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Air Liquide and Hyundai ink partnership to scale hydrogen economy

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Air Liquide and Hyundai agreed to expand hydrogen refuelling networks, storage capacity and more at a meeting in Seoul last week. Photo courtesy Air Liquide.

Air Liquide, which maintains its U.S. headquarters in Houston, and South Korea-based Hyundai Motor Group are expanding their strategic partnership to accelerate the growth of the global hydrogen ecosystem.

The renewal of the companies’ Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was announced at the Hydrogen Council CEO Summit in Seoul last week. Together, the companies will work to scale hydrogen production, storage, transportation and utilization across Europe, Korea and the United States with a concentration on heavy-duty transport, logistics and public transportation.

Hyundai hopes Air Liquide's technical expertise will help contribute to more sustainable energy and carbon neutrality.

The companies plan to develop hydrogen refueling networks and storage capacity that can meet growing demands. They also plan to commercialize fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) for diverse applications like public transportation, logistics fleets and ports.

"We are delighted to strengthen our partnership with Hyundai Motor Group,” Armelle Levieux, vice president of innovation, electronics and hydrogen at Air Liquide, said in a news release. “Collaborations like this between leaders across the value chain are essential to building the hydrogen economy.”

The partnership has already shown strong progress in South Korea, according to the companies, with Hyundai rolling out more than 2,000 hydrogen buses and 37,000 passenger fuel cell vehicles, with more expected by 2026. Additionally, Air Liquide has boosted supply capabilities in the region with the new state-of-the-art high-pressure hydrogen filling center, Lotte-Air Liquide Ener’Hy, in Daesan, an industrial hub near Seoul.

Air Liquide and Hyundai previously signed an MoU in 2018, along with other major South Korean players, agreeing to grow the hydrogen economy.

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The new Carbon Measures coalition will create a framework that eliminates double-counting of carbon pollution and attributes emissions to their sources. Photo via Getty Images.

Major Houston energy companies join new Carbon Measures coalition

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Six companies with a large presence in the Houston area have joined a new coalition of companies pursuing a better way to track the carbon emissions of products they manufacture, purchase and finance.

Houston-area members of the Carbon Measures coalition are:

  • Spring-based ExxonMobil
  • Air Liquide, whose U.S. headquarters is in Houston
  • Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, whose U.S. headquarters is in Houston
  • Honeywell, whose Performance Materials and Technologies business is based in Houston.
  • BASF, whose global oilfield solutions business is based in Houston
  • Linde, whose Linde Engineering Americas business is based in Houston

Carbon Measures will create an accounting framework that eliminates double-counting of carbon pollution and attributes emissions to their sources, said Amy Brachio, the group’s CEO. The model is expected to take two years to develop, and between five and seven years to scale up, Bloomberg reported.

The coalition wants to create a system that will “unleash markets and competition,” unlock investments and speed up the pace of emissions reduction, said Brachio, former vice chair of sustainability at professional services firm EY.

“If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it,” said Darren Woods, chairman and CEO of ExxonMobil. “The first step to reducing global emissions is to know where they’re coming from — and today, we don’t have an accurate system to do this.”

Other members of the coalition include BlackRock-owned Global Infrastructure Partners, Banco Satanader, EY and NextEra Energy.

“Transparent and consistent emissions accounting is not just a technical necessity — it’s a strategic imperative. It enables smarter decisions and accelerates real progress across industries and borders,” said Ken West, president and CEO of Honeywell Energy and Sustainability Solutions.

The U.S. Department of Energy funding is earmarked for the new HyVelocity Hub. Photo via Getty Images

Houston's hydrogen revolution gets up to $1.2B federal boost to power Gulf Coast’s clean energy future

HyVelocity funding

The emerging low-carbon hydrogen ecosystem in Houston and along the Texas Gulf Coast is getting as much as a $1.2 billion lift from the federal government.

The U.S. Department of Energy funding, announced November 20, is earmarked for the new HyVelocity Hub. The hub — backed by energy companies, schools, nonprofits, and other organizations — will serve the country’s biggest hydrogen-producing area. The region earns that status thanks to more than 1,000 miles of dedicated hydrogen pipelines and almost 50 hydrogen production plants.

“The HyVelocity Hub demonstrates the power of collaboration in catalyzing economic growth and creating value for communities as we build a regional hydrogen economy that delivers benefits to Gulf Coast communities,” says Paula Gant, president and CEO of Des Plaines, Illinois-based GTI Energy, which is administering the hub.

HyVelocity, which aims to become the largest hydrogen hub in the country, has already received about $22 million of the $1.2 billion in federal funding to kickstart the project.

Organizers of the hydrogen project include:

  • Arlington, Virginia-based AES Corp.
  • Air Liquide, whose U.S. headquarters is in Houston
  • Chevron, which is moving its headquarters to Houston
  • Spring-based ExxonMobil
  • Lake Mary, Florida-based Mitsubishi Power Americas
  • Denmark-based Ørsted
  • Center for Houston’s Future
  • Houston Advanced Research Center
  • University of Texas at Austin

The hub’s primary contractor is HyVelocity LLC. The company says the hub could reduce carbon dioxide emissions by up to seven million metric tons per year and create as many as 45,000 over the life of the project.

HyVelocity is looking at several locations in the Houston area and along the Gulf Coast for large-scale production of hydrogen. The process will rely on water from electrolysis along with natural gas from carbon capture and storage. To improve distribution and lower storage costs, the hub envisions creating a hydrogen pipeline system.

Clean hydrogen generated by the hub will help power fuel-cell electric trucks, factories, ammonia plants, refineries, petrochemical facilities, and marine fuel operations.

The deal will enable transportation of ExxonMobil’s low-carbon hydrogen through Air Liquide’s pipeline network. Photo via exxonmobil.com

ExxonMobil’s low-carbon hydrogen project in Baytown adds Air Liquide as partner

team work

Spring-based energy giant ExxonMobil has enlisted Air Liquide as a partner for what’s being billed as the world’s largest low-carbon hydrogen project.

The deal will enable transportation of ExxonMobil’s low-carbon hydrogen through Air Liquide’s pipeline network. Furthermore, Air Liquide will build and operate four units to supply 9,000 metric tons of oxygen and up to 6,500 metric tons of nitrogen each day for the ExxonMobil project.

Air Liquide’s U.S. headquarters is in Houston.

ExxonMobil’s hydrogen production facility is planned for the company’s 3,400-acre Baytown refining and petrochemical complex. The project is expected to produce 1 billion cubic feet of low-carbon hydrogen daily from natural gas and more than 1 million tons of low-carbon ammonia annually while capturing more than 98 percent of the associated carbon emissions.

“Momentum continues to build for the world’s largest low-carbon hydrogen project and the emerging hydrogen market,” Dan Ammann, president of ExxonMobil Low Carbon Solutions, says in a news release.

The hydrogen project is expected to come online in 2027 or 2028.

ExxonMobil says using hydrogen to fuel its olefins plant at Baytown could reduce sitewide carbon emissions by as much as 30 percent. Meanwhile, the carbon capture and storage (CSUS) component of the project would be capable of storing 10 million metric tons of carbon each year, the company says.

Houston's HyVelocity Hub has joined in on a joint letter with the other six H2Hubs asking for revised guidelines. Photo via Getty Images

Houston's clean hydrogen hub joins request to revise federal tax credit guidance

edits needed

The group of regional hubs tapped by the United States government to receive funding to develop clean hydrogen projects have banded together to request a revision of the U.S. Department of Treasury's proposed hydrogen production tax credit (45V) guidance.

Houston's HyVelocity Hub, which was selected to receive up to $1.2 billion from the government's initiative, has joined in on a joint letter with the other six H2Hubs asking for revised requirements. HyVelocity also submitted its own letter to the Treasury.

HyVelocity's letter asks for flexibility and certainty the implementation of the “three pillars” for electricity, which include temporality, incrementality, and deliverability.

"It is imperative that to enable the desired environmental, economic, and equity goals of the IRA, private investment in hydrogen production must advance at scale and at an accelerated pace. Hydrogen production project investments require stable market projections and assurance of regulatory stability to ensure the economics of the long-term projects. To support this investment environment, we recommend that projects be granted a 'grandfathered exemption' such that for the project's life, they can use the regulations in place at the time when construction begins," reads the letter from HyVelocity.

HyVelocity, representing the Gulf Coast region, plans to create up to 35,000 construction jobs and 10,000 permanent jobs across nine proposed core projects with a collective investment of more than $10 billion in private capital to bring low-carbon hydrogen to the market.

The Houston-area initiative is backed by industry partners AES Corporation, Air Liquide, Chevron, ExxonMobil, Mitsubishi Power Americas, Ørsted, and Sempra Infrastructure and The spearheaded by GTI Energy and other organizing participants, including the University of Texas at Austin, The Center for Houston’s Future, Houston Advanced Research Center, and around 90 other supporting partners from academia, industry, government, and beyond.

The project’s first phase is targeted to produce more than 1.1 million tonnes per annum of low-carbon ammonia by the end of 2027. Photo via Houston.org

4 energy companies join forces on low-carbon ammonia project on the Houston Ship Channel

team work

Four companies from all around the world have agreed to work on a large-scale, low-carbon ammonia production and export project on the Houston Ship Channel.

Tokyo-based INPEX Corporation, Paris-based Air Liquide Group, Oklahoma City-based LSB Industries Inc., and Houston-based Vopak Moda Houston LLC have agreed to collaborate on the project, which is expected to deliver its first phase by the end of 2027 with the production of more than 1.1 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) of low-carbon ammonia.

“As we approach the achievement of our net zero target by 2050, the unveiling of our low carbon ammonia project in Texas, USA, stands as a momentous testament to INPEX's strong commitment to environmental leadership," INPEX President and CEO Takayuki Ueda says in a news release. "This innovative endeavor marks a significant milestone to create a clean fuel supply chain for a sustainable future.

"By harnessing the power of cutting-edge technologies and collaborative partnerships with Air Liquide, LSB and Vopak Moda, we are accelerating the transition to a low-carbon world, while solidifying our position as a pioneer in energy transformation and a responsible global energy player,” he continues.

Earlier this year, the project completed a feasibility study. Each of the companies will collaborate in various capacities, according to the release, including: Air Liquide and INPEX partnering on low-carbon hydrogen production with their respective technologies; LSB and INPEX collaborating on low-carbon ammonia production, with LSB selecting the ammonia loop technology provider, the pre-FEED, and the engineering, procurement and construction of the facility and LSB overseeing day-to-day operations; INPEX and LSB would sell the low-carbon ammonia and finalize off-take agreements; and Vopak Moda, which currently operates ammonia storage and handling infrastructure, will maintain its ownership of the existing infrastructure and future storage built.

“This project is well aligned with our strategy to become a leader in the global energy transition through the production of low-carbon ammonia,” Mark Behrman, LSB Industries president and CEO, says in the statement. “As a long-standing, highly experienced nitrogen producer and developer of nitrogen production facilities, we are uniquely positioned to play a key role in a critical element of this project by overseeing the design, construction and operation of the ammonia loop."

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Houston nuclear startup launches at CERAWeek, plans Texas facility

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A new nuclear energy startup launched last month during CERAWeek in the Bayou City.

FluxPoint Energy, the new Houston- and McLean, Virginia-based company, plans to develop the nation’s first new uranium conversion facility in more than 70 years, an effort CEO and founder Mike Chilton says is critical to unlocking the next phase of nuclear energy growth.

"Policymakers, utilities, and developers increasingly point to fuel availability as a limiting factor for America's nuclear reactors—both present and future," Chilton said in a news release. "Uranium conversion has become an unacceptable chokepoint in a global supply chain still dominated by foreign providers."

Chilton has held leadership roles at Pegasus-Global Holdings and GE Verona Hitachi Global Nuclear Fuels. Rodrigo Gonzalez Arbizu serves as COO and Christopher J. Rimel as chief of staff. The Board of Advisors includes energy leaders, including Jeff Lyash, John Sharp, Jane Stricker, Jennifer Skylakos, Leo Weitzenhoff and Jay Wileman.

FluxPoint’s planned facility will convert uranium oxide into uranium hexafluoride (UF6). Although FluxPoit’s new facility is still far off, the company announced it had secured a site and completed both market and feasibility studies. The specific area has not been revealed, only that it will be in Texas.

Discussions at CERAWeek revolved around securing reliable sources of uranium.

Nuclear energy production has been stagnant or even in slight decline since the 1990s. Concerns about nuclear waste and safety, as well as prohibitive costs, have kept new plants from being built, while the widespread availability of cheap natural gas has made investing in nuclear power less profitable. Many see the technology as dangerous and outdated.

However, as energy crises become more common, companies like FluxPoint are looking to restart the nuclear energy sector. The industry got a boost under the Biden Administration thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act, which set goals of adding 35 gigawatts of new capacity by 2035.

Chilton participated in a panel on the best ways to ensure American nuclear plants have access to uranium, most of which is not mined in the United States.

"America cannot lead in nuclear energy while relying on foreign-controlled fuel processing," Chilton added. "FluxPoint was created to restore a critical piece of our nation's energy infrastructure—ensuring that U.S. reactors have access to a secure, domestic fuel supply. This is about energy security, economic strength, and global leadership."

Fervo Energy leads Time’s top green tech companies of 2026

top spot

The accolades keep coming for Houston-based geothermal energy company Fervo Energy.

Fervo sits atop Time magazine’s and Statista’s 2026 list of America’s Top GreenTech Companies. Fervo ranked No. 6 on the list last year.

The ranking honors 250 companies in the U.S. based on their environmental impact, innovation and financial strength. Fervo joins five other Houston-area companies on the list.

  • No. 49 Quaise Energy, an MIT Energy Initiative spinout that’s developing a drilling system designed to convert existing power stations for geothermal power production
  • No. 71 Plus Power, which develops, owns and operates battery energy storage systems
  • No. 98 Utility Global, whose technology enables industrial decarbonization
  • No. 199 Solugen, whose technology converts plant-based feedstocks into carbon-negative chemicals
  • No. 215 Noodoe, which specializes in EV charging stations and software

Fervo says its approach to enhanced geothermal systems (EGS)—including horizontal drilling, AI-enabled drilling and exploration, advanced reservoir engineering, and fiber-optic sensing—demonstrates how validated technology can help deliver reliable zero-emission power.

“By applying drilling technology from the oil and gas industry, we have proven that we can produce 24/7 carbon-free energy resources in new geographies across the world,” Fervo co-founder and CEO Tim Latimer said last year.

Other recent recognitions for Fervo includes:

  • The 2025 Houston Innovation Awards named it Scaleup of the Year
  • MIT Technology Review put Fervo on its 2025 list of the 10 global climatech companies to watch
  • Time named Fervo one of the 100 Most Influential Companies of 2025
  • Fervo was hailed as the Global Cleantech Group 100 North American Company of the Year
  • Fervo was among Congruent Ventures’ and Silicon Valley Bank’s 50 by 2050 companies, all of which are poised to advance global decarbonization over a 25-year span
Just last month, Fervo secured $421 million in debt financing for the construction of its 500-megawatt Cape Station geothermal project in Utah. And in December, the company landed an oversubscribed $462 million Series E round of funding, pushing its valuation to an estimated $1.4 billion. Fervo filed for an IPO earlier this year.

3 strategies to strengthen the Gulf Coast as a global energy hub

The View from HETI

The Texas-Louisiana Gulf Coast is the backbone of America’s energy and chemical economy. Texas produces roughly 43% of U.S. crude oil and 28% of natural gas, while Texas and Louisiana together account for about half of the nation’s refining capacity, processing 9.3 million barrels of crude per day across 50 refineries. The region also produces approximately 80% of the nation’s primary petrochemicals and ships more than $117 billion in chemical products annually from Texas alone.

This unmatched concentration of refining, petrochemical manufacturing, pipelines, ports, and technical talent makes the Gulf Coast one of the most critical energy hubs in the world. But maintaining that leadership in a rapidly evolving global market will require intentional collaboration, faster technology commercialization, and strengthened supply chain resilience.

In fall 2025, the Greater Houston Partnership’s Houston Energy Transition Initiative (HETI) convened national laboratories, Gulf Coast universities, and industry leaders to examine how to reinforce the region’s long-term competitiveness. Participants included Argonne, Oak Ridge, Lawrence Berkeley, the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), and the National Laboratory of the Rockies, alongside Gulf Coast academic institutions and energy and chemical companies. Here are the key findings and takeaways from the workshop.

1. Supply Chain Resilience Requires Structured Industry–Lab Collaboration

Resilience—diversity of supply, operational flexibility, and rapid recovery—was a recurring theme. Recent disruptions exposed vulnerabilities in tightly interconnected energy and manufacturing systems.

National laboratories provide capabilities that complement Gulf Coast industrial scale, particularly at early and mid technology readiness levels (TRLs 1–7), before full commercial deployment. Examples include:

  • Advanced manufacturing and AI-enabled validation of critical components (Oak Ridge).
  • Materials scale-up and techno-economic modeling to move from lab discovery to industrial relevance (Argonne).
  • Pilot-scale testing for severe-service alloys, chemical conversion, and process innovation (NETL).
  • Integrated energy systems modeling to assess grid resilience and system disruptions (National Laboratory of the Rockies).

Recommendation: Organize targeted Gulf Coast industry missions to national laboratories focused on critical supply chains—power equipment, high-heat industrial processes, novel catalysts, refining, and grid infrastructure—to identify joint development opportunities and reduce time to commercialization.

2. Modeling, AI, and Open-Access Platforms Can Bridge the Technology Gap

A persistent barrier to innovation is the gap between scientific discovery, applied development, and commercial deployment. Universities often operate at TRLs 1–3, national labs at 1–7, and industry at 7–9. Bridging these silos requires shared modeling tools, high-performance computing, and structured feedback loops.

National labs maintain open-access platforms capable of:

  • Simulating grid expansion, investment, and dispatch decisions.
  • Modeling cradle-to-gate industrial material flows.
  • Optimizing complex energy and chemical systems.
  • De-risking carbon capture, critical mineral recovery, and advanced manufacturing integration.

Recommendation: HETI should convene structured training and feedback sessions on these public modeling platforms—ensuring Gulf Coast industry can apply, improve, and help guide further development of tools critical to regional competitiveness. Federal initiatives such as the Genesis Mission, focused on AI-accelerated scientific discovery, further expand opportunities for Gulf Coast participation.

3. Time to Commercialization Is the Ultimate Competitive Metric

The lithium-ion battery is a cautionary example: while pioneered in U.S. labs, large-scale manufacturing leadership shifted overseas. Without strategic intervention, U.S. firms are projected to capture less than 30% of domestic lithium battery cell value by 2030.

Successful DOE-backed consortium models show that mission-aligned, multi-partner collaboration reduces development timelines and strengthens domestic manufacturing know-how. However, public–private partnership mechanisms such as CRADAs and Strategic Partnership Projects can be time-intensive.

Recommendation: The Gulf Coast should actively engage DOE and national laboratories to streamline public–private partnership pathways, improve intellectual property clarity, and expand industry access to laboratory infrastructure.

The Path Forward: A Gulf Coast Consortium Model
The workshop’s central conclusion was clear: the Gulf Coast should formalize collaboration through a regional industry–academia–laboratory consortium.

Such a model could:

  • Co-locate national lab researchers within the region.
  • Share modeling data and analytical capabilities.
  • Establish open-access pilot facilities that complement lab infrastructure.
  • Harmonize IP frameworks to accelerate licensing and deployment.

With its dense industrial ecosystem, technical workforce, and decision-making concentration, the Gulf Coast is uniquely positioned to serve as a national demonstration hub for advanced energy and chemical manufacturing.

If industry, universities, and national laboratories align around a shared regional strategy, the Gulf Coast can:

  • Accelerate commercialization timelines.
  • Strengthen critical supply chains.
  • Unleash a world-class technical workforce.
  • Reinforce U.S. leadership in strategic energy and chemical sectors.

———

This article originally appeared on the Greater Houston Partnership's Houston Energy Transition Initiative blog. A full report on the key learnings and recommendations from the workshop can be found here: https://bit.ly/4uEDEqk.

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