger deployments, we are building on the strong operational foundation we established in 2026 and we remain confident in our PROPWR guidance and the long-term earnings and return profile of the business.

On the commercial front, our recently announced agreement with Targa for approximately 230 megawatts brings our total capacity committed under contract to approximately 510 megawatts. This award represents meaningful progress in our commercial efforts. It also shows how broad power demand is across end markets, including oil and gas, midstream and industrial in addition to data centers. Contract terms in these sectors are generally shorter than those in the data center arena, but pricing and expected annual returns are very attractive.

That said, given the larger load requirements and longer contract durations in the data center arena along with the depth of our pipeline there, we continue to expect to deploy the majority of our assets to data center projects over time. Of the approximately 2.6 gigawatts of power generation capacity we have secured, more than 1 gigawatt consists of Caterpillar s highly efficient 10-megawatt units, which are part of our strategic framework agreement. With supply chains for power generation equipment remaining very tight, we believe this agreement and our early-mover position provide a meaningful advantage.

Beyond just securing supply, the 10-megawatt units themselves are highly efficient stationary natural gas engines purpose-built for permanent high density installations. They maximize efficiency for our customers while lowering our total cost of ownership. The vast majority of our fleet will be natural gas reciprocating engines ranging from 2 megawatts to 10 megawatts, which we believe are the ideal fit for every vertical we are currently pursuing. Of note, our smaller units are also proving to be very successful.

Our first data center deployment, which is live and operating today in the Midwest United States, is built largely on 2.6 megawatt units. Reciprocating engines offer a number of advantages that we believe make them the right fit for our customers. They are a proven technology with a long track record in both mechanical drive and power generation applications. They are continuous duty rated machines trusted in high availability environments, including data centers, oil and gas, mining and industrial operations, and marine and heavy transport where uptime and performance are all critical.

They provide flexibility, scaling in modular blocks alongside customer demand with built-in redundancy. They deliver high fuel efficiency, are cost effective for both PROPWR and our customers and are emissions-friendly, which supports an efficient permitting [Audio Gap]. These advantages apply across our entire fleet with our 10-megawatt units adding even greater scale for our customers largest power needs. In the data center arena, despite broader volatility and the noise in the AI market, we remain in advanced negotiations on several hundred megawatts and continue to progress a number of additional opportunities behind them.

Our pipeline also continues to grow, strengthening our conviction in our strategy and investments. As we have noted previously, time lines have extended as we work through diligence with counterparties. These agreements involve long-term capital commitments on both sides so getting the risk-sharing provisions right is critical. Strong demand for our assets can also lengthen rather than shorten the contracting process because we are being deliberate about choosing the right long-term partners.

In addition, change in scope or timing on the project can make a previously unworkable opportunity viable or free up capacity for customers we otherwise could not have supported. Because we are allocating capacity across multiple customers, individual deal time lines may shift as we determine how each opportunity fits within our broader portfolio. Accordingly, we remain very confident in the pipeline. Importantly, we are currently deployed and operating on a hyperscaler project and execution has gone exceptionally well.

We are one of the very few behind-the-meter power providers live on a data center site today and we believe this operating track record validates our strategy and has helped accelerate our broader commercial [Audio Gap]. Our PROPWR guidance also remains clear and unchanged. We continue to expect capital costs of approximately $1.4 million to $1.5 million per megawatt. That figure includes balance of plant and expected inflation over the life of the Caterpillar framework agreement and it reflects the advantage of our early-mover position.

We continue to target payback periods of 4 to 6 years with oil and gas and midstream projects closer to 4 years given their generally shorter contract terms. From a financing perspective, we have raised approximately $1.5 billion to support PROPWR, including our highly successful $690 million convertible notes offering earlier in May, which largely addresses our near-term capital needs. Going forward, we will approach future capital decisions opportunistically as we continue expanding our commercial footprint and executing against our strategy.

Now turning to completions, I want to address the costs that weighed on margins this quarter. As activity declined during 2024 and '25 with tariff-related uncertainty and OPEC+ production increases adding to the pressure, we took decisive action to reduce operating costs and capital spending during those years. That protected the free cash flow through a challenging market, but we had to rebuild some of that capacity as demand has recovered this year. Improved pricing and better visibility into the duration of work supported the reactivation of two fleets this year bringing us to 13 active fleets today with the latest addition deployed in the third quarter, earlier than we originally anticipated.

We are now essentially sold out of available frac capacity. Supporting the increase in activity has required rehiring field personnel, restocking inventory and spare parts and preparing additional pumps for deployment. Higher utilization has also put pressure on our field operations and maintenance shop. While the costs of ramping back up have been higher than we originally anticipated, we are proud of how responsive our operations teams have been in meeting increased customer demand. We expect to maintain approximately 13 active fleets through the fourth quarter.

That said, we expect meaningful seasonality in the fourth quarter from typical holiday slowdowns, which will temporarily affect utilization and results along with continued margin pressure from the rebuilding costs we experienced in the second and third quarters. As activity stabilizes as move into 2027, we expect to begin optimizing those costs although the full benefit may take time. We are optimistic that our investments will pay off and create meaningful value for our shareholders as fleets recontract over time.

The way we have managed through this period, flexing capacity up and down with the market while keeping our balance sheet strong, reflects our discipline as well as the resiliency of our industrialized model. Now stepping back to the broader market. Conflict in the Middle East continues to influence commodity prices and customer activity, but it has also highlighted something we ve been talking about for several quarters: the amount of frac capacity that has already exited the market through consolidation and attrition.

Smaller less disciplined competitors could not sustain the downturn and much of the excess capacity has disappeared. As activity stabilizes, customers are increasingly recognizing that tighter supply environment, which is constructive for our business. To put some numbers around that, we estimate the active Permian frac fleet count is in the mid-70s today and years of attrition have drastically reduced the supply of high quality horsepower behind it.

On the demand side, even a modest increase in drilling activity, particularly from large public and independent operators, would be enough to fully tighten the market. On the supply side, we believe the industry could only bring back perhaps a handful more fleets in the Permian before it would need to make significant new investments to add capacity. And given the capital discipline and focus on free cash flow across the completions space, we do not expect that investment to materialize anytime soon.

In short, demand is poised to grow and supply is not, which bodes well for our long-term set up for our services. That tighter market is already starting to show up in pricing. We're seeing early pricing momentum led by next-generation natural gas-burning fleets, which command a clear premium given today s spread between diesel and natural gas prices. Those fleets are effectively sold out industry-wide and we expect that premium to hold regardless of how the conflict in the Middle East unfolds as limited supply and global refining constraints keep diesel prices elevated for the foreseeable future.

That pricing momentum is also relevant to the timing of repricing our contracted fleets. More than 2/3 of our active horsepower is contracted with most agreements currently scheduled to renew in the first half of 2027. Much of that equipment is next-generation and natural gas burning, which positions us well for recontracting, particularly for agreements signed in the more challenging pricing environment of the past 2 years. As that horsepower reprices in a more constructive environment, we believe the completions business is poised to deliver improved results over time.

Before I hand it to Caleb, let me summarize how we are thinking about the outlook as we head into 2027. In completions, the setup is straightforward: sold-out fleet, tightening market and early pricing momentum. We still have work to do on the cost side as we absorb the elevated expense of ramping the system back up, but as activity stabilizes, our focus shifts from rebuilding to optimizing and we expect to bring those costs down over the course of 2027.

In PROPWR, our primary focus remains commercial and operational execution: converting our pipeline into signed, long-term contracts, then deploying and operating those assets reliably for our customers. We ve secured the equipment to support that growth and our performance in the field is strengthening our commercial position as we advance additional data center opportunities. As I noted earlier, we expect 2027 to be a year of building towards larger infrastructure-scale deployments with growth weighted to the second half.

Across both businesses, we are doing what we said we would do and we are excited about the opportunity in front of us. Completions market is moving in our favor, PROPWR is executing and scaling and we have the balance sheet, the equipment and the team to capture what is ahead.

With that, I ll turn it over to Caleb.

Caleb Weatherl

Thanks, Sam, and good morning, everyone. As Sam mentioned, both PROPWR and our completions business delivered higher revenue, net income and adjusted EBITDA this quarter while completions largely reflected the costs of rebuilding the operational infrastructure needed to support higher activity. During the first quarter, ProPetro generated total revenue of $355 million, increase of 16% compared to the prior quarter. Net income totaled $13 million or $0.09 income per diluted share compared to a net loss of $8 million or $0.07 loss per diluted share in the prior quarter.

Adjusted EBITDA totaled $60 million representing 17% of revenue and increased 33% sequentially. The increase was primarily driven by higher utilization in the completions business and incremental deployments in PROPWR partially offset by higher costs associated with new building capacity to support increased completions activity. Adjusted EBITDA includes approximately $16 million of lease expense related to our electric fleets. Net cash provided by operating activities was $46 million as compared to $66 million in the prior quarter.

The decrease is primarily attributable to working capital headwinds in the third quarter, which consumed approximately $15 million of cash and working capital tailwinds in the prior quarter, which were an approximately $20 million source of cash partially offset by higher adjusted EBITDA. During the third quarter, capital expenditures paid were $123 million and capital expenditures incurred were $171 million, including approximately $43 million supporting the completions business and approximately $128 million supporting PROPWR equipment orders.

Notably, the difference between incurred and paid capital expenditures is primarily comprised of PROPWR related capital expenditures that have been financed and paid directly by the financing partner and unpaid capital expenditures included in accounts payable and accrued liabilities. Net cash used in investing activities, as shown on the statement of cash flows, during the third quarter of 2026 was $122 million, which included capital expenditures paid of $123 million offset by $1 million in proceeds from certain asset sales.

Turning to our outlook. We anticipate full year 2026 capital expenditures incurred to be between $525 million and $575 million. Of this, the completions business is still expected to account for approximately $125 million to $145 million largely dependent on delivery time lines of certain CapEx related items heading through year-end and into 2027. We continue to expect buyout costs for our first FORCE electric fleet to be between $15 million and $20 million with at least 3 additional buyouts expected to occur in 2027.

In addition, we anticipate incurring capital expenditures of approximately $400 million to $430 million for our PROPWR business in 2026 narrowed from prior guidance due to greater year-end visibility into the timing of additional equipment deliveries. Notably, our previous guidance of approximately $1.4 million to $1.5 million per megawatt, inclusive of balance of plant, remains unchanged. While these PROPWR capital expenditure estimates reflect the total cost of the equipment, they do not reflect the impact of financing arrangements, which have and are expected to continue reducing our near-term actual cash outflows.

Looking ahead to 2027, we are aligning equipment delivery schedules under the Caterpillar framework agreement and remain in active discussions on data center opportunities, both of which could affect the timing and amount of capital expenditure for the year. In particular, the size, timing and structure of any new data center agreements could change when equipment is needed and how much balance of plant investment is required next year. However, we expect that any such changes would affect the timing and total amount of capital expenditures rather than the cost per megawatt, which we continue to expect to remain within our guided range.

That said, we expect 2027 PROPWR capital expenditures to increase from 2026 levels driven by the delivery of additional equipment and funding of down payments and milestone payments under the Caterpillar framework agreement. One more item on PROPWR before I turn to the balance sheet. Certain PROPWR contract structures may include reservation fees that are collected in cash upfront, but not recognized in revenue or adjusted EBITDA until the assets are deployed and generating power. As a result, PROPWR's revenue and adjusted EBITDA in a given period may trail the level implied by its contracted capacity and guidance though the underlying contract economics remain intact.

Importantly, our balance sheet remains a significant source of strength. As of September 30, 2026, cash and cash equivalents were $729 million, including net proceeds from the issuance of $690 million aggregate principal amount of convertible senior notes. Borrowings under our financing agreement with Caterpillar Financial Services Corporation were $172 million. Total liquidity at the end of the third quarter of 2026 was $934 million, which included cash and cash equivalents, $185 million of available borrowing capacity under the ABL credit facility and $20 million of availability under our Caterpillar equipment loan agreement.

We currently have no outstanding borrowings under the ABL credit facility. Finally, as Sam mentioned, we plan to continue approaching PROPWR funding opportunistically, which gives us confidence in our ability to execute on future capital needs as we expand our commercial footprint and drive our strategy forward.

Sam, back over to you.

Sam Sledge

Thanks, Caleb. Before we open the line up for questions, I want to leave you with a few additional thoughts. ProPetro has been built into a resilient company over the last several years, one that has performed through a genuinely challenging market, generated free cash flow when many in our industry did not and used that period to reposition itself for what comes next. Today, we are entering a market that is turning in our favor; a tighter completions market and a power business that is scaling. Our conviction in our business remains very strong.

Let's start with completions. Some unexpectedly higher building costs weighed on our margins in the second quarter and again in the third. Those costs are the price of standing a system back up to meet higher activity. We're optimistic that 2027 is where that investment starts to payoff. Since the second quarter, the underlining fundamentals have only strengthened. Crude prices remain elevated. The conflict in the Middle East is ongoing and expectations for incremental rig additions next year should further tighten the frac market that is already tight.

None of this is theoretical. It is showing up right now in our 2027 activity and pricing conversations. Our fleet is essentially sold out. Demand is very high and we are turning away opportunities today as we do not have the capacity to serve them. We are seeing early pricing momentum and the majority of our contracted horsepower reprices in the first half of next year. The setup for our completions business is better today than it ever was 6 months ago.

Now PROPWR. We believe the market is waiting on a transformational data center. We recognize this has become a show me story. Candidly, we accept that. Our conviction in landing those agreements has not changed. We're in advanced stages commercially and we are not going to ask anyone to take that on faith. What we would ask is that you look at our track record. Our message has not changed from one call to the next. We are executing on 3 fronts; commercially, operationally and across our supply.

Commercially, that means strong contract wins with large investment-grade partners, including Targa that have taken our contracted base to approximately 510 megawatts. Operationally, it means real assets running in the field today, including a data center site and several Permian microgrids for oil and gas customers, each with excellent execution. On supply chain, we are in a premium position relative to most competitors in this space. We moved early and secured our megawatts through the Caterpillar framework agreement.

The result is 2.6 gigawatts of secured equipment, including over 1 gigawatt of 10-megawatt CAT reciprocating engines purpose-built for data centers locked in at an advantaged costs. In a market where access to equipment has become the gating item, that is a real durable advantage. And behind all of it sits a strong execution support system: the people, the maintenance infrastructure and the operating discipline we have built over years in the completions space and are now applying to power. We have not overpromised on contract time lines. And we have been deliberately disciplined in how we communicate to you.

We would much rather underpromise and deliver than the reverse. So simply put: we are doing exactly what we said we would do and we are building a track record of execution one quarter at a time. We look forward to demonstrating that execution across every one of our service lines in the years ahead. Let me leave you with this. This is a very strong company. We have a strong balance sheet and first-class customers across both completions and power: from the leading operators in the Permian Basin to investment-grade midstream partners like Targa to a data center customer we are serving today with more expected and we are led and operated by first-class people.

To our employees, thank you: your execution in the field, in the maintenance shop and in the power sites is what gives this management team the confidence to move forward with this strategy. Every fleet we stood back up this year and every megawatt we commissioned happened because of you. We are excited about where the business is headed and we are confident in the setup for 2027. We look forward to sharing more with you soon.

With that, operator, let's open the line for questions.

Operator

[Operator Instructions] Your first question comes from the line of Saurabh Pant of Bank of America.

分析师问答

Saurabh Pant

Sam, so really good update on PROPWR especially the $8 million positive EBITDA, you're turning the corner there. So that's a really good update. And then you also expect to deploy more than 500 megawatts by early 2028 and I noted that includes one or more additional data center contracts. So just on that point, can you talk a little bit about where you are in your conversations with these data center customers on contracts? And then just from a timing standpoint, how should we think about timing of signing of contracts relative to ordering the balance of plant equipment and then putting it all together for deployment starting in I think you're targeting late '27 or early '28. So maybe if you can help us with that a little bit.

Sam Sledge

Yes. I'll point out a couple of things here real quickly and then let Travis talk about the power contracts. Look, just to reiterate what was at the end of my scripted remarks there. We're doing exactly what we said we would do and we're really hitting our guidance and executing well in the field. So we're just really trying to overcommunicate the fact that -- and I know you've been paying close attention, Saurabh, but this has all been in the plan for almost a year now from a guidance standpoint. So we're excited to see it come to fruition.

Travis Simmering

Yes. Just to be clear on the capacity also, Saurabh. That data center contract would be incremental to that 500 megawatts. That 500 megawatts reflects the 510 megawatts that we have contracted and have guided will be deployed in early '28. But as far as the conversations in the data center space despite kind of the broader turmoil in the data center market, our specific conversation we're dealing with [Audio Gap] headed in the right direction towards execution. And as you mentioned, that includes balance of plant equipment that needs to be ordered for these large infrastructure projects. We are in the middle of ordering some of that already, have line of sight to anything that we might project specific time line and just continue to make really good progress on those projects to deploy potentially late '27, but for sure in '28 at scale.

Saurabh Pant

Got it. And Travis, that's a good point, good clarification on the 500 megawatt-plus data center number. And then for a quick follow-up, maybe Caleb, this one is more for you. On the balance sheet financing side of things, look, the good thing is that you have ample liquidity like you noted, north of $900 million over there, which I think should be enough for all of 2027. But as you sign these bigger data center contracts that Travis was talking about, what do you think makes the most sense for future potential sources of financing as you get these contracts and get deeper into the execution phase?

And then related to that, I think you mentioned this a little bit, Sam; but you were talking about some customers willing to give prepayments, some upfront cash reservation fees right now. Just maybe a little more color on that especially I'm thinking about the bigger 10-megawatt CAT units, which would be much more desirable I'm thinking for these customers?

Caleb Weatherl

So like you said, we feel really good from a liquidity standpoint; over $900 million of liquidity, over $700 million of cash. That doesn't count the $350 million undrawn Stonebriar facility. We want to just continue to be opportunistic and look at all available options and make the best choice when we need the capital. And so we're going to evaluate all of our options when we need the capital and make the best choice. And of course prepayments are part of the conversation on these larger power deals.

Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Alexis Bruneau of Goldman Sachs.

Alexis Bruneau

On the power side, it sounds like you're seeing attractive returns across all different end markets. Can you just talk about the varying economics of some of the shorter duration contracts you mentioned versus maybe some of the potential data center contracts? And then how do you evaluate the opportunities from a return and capital requirement perspective?

Travis Simmering

Yes. So on the oil and gas, I would say more midstream space, we're certainly seeing closer to that 4-year or better payback. And then on the larger long-term deals in the data center space with this larger infrastructure capital requirement, that's certainly probably towards the higher end of the 4- to 6-year payback. But ultimately, we really continue to be excited about these 2 markets and broader power markets in general starting to levelize in terms of the contract requirements, the pricing structure. And we think that's going to continue into oil and gas midstream space where we got longer tenors that will hopefully be coming in the future because that's the expectation on these highly efficient larger infrastructure projects.

Alexis Bruneau

Okay. That's helpful. And then maybe just switching gears a little bit to the frac business. Can you just talk about what you're seeing in the market and maybe more so from equipment bifurcation? How should we think about pricing for some of these more electric fleets, maybe some of the older age ones? And then how are you thinking about it as we go into maybe back half of '27 even?

Sam Sledge

Yes. I mean I think you just kind of play out my comments in the opening remarks, it's really starting to set up really well. On the outset of the Iran conflict earlier this year, we might have originally thought that that tightness would have come sooner than it has, but it is really starting to gradually tighten. The natural gas burning equipment for us is in the way of dual fuel, a little bit of direct drive gas and electric has been sold out and has held its pricing a lot better than everything in our portfolio. So it starts from a little bit of a higher base.

That said, this whole dynamic with diesel right now and the high price of diesel with the continued lower price of natural gas continues to keep that equipment in very, very high demand. And frankly, some customers that have been more of a dual fuel or a diesel focus in the past are now much more curious about things like direct drive and electric, which really plays into our hands and kind of our recontracting time lines going into next year. So the overall market is tightening. I would say the leading edge on the spot market is already very tight.

We're turning down a ton of work in that arena. In the meanwhile, we're still trying to manage all of our relationships in the market that we still play in into next year to create more consistency and stickiness with what we think are the top-tier customers to move forward with. So as you can tell in our scripted remarks and my answer to your question here, we're pretty excited about the setup for '27.

Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Derek Podhaizer of Piper Sandler.

Derek Podhaizer

I wanted to ask about your comments on negotiation, the time line extending when negotiating with these big power projects. If you just could expand on those different drivers that's lengthening this process? Is it community pushback, moratoriums or just maybe more on the commercial terms? I have to imagine that your current 60-megawatt data center project helps derisk some of the contracting structure and terms because it's something you can point to. But maybe help us understand more about the drivers behind these time lines being extended.

Travis Simmering

Yes. It's really not an pushback old type thing to talk about. It's more the real contract risk exposure on both sides, liability damages when you're talking about this large of an installation for this longer period of time and really kind of getting the scope right between the parties on these types of projects. The initial 60-megawatt contract certainly gives us a great starting point in these discussions given that there's very few of us that have done this, right? But as they get a lot larger and longer in term, there's just a lot more scrutiny on both sides to give the right answer.

Sam Sledge

Yes. And Derek, I'll just add on to that. Watching Travis and his team work through all these commercial opportunities, the demand remains like super strong. We're very confident that the majority of our capacity is going to be placed in the data center market over time. They juggle a lot in this commercial pipeline. At any one time are running several opportunities in parallel that could affect one another. And as some of those opportunities that are running parallel to each other might speed up or slow down, sometimes it changes your focus a little bit and then can change your time line.

All in the meanwhile, we're trying to make what is the next best decision for our company, our teammates and our shareholders to create as much value in the future. So a few weeks or a month on the front end to get the right long-term deal just makes sense to us to make sure that; one, we get the right deal; and two, we do it with the right amount of risk sharing like Travis.

Derek Podhaizer

Right. That makes sense. And maybe just sticking on the equipment side of things. I'm just curious now that you mentioned the 10-megawatt recips from CAT, the bigger ones, just the interplay between the 10 megawatts and maybe the smaller, I don't know, 2 megawatt to 4 megawatt units of recips. I know those are on your current data center project, but you're clearly leaning into the higher density 10-megawatt recips. So how do we think about the different applications that fit the 10-megawatt versus the smaller recips or maybe are the smaller recips used to initially scale a project or the larger units take over for the longer term? Maybe just some education on why leaning hard into the 10 megawatts and the interplay of the small units and how this is going to really fit inside your portfolio as we look in the future of PROPWR.

Travis Simmering

Yes, it's a great question. I mean as the sites get larger, obviously power density matters, 10 megawatts is helpful, but the efficiency matters. I think these markets are getting more aware of how that efficiency can play into the overall cost structure. So when we look at high efficiency engines, they're anywhere from 20% to 40% more efficient than the simple cycle turbine type solution, which we think is extremely attractive. Bolting on smaller modular units does help with the variability of load. It also helps with the redundancy story when you start thinking about providing significant redundancy on these sites. And so the 10-megawatt units interplay with 2.6-megawatt engines as well as battery systems. We think is an extremely attractive power system to be able to deliver the most reliable efficient solution while always making sure that the machines are [Audio Gap].

Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Josh Jain of Daniel Energy Partners.

Josh Jain

First question is a quick one just on completions CapEx in '27. Could you just comment directionally if you hold a 13 fleet program steady, what that ultimately might look like into next year?

Sam Sledge

Yes. It's probably a little early right now, Josh. We're heavy in kind of budget forecasting season right now. So we'll probably punt that question to next quarter.

Josh Jain

Okay. So you highlighted the possibility of the market tightening from larger publics and independents. Can you just describe those conversations today, how they've evolved over the last couple of months as it seems obviously most of the uptick has been driven by the privates.

Sam Sledge

Yes. I was going to start my comments with what you just said right there at the end. That is a fact that most of the rig increases earlier this year have been with the privates. But in conversations with the larger independents and the publics, I think every day these commodity prices remain higher is another piece of confidence that they gain going into next year and potentially increasing activity. That said, they're all pretty savvy. I think they understand what's going on in the supply chains and they'd like to be as least disruptive as possible. But judging off of our conversations and some other public commentary, we fully expect another batch of rigs to come into the system towards the end of this year going into next year.

And we have seen all of those larger independents and privates to run operations that are extremely capital efficient, therefore, they're not going to drill wells to just let them sit around. They're going to want to complete those wells and take advantage of the spot oil price as much as they can. So it's kind of a combination of customer conversations and boots on the ground intel out here that bolster that confidence that we have about the overall '27 market tightening. And I guess the other piece of it that maybe sometimes we take for granted, but it's still important.

We've already mentioned in our opening remarks here this morning is the market just -- equipment market just doesn't have anything left to give. I mean it's tapped out. We're tapped out. We've got no extra equipment as we sit here today. We've heard several of our larger competitors say the exact same thing. There's no slack in the system in our larger private competitors. And there's not really anybody that's willing to underwrite any meaningful investments to fix that right now in our sector. So we think it's a good supply-demand equation I think in our favor going into next year.

Josh Jain

That's helpful. And then if I could just squeeze one more. You alluded in an earlier question that you were turning away work for 2027, but I assume you're not completely spoken for for the entire year. So for those opportunities that you are turning down, is it just more pricing you're holding out for? Is it a more comprehensive program potentially with a larger operator? Just maybe just talk us through that a little bit and then I'll turn it back.

Sam Sledge

Yes. I'd say a lot of it is just spot market work that we just can't get to and don't really prioritize in our dedicated fleet model. But there is definitely a demand for it. I think that that's what's helping push pricing along across the entire sector. '27, look, I mean we historically, as I've already mentioned, like and prefer the dedicated fleet model. We don't like to jump around from customer to customer within the individual fleet. So we already feel pretty good about the '27 calendar. I think it's not going to be an effort to fill in gaps as we sit here today. It's going to be more of a portfolio optimization to make sure that we have our teams and assets sitting with the best opportunities and that's really what the task is from a '27 standpoint today. Calendar is basically full. We just aren't convinced that it's full with the right work quite yet.

Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Jason Kim of JPMorgan.

Bumshik Kim

Just sticking on the frac side, you mentioned that more than 2/3 of horsepower is contracted. How much of the electric FORCE fleet is up for renewal in '27? And how does the pricing on those e-fleets compare to currently contracted rates? And just to confirm, has any recontracting not yet occurred? Just trying to think about how much upside might be remaining.

Sam Sledge

Yes. We've already recontracted a little bit of that with a customer that wanted to keep what they had and was commercial with pricing. So it's just kind of like a click and drag. Maybe half the fleet going into next year is going to recontract a little bit with the same customers and a little bit -- we expect some same customers to stay and we expect to have some new electric customers going into next year as well. And it's interesting timing, maybe a little bit of is luck, but almost a year ago we had a chance to recontract almost 100% of that electric equipment. We chose not to do so because we didn't like the pricing opportunities in the market.

And we sit here today with that capacity that is [Audio Gap] -- we're in negotiations with new customers under new terms for the remainder of that capacity right now. But everything is going to work in '27. We've got high confidence almost 0 doubt that any of that equipment is going to be stranded for even 1 second. And a lot of that has to do with how our team has performed with this electric equipment. I'd like to think we might not be the biggest electric provider in the -- electric frac provider in the Permian Basin, but I'd put our operating stats really up against anybody in that arena. And that's been a huge help to our commercial efforts and we expect that performance to continue and to garner a very attractive price.

Bumshik Kim

Understood. And just as a very quick follow-up. Directionally, is the FORCE premium over those Tier 4 DGB widening as diesel stays elevated?

Sam Sledge

Sorry, ask that question again.

Bumshik Kim

Is the FORCE premium over some of the dual fuel fleets widening as diesel stays elevated?

Travis Simmering

It definitely helps. But the dual fuel given its flexibility, modularity has been very, very attractive tool and application for us and our customers. It's a little bit apples and oranges, but the high diesel prices are definitely helping anything that burns natural gas.

Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Eddie Kim of Barclays.

Edward Kim

So you said the data center pipeline includes several hundred megawatts in advanced negotiations. Can you frame for us how many distinct projects that represents? Just trying to get a sense if that's 1 to 2 projects or maybe closer to 4 to 5 maybe. And in these conversations with data center operators, are you finding that these operators would prefer that BTM providers like yourselves also provide the balance of plant equipment or are they happy to just lease the power gen from you guys?

Travis Simmering

Yes. So it's definitely more than one opportunity. I would say there's 2 that are really active that we're excited about in that several hundred megawatt range. We can't do everything in the pipeline right now. So we've had to narrow our focus on the most realistic executable deals and the time lines that we have available. As far as the balance of plant, we get the question a lot. We see that as a necessity. We can't build a power plant without the balance of plant equipment, whether it's electrical transformers, upfront gas commissioning and distribution as well as all of the emissions control. And then whether the hyperscaler [indiscernible] take on the battery system, that's a discussion on a project-by-project basis, but we're providing a full turnkey service. We're not interested in just dry leasing of the assets. Our business model is built on operating 24/7 and maintaining our assets and the reliability of the power.

Edward Kim

Understood. And just shifting gears to the frac side of the business. You mentioned kind of a tightening market and that you guys are completely sold out. Just to confirm, I think that implies that you guys don't have a 14th fleet to reactivate even if you wanted to. And if that's the case, I mean do you think that pricing and economics could increase to a level next year that might justify new build horsepower or are we still far away from those levels?

Sam Sledge

We don't have any interest in working any more equipment than we're working today nor do we have any interest in making any CapEx investments above replacement, refurbishment of our existing fleet. I can't sit here and speculate about what if and would we invest differently. We're just not today. That's just not in the conversation. So it's not something that we're really thinking about.

Edward Kim

Got it. Got it. And just to confirm, you guys don't have a 14 fleet to be able to reactivate at this point, correct?

Sam Sledge

I mean we have old wornout equipment that we don't plan to ever work again if that's what you're referring to. And look, all this is fungible too like 13, 14, like we could have a fleet go from simul-frac to zipper back to simul-frac. We're just trying to provide you clean guidance that's not confusing here.

Adam Muñoz

And this is Adam. I'll just add. There's a happy medium to around the equipment plus the amount that you have -- the maintenance rotation that reduces and keeps your MPT low, your maintenance costs low. So we're measuring all those options on the table right now as well.

Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Jeff LeBlanc of TPH.

Jeffrey LeBlanc

I wanted to see if you could talk more about the cadence of FORCE e-fleet buyouts over 2027 and how quickly it will flow through the financial results?

Caleb Weatherl

Yes. We're still expecting 3 next year and, as you know, right now that e-fleet lease expense is impacting our EBITDA. So as we execute those buyouts, that will begin to -- that expense will begin to roll off when we do each buyout.

Jeffrey LeBlanc

Okay. And then separately on PROPWR, I was flipping through the presentation and for the power plants, you're targeting a 10- to 15-year term. I guess 2 questions there. A, does that include an optional period? And then b, where do you expect the average term in that range to be?

Sam Sledge

Yes. I mean for larger installations that you're seeing in the presentation, several hundred megawatts, we are only looking at 10-plus years. options and extensions are all on the table that makes sense for us. But ultimately, we want to get a long-term partner on those types of projects and 10 plus is where we plan.

Operator

[Operator Instructions] Your next question comes from the line of Don Crist of Johnson Rice.

Donald Crist

Sam, I wanted to ask about labor. We've been hearing some anecdotes about people leaving to go build data centers and drive trucks for data centers. And just any comments around labor and upward momentum and what you're paying for people?

Sam Sledge

Yes. That's a good question, Don. Maybe we take some of that for granted sometimes because it's just such a normal everyday thing that our team is focused on working through, trying to make sure that we're acquiring, maintaining first-class people. It's hard. When the broader economy pulls on a workforce -- on a blue collar workforce, I think we definitely feel that it causes inflation. We've not been without. So our team has been able to acquire what we needed to do what we've done this year and standing up some more equipment across all of our oilfield service lines. But it's something that we're having to keep a close eye on and likely over time creates more labor inflation not less.

We also have -- just as a reminder, I know, Don, you probably know this, but we have a fairly transient workforce too. So we have a lot of people traveling in and out to work their shifts and it's just as easy for them to commute from maybe a West Texas frac site as it might be a data center in the area as well. So the work kind of attracts a lot of the same people. So just to summarize, it's something we're keeping our eye on, but it hasn't totally inhibited us yet.

Donald Crist

Okay. I appreciate that color. Then I don't know if you want to answer this or not, maybe you want to punt this question, but I'll ask anyway. The 10-megawatt deliveries, any way you could give us a schedule? Is it pretty even throughout all of the equipment that's on order or is it kind of more back weighted to '28 and beyond versus earlier than that?

Travis Simmering

Yes. pretty even but starts in the back half of '28 and then continues on a distributed capacity through the end of the frame agreement.

Donald Crist

Okay. So the smaller units are earlier in the delivery cycle?

Travis Simmering

Yes, that's certainly what we have now that we're building. Obviously these power nodes today that are working on a data center and other microgrid applications while in parallel able to stand up some larger 10-megawatt units for the infrastructure type projects we mentioned.

Operator

That concludes our Q&A session. I will now turn the conference back over to Sam Sledge, Chief Executive Officer, for closing remarks.

Sam Sledge

Yes. Thanks, everybody, for your interest in the company. Thanks for joining us today. Thanks again to all my ProPetro teammates that are making things happen. We hope to talk to you all soon.

Operator

This concludes today's conference call. You may now disconnect.