SLB seals the deal with Norwegian company on carbon capture JV

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SLB now owns 80 percent of Aker Carbon Capture, with Aker retaining a 20 percent stake. Photo via Getty Images

Houston-based energy technology company SLB has finalized its purchase of a majority stake in Norway’s Aker Carbon Capture, a provider of industrial-scale carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) technology.

SLB now owns 80 percent of Aker Carbon Capture, with Aker retaining a 20 percent stake.

In March 2024, SLB said it would pay roughly $388 million for the 80 percent stake in Aker and contribute its carbon capture business to the joint venture. In addition, SLB said it might pay close to $130 million over the next three years if the joint venture meets certain performance benchmarks.

“There is no credible pathway toward net zero without deploying carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) at scale,” Gavin Rennick, president of SLB’s New Energy business, says in a news release. “In the next few decades, many industries that are crucial to our modern world must rapidly adopt CCS to decarbonize. Through the joint venture, we are excited to accelerate disruptive carbon capture technologies globally.”

The joint venture combines Aker’s Advanced Carbon Capture technologies — including Just Catch and Big Catch modular technology for midsize and large facilities, and Just Catch Offshore for offshore gas turbines — with SLB’s technology portfolio.

“There is no business as usual in the push toward net zero — we will accelerate decarbonization today and commercialize innovative technologies for the future,” says Egil Fagerland, newly appointed CEO of the Norway-based joint venture.

Last fall, SLB and Aker Solutions teamed up with Luxembourg-based energy engineering company Subsea7 to create OneSubsea. SLB holds a 70 percent stake in OneSubsea, with Aker’s share at 20 percent and Subsea7’s share at 10 percent.

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The combined technology portfolios will accelerate the introduction of promising early-stage decarbonization technology. Photo via Getty Images

SLB to consolidate carbon capture business in partnership

M&A moves

SLB announced its plans to combine its carbon capture business with Norway company, Aker Carbon Capture.

Upon completion of the transaction, which is expected to close by the end of the second quarter of this year, SLB will own 80 percent of the combined business and ACC will own 20 percent.

According to a SLB news release, the combined technology portfolios will accelerate the introduction of promising early-stage decarbonization technology.

“For CCUS to have the expected impact on supporting global net-zero ambitions, it will need to scale up 100-200 times in less than three decades,” Olivier Le Peuch, CEO of SLB, says in the release. “Crucial to this scale-up is the ability to lower capture costs, which often represent as much as 50-70% of the total spend of a CCUS project.

The International Energy Agency estimates that over one gigaton of CO2 every year year will need to be captured by 2030 — a figure that scales up to over six gigatons by 2050.

"We are excited to create this business with ACC to accelerate the deployment of carbon capture technologies that will shift the economics of carbon capture across high-emitting industrial sectors,” Le Peuch continues.

SLB is slated to pay NOK 4.12 billion — around $379.4 million — to own 80 percent of Aker Carbon Capture Holding AS, which owns ACC, per the news release, and SLB may also pay up to NOK 1.36 billion over the next three years, depending on business performance.

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Global energy startup competition returns to Houston this fall

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The Society of Petroleum Engineers' Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition (ATCE) takes place in Houston this fall, and with it comes its ATCE Startup Village Energy Startup Competition.

Held this year at the George R. Brown Convention Center on Oct. 21, the fast-paced pitch competition invites early stage, upstream technology ventures from around the world to present on their companies and technologies in front of venture capitalists, angel investors and industry leaders.

The deadline to apply for the competition is Friday, July 18. Apply here.

The ATCE Startup Village is a partnership between SPE and the Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship. Ten primary finalists and two alternates are selected to participate in the competition, where they have the opportunity to win cash prizes and gain mentorship from industry leaders.

Finalists will present a seven-minute pitch, followed by an additional seven minutes of Q&A.

They will also have the opportunity to meet with a panel of industry experts during a private coaching session the week of Sept. 22. Winners will be announced at ATCE in Houston, and finalists and alternates will be notified in late August.

Judging is based on four main criteria:

Innovative technology
Commercial strategy and business plan
Market potential
Management team and advisors

The competition has awarded nearly $460,000 in prize money to startups through the competition to date, according to the ATCE's website. Past winners have come from Canada, France, the Netherlands, Brazil, Saudi Arabia and the United States.

Several Houston teams pitched at the 2024 competition during the 100th annual ATCE in New Orleans. The local teams included:

Decimetrix, led by CEO Alejandro Zotti, went on to win the Best in Show and People's Choice awards. Revolink Technology Company earned the Rising Star, or runner up, award.

Tesla announces annual meeting under pressure from shareholders

Tesla Talk

Tesla has scheduled an annual shareholder meeting for November, one day after it came under pressure from major shareholders to do so.

Billionaire Elon Musk's company said in a regulatory filing on Thursday that the meeting would be held Nov. 6, but that may prove troublesome because it comes nearly three months after it is required to do so under state law in Texas, where the company is incorporated.

The annual meeting, given Tesla's fortunes this year, has the potential to be a raucous event and it is unclear how investors will react to the delay, which is rare for any major U.S. corporation.

Tesla shares have plunged 27% this year, largely due to blowback over Musk's affiliation with President Donald Trump, as well as rising competition.

The announcement of the meeting comes a day after a group of more than 20 Tesla shareholders sent a letter to the company's board pressing for an annual meeting after receiving no word of one with the deadline just days away.

Many shareholders have been miffed by Musk's participation in the Trump administration this year, saying he needs to focus on his EV company which is facing extraordinary pressures.

“An annual meeting provides shareholders with the opportunity to hear directly from the board about these concerns, and to vote for or against directors, the board’s approach to executive compensation, and other matters of material importance,” the group said in the letter.

The group cited Texas law, which requires companies to schedule annual shareholders meetings within 13 months of the prior annual meeting.

Tesla’s last shareholders meeting was on June 13 of last year, where investors voted to restore Musk’s record $44.9 billion pay package that was thrown out by a Delaware judge earlier that year.

Also on Thursday, Musk that the Grok chatbot will be heading to Tesla vehicles.

“Grok is coming to Tesla vehicles very soon. Next week at the latest,” Musk said on social media platform X, in response to a post stating that Grok implementation on Teslas wasn't announced on a Grok livestream Wednesday.

Grok was developed by Musk’s artificial intelligence company xAI and pitched as an alternative to “woke AI” interactions from rival chatbots like Google’s Gemini, or OpenAI’s ChatGPT.

Shares of Tesla rose 3% at the opening bell after tumbling this week when the feud between Trump and Musk heated up again.

Greentown Labs names Lawson Gow as its new Houston leader

head of hou

Greentown Labs has named Lawson Gow as its Head of Houston.

Gow is the founder of The Cannon, a coworking space with seven locations in the Houston area, with additional partner spaces. He also recently served as managing partner at Houston-based investment and advisory firm Helium Capital. Gow is the son of David Gow, founder of Energy Capital's parent company, Gow Media.

According to Greentown, Gow will "enhance the founder experience, cultivate strategic partnerships, and accelerate climatetech solutions" in his new role.

“I couldn’t be more excited to join Greentown at this critical moment for the energy transition,” Gow said in a news release. “Greentown has a fantastic track record of supporting entrepreneurs in Houston, Boston, and beyond, and I am eager to keep advancing our mission in the energy transition capital of the world.”

Gow has also held analyst, strategy and advising roles since graduating from Rice University.

“We are thrilled to welcome Lawson to our leadership team,” Georgina Campbell Flatter, CEO of Greentown Labs, added in the release. “Lawson has spent his career building community and championing entrepreneurs, and we look forward to him deepening Greentown’s support of climate and energy startups as our Head of Houston.”

Gow is the latest addition to a series of new hires at Greentown Labs following a leadership shakeup.

Flatter was named as the organization's new CEO in February, replacing Kevin Dutt, Greentown’s interim CEO, who replaced Kevin Knobloch after he announced that he would step down in July 2024 after less than a year in the role.

Greentown also named Naheed Malik its new CFO in January.

Timmeko Moore Love was named the first Houston general manager and senior vice president of Greentown Labs. According to LinkedIn, she left the role in January.

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