Editor's note: It's been a busy news week for energy transition in Houston, and some of this week's headlines resonated with EnergyCapital readers on social media and daily newsletter. Trending news included a unique water-producing company expanding in Texas new deals and partnerships, and more.
Innovative California company taps Houston area for purified water projects
A California tech company is planning on rolling out a handful of atmospheric water generation projects near Houston. Photo via skyh2o.com
Houstonians are used to filtering their water, but few really ponder why they’re doing it.
“Most people, when they think about water stress, they think about water scarcity, like what you see happening in Northern Africa or maybe the Southern U.S.,” says Alexander von Welczeck, chairman, president and CEO of SkyH2O. “A bigger, creeping issue, particularly in the industrialized world, is water toxicity.”
Some Houston tap water contains “forever chemicals” that can be toxic, as some reports have found. In fact, says von Welczeck, water toxicity is a problem across the Gulf Coast. That’s why the California-based businessman has identified Houston as the first region to benefit from SkyH2O’s technology. Read more.
Houston company closes offshore JV deal to drive innovation, efficiency in subsea production
The new joint venture, OneSubsea, is based in Oslo, Norway, and Houston. Photo courtesy
A new joint venture with co-headquarters in Houston will explore opportunities in the market for subsea systems that tap into offshore energy reserves.
The business, called OneSubsea, is a joint venture of Houston-based energy technology company SLB (Schlumberger), Norwegian energy engineering company Aker Solutions, and Luxembourg-based energy engineering company Subsea7. SLB holds a 70 percent stake in OneSubsea, with Aker’s share at 20 percent and Subsea7’s share at 10 percent.
The financial foundation of the joint venture is a combination of $700.5 million in stock, cash, and a promissory note. In addition, SLB and Aker folded their subsea businesses into the joint venture, which was announced in 2022. Read more.
Clean tech co. with U.S. HQ selected for UAE carbon capture project
Carbon Clean develops carbon capture technology for customers such as cement producers, steelmakers, refineries, and waste-to-energy plants. Photo via Carbon Clean
Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. (ADNOC), the state-owned oil company of the United Arab Emirates, has chosen technology from United Kingdom-based company Carbon Clean for a carbon capture project in Abu Dhabi. Carbon Clean’s U.S. headquarters is in Houston.
Carbon Clean’s modular CycloneCC technology will be used for a carbon capture project at a Fertiglobe nitrogen fertilizer plant. Fertiglobe is a joint venture between ADNOC and OCI Global, a Netherlands-based chemical company.
“This project is hugely significant given it’s the first industrial deployment of our award-winning CycloneCC technology anywhere in the world,” says Aniruddha Sharma, chairman and CEO of Carbon Clean. “We are moving a step closer to achieving full commercialization of this modular solution, which will play a vital role in decarbonizing heavy industries and achieving net-zero targets.”Read more.
Houston carbon storage solutions company names new energy transition leader at pivotal time of growth
Graham Payne, the new director of energy transition at Caliche Development Partners II, is bullish on Houston. Photo courtesy
Graham Payne sees a bright future for the multibillion-dollar energy transition economy in Houston.
“It’s been said that Houston is poised, like no other city, to lead the energy transition. And I’d have to agree, because we have all the requisite natural resources, industry, and talent,” says Payne, the new director of energy transition at Houston-based carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) company Caliche Development Partners II.
Caliche and other Houston-based energy transition companies secured $6.1 billion in private funding last year, up 62 percent from 2022, according to the Greater Houston Partnership. Read more.
Airline fuels up for new flights from Houston to oil-and-gas country
It's wheels up to Midland-Odessa in January. Photo courtesy of JSX
Hop-on jet service JSX is adding a new, year-round destination for the millions of Texans who work in oil and gas: Midland-Odessa.
Starting January 15, 2024, JSX will fly nonstop from Houston and Dallas to Odessa Airport-Schlemeyer Field (ODT). Read more.
Pieremanuele Canepa, Robert Welch assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at UH, is leading a research project that can change the effectiveness of sodium-ion batteries. Photo courtesy of UH