While driving Interstate 20, one will come upon the city of Midland, Texas, the county seat of Midland County. According to U.S. Census Bureau projections, the Midland population in 2025 is approximately 148,000. Nearby Odessa, Texas is the county seat for Ector County, with a portion of Ector County extending into Midland County. Odessa’s population as of 2025 is approximately 123,190 residents.
These two cities of Midland and Odessa, comprise the MSA (Metropolitan Statistical Area) of West Texas, which includes Midland, Ector, Andrews, and Martin counties, and has a combined population of approximately 188,000 residents. Midland-Odessa falls in between and in the shadow of the larger cities of Fort Worth and El Paso. Fort Worth, with an approximate population of over one million residents as of 2025, is the 11th-largest city in the U.S. according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The city of El Paso has an equally impressive population of 681,873 residents.
Midland, Texas is not just a city of economic significance but also a city with a unique cultural heritage. It was the family hometown of the 41st U.S. President George H. W. Bush and First Lady Barbara Bush, and the childhood home of 43rd U.S. President George W. Bush, who was also the 46th Governor of Texas. First Lady Laura Bush, wife of George W., also grew up in Midland. This fruitful cultural heritage, combined with a range of fun activities, makes Midland an attractive place for both residents and tourists.
Odessa is located on the southwest border of the Llano Estacado plateau and, like Midland, is reaping the benefits of the oil and gas industry in the Permian Basin. Midland and Odessa are locally known as the Petroplex and Midessa. The Midland-Odessa area has been dubbed ‘two cities, no limits.’
Odessa, like Midland, offers residents and tourists a range of fun activities. Odessa was somewhat a rival of Midland until the 1990s, and holds its fame through the book and film Friday Night Lights, which showcased the high school football rivalry between Midland and Odessa High Schools, later becoming Midland’s Legacy High School and Odessa Permian High School. The Midland-Odessa rivalry has evolved to being two mutually cooperative cities, each city providing unique offerings: Midland, with executive corporate offices and banking and Odessa a pro-business worker community with residents of varied skills going beyond that of work in the oil and gas industry to construction industry employment, the transportation industry and logistics of the transportation industry serving with equipment hauling, pipeline operations, rail terminals, and warehousing facilities, along with commercial trucking. The Odessa healthcare industry also provides many job opportunities at Medical Center Hospital and Odessa Regional Medical Center.
One special attraction in the Midland-Odessa area is the Permian Basin Petroleum Museum, which offers an educational and fun tour of the energy industry — the source of the strong economy that all residents of Midland-Odessa enjoy!
History Of The Permian Basin
Midland and Odessa, Texas, situated 20 miles apart, began as train station stops along the Texas and Pacific Railroad, halfway points between Dallas and El Paso. By 1890, Midland and Odessa were both prominent cattle shipping centers in Texas. Then came the oil boom in the 1920s, driven by the Permian Basin. Some quick facts on this geological area:
- The Permian Basin covers 90,000 square miles, or 57.6 million acres.
- The acres stretch across West Texas and southeastern New Mexico, but the bulk of the acreage is in West Texas.
- The TPL, Texas Pacific Land Corporation, was established in 1888 and inherited its land from the Texas and Pacific Railway. The TPL owns approximately 873,000 acres in West Texas, including both surface land and mineral rights, and generates a stream of revenue from surface land management, royalties, water sales to oil and gas operators, and pipeline easements and land sales.
- The USGS (U.S. Geological Survey) calculates that there are still ‘technically recoverable’ oil resources in the basin area, amounting to approximately 46.3 billion barrels just in the Delaware Basin. This assessment suggests a long-term potential for the Permian Basin to be the U.S.’s prime oil producer, depending on such factors as market prices, company investment, and the profitability of geological zones, which determine how much oil can be economically extracted, according to a Forbes magazine article published in April 2023.
Permian Basin Region To Get New Boost To ‘Old’ Power
America’s 21st-century daily lifestyle and work landscape is changing rapidly since the advent of computers in the 1990s and the emerging ‘no-brainer’ (excuse the pun) Artificial Intelligence. Artificial Intelligence, by the broadest definition, is the ability of computers and machines to mimic human intelligence in terms of problem-solving and decision-making.
As human intellect needs a brain to reason and think, Artificial Intelligence requires an Artificial Intelligence Data Center. To define an A.I. Data Center in simple terms, think of it as ‘the brains’ behind the smooth transmission of artificial intelligence applications and services in this digital age of ‘point and click’ technology. A good analogy for understanding Artificial Intelligence Data Centers is to think of the 20th-century electric company that ensured that when a person flipped a light switch or turned on an appliance, the lights or appliance would turn on. The big difference is that Artificial Intelligence Data Centers require enormous amounts of electricity, which can put significant strain on the existing power grids of once-rural Midland-Odessa residents and on the oil and gas industry, which needs power for oil and gas extraction.
The logistics of planning and creating data center growth in the Permian Basin were reasons for the first Permian Power Connection Conference in Midland on September 29 and 30th, 2025. The conference brought together 600 business leaders of the oil and gas, tech, AI, renewables, and finance industries. All business leaders, including native Texan Mark Dzeda of ITC Tax agree that the Permian Basin region is the perfect site for an Artificial Intelligence Data Center due to such favorable factors as immense open land acreage, the abundant energy resources of natural gas that is part of the Permian Basin, as well as the growing population of Midland-Odessa and the greater metropolitan area of West Texas.
The state of Texas projects there will be 4,000 Artificial Intelligence Data Centers in Texas by 2030! The press quoted Mark Dzeda, a local financial expert for Midland, as stating: “I know working with the various economic development people, both in the city of Odessa as well as over here in Midland, they’re doing a lot to encourage companies to come here. If energy is important to you, whether you’re a consumer of energy or whether you plan on generating energy, I think the Permian Basin is probably the best place to be in Texas.”
Mark Dzeda – The Power Behind Texas Industrial Power
Mr. Mark Dzeda, a CPA, has been the CEO and founder of ITC Tax since 2003, an industrial tax consulting business. Mr. Dzeda holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting and Business from Louisiana State University and a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from the University of Houston. Mr. Dzeda is also a member of such professional organizations and associations as:
- Certified Member of the Institute for Professionals in Taxation (CMI)
- Licensed Senior Property Tax Consultant, Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation
- Member of the Board of Directors of Texas Taxpayers and Research Association
- Texas Oil and Gas Association
- Texas Society of CPAs
Mr. Dzeda has been a property tax consultant and financial strategist for both domestic and international corporations for 40 years. His mission: ‘no client should pay more than their fair share of taxes owed.’ He has achieved results in this mission and garnered respect in all 50 states and globally by ensuring his corporate clients do not miss opportunities to save on their investment earnings. The Texas property tax system can be complex and requires a financial strategist, such as Mr. Mark Dzeda, who understands the Texas Property Tax Code and stays abreast of new property tax laws through his position on the board of directors of TTARA, Texas Taxpayers and Research Association. Mr. Dzeda guides his corporate and small-business clients, as well as individual residents of Midland-Odessa, through the maze of local and state laws to help them reduce liabilities, optimize financial investments, and secure beneficial exemptions. With this knowledge and understanding, Mr. Dzeda and Texas state leaders may indeed entice Silicon Valley tech firms to relocate operations to the Permian Basin and other Texas locations, sustain Data Center Growth, and continue oil and natural gas drilling in the Permian Basin.