2 Houston energy execs among Fortune’s most powerful people in business

power people

Houston-area executives, including ExxonMobil Corp. CEO Darren Woods, have claimed spots on Fortune’s list of the 100 Most Powerful People in Business. Photo via Getty Images.

Two Houston-area energy executives have been named to Fortune’s list of the 100 Most Powerful People in Business.

Darren Woods, chairman and CEO of ExxonMobil Corp., appears at No. 34 on the list, and Mike Wirth, chairman and CEO of Chevron Corp., lands at No. 90. Woods showed up on last year’s inaugural list, while Wirth debuted on the list this year.

Woods assumed the top job at Spring-based ExxonMobil in 2017.

“Woods worked his way up through the ranks of the oil giant, first serving as a planning analyst in 1992, and later as vice president and senior vice president,” according to Fortune.

Under Woods’ watch, ExxonMobil has grown substantially. For instance, the company wrapped up its nearly $60 billion acquisition of Dallas-based oil and gas exploration and production company Pioneer Natural Resources in 2024.

Last year, ExxonMobil posted revenue of nearly $350 billion. The company relocated its headquarters to Spring from the Dallas-Fort Worth suburb of Irving in 2023.

Wirth became chairman and CEO of Houston-based Chevron in 2018.

“While Chevron continues to grow its oil and gas business from West Texas to Kazakhstan, the company is investing more in hydrogen, renewable fuels and sustainable aviation fuel, carbon capture, and, most recently, lithium extraction,” according to Fortune.

In terms of revenue, Chevron is the country’s second-largest oil and gas company, behind ExxonMobil. Last year, Chevron posted revenue of almost $202.8 billion.

With Wirth at the helm, Chevron has expanded its footprint. In July, for example, the company completed its $53 billion acquisition of New York City-based energy company Hess Corp. The deal, announced in October 2023, was delayed by a now-resolved legal battle against ExxonMobil and China National Offshore Oil Corp. over Hess’ plentiful oil assets in Guyana.

In 2024, Chevron announced it was moving its headquarters to Houston from Northern California.

Jensen Huang, president and CEO of Nvidia, claimed the No. 1 spot. The technology company announced plans to produce AI supercomputers at a Houston-area factory earlier this year.

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ExxonMobil Chairman and CEO Darren Woods said during the company’s recent second-quarter earnings call that the company is "concerned about the development of a broader market" for its low-carbon hydrogen plant in Baytown. Photo via exxonmobil.com

ExxonMobil may delay or cancel plans for $7 billion Baytown hydrogen plant

project uncertainty

Spring-based ExxonMobil, the country’s largest oil and gas company, might delay or cancel what would be the world’s largest low-carbon hydrogen plant due to a significant change in federal law. The project carries a $7 billion price tag.

The Biden-era Inflation Reduction Act created a new 10-year incentive, the 45V tax credit, for production of clean hydrogen. But under President Trump’s "One Big Beautiful Bill Act," the window for starting construction of low-carbon hydrogen projects that qualify for the tax credit has narrowed. The Inflation Reduction Act mandated that construction start by 2033. But the Big Beautiful Bill switched the construction start time to early 2028.

“While our project can meet this timeline, we’re concerned about the development of a broader market, which is critical to transition from government incentives,” ExxonMobil Chairman and CEO Darren Woods said during the company’s recent second-quarter earnings call.

Woods said ExxonMobil is working to determine whether a combination of the 45Q tax credit for carbon capture projects and the revised 45V tax credit will help pave the way for a “broader” low-carbon hydrogen market.

“If we can’t see an eventual path to a market-driven business, we won’t move forward with the [Baytown] project,” Woods said.

“We knew that helping to establish a brand-new product and a brand-new market initially driven by government policy would not be easy or advance in a straight line,” he added.

Woods said ExxonMobil is trying to nail down sales contracts connected to the project, including exports of ammonia to Asia and Europe and sales of hydrogen in the U.S.

ExxonMobil announced in 2022 that it would build the low-carbon hydrogen plant at its refining and petrochemical complex in Baytown. The company has said the plant is slated to go online in 2027 and 2028.

As it stands now, ExxonMobil wants the Baytown plant to produce up to 1 billion cubic feet of hydrogen per day made from natural gas, and capture and store more than 98 percent of the associated carbon dioxide. The company has said the project could store as much as 10 million metric tons of CO2 per year.

The Texas oil and gas giant earned $9.24 billion, or $2.14 per share, for the second quarter of 2024. Photo via exxonmobil.com

ExxonMobil second-quarter profit rises on Pioneer acquisition and surging production

looking back

ExxonMobil recorded one of its largest second-quarter profits in a decade on surging quarterly production from oil and gas fields in Guyana and the Permian basin in the U.S., as well its $60 billion acquisition of Pioneer Natural Resources.

The Texas oil and gas giant earned $9.24 billion, or $2.14 per share, for the three months ended June 30, topping last year's profit of $7.88 billion, or $1.94 per share.

The results topped Wall Street expectations, though Exxon does not adjust its reported results based on one-time events such as asset sales. Analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research were expecting earnings of $2.04 per share.

“We achieved record quarterly production from our low-cost-of-supply Permian and Guyana assets, with the highest oil production since the Exxon and Mobil merger," Chairman and CEO Darren Woods said in a prepared statement Friday.

The Pioneer deal contributed $500 million to earnings in the first two months after closing, Exxon said.

Revenue for the Spring, Texas, company totaled $93.06 billion, topping Wall Street's expectations for $90.38 billion.

Exxon's net production reached 4.4 million oil-equivalent barrels per day during the second quarter, an increase of 15% compared with the first three months of the year.

Oil prices are lower than they were at this point last year, and those high prices sent Exxon and other energy giants on a buying spree.

Exxon announced in July 2023 that it would pay $4.9 billion for Denbury Resources, an oil and gas producer that has entered the business of capturing and storing carbon and stands to benefit from changes in U.S. climate policy.

Three months later it said it would spend $60 billion on shale operator Pioneer Natural Resources. That deal received clearance from the Federal Trade Commission in May.

In October Chevron said it would buy Hess Corp. for $53 billion, joining the acquisitions race.

Chevron Corp. also reported its second-quarter financial results on Friday, which fell far short of profit expectations.

In addition, the company said that it is moving its headquarters from San Ramon, California, to Houston, Texas. Chevron expects all corporate functions to transition to Houston over the next five years, with positions in support of its California operations remaining in San Ramon. Chairman and CEO Mike Wirth and Vice Chairman Mark Nelson will move to Houston before the end of the year.

Chevron currently has about 7,000 employees in the Houston area and approximately 2,000 employees in San Ramon. The company runs crude oil fields, technical facilities, and two refineries and supplies more than 1,800 retail stations in California.

Its shares slipped 1.7% before the opening bell.

Shares of ExxonMobil Corp. fell slightly in premarket trading. Chevron shares fell 1.7%.

Maria Jelescu Dreyfus is CEO and founder of Ardinall Investment Management, which is an investment firm that works in “sustainable investing and resilient infrastructure.” Photo via ExxonMobil

ExxonMobil adds energy transition leader, investor to board

all aboard

An energy transition expert and investor has joined Houston-headquartered ExxonMobil Corp.’s board of directors.

Maria Jelescu Dreyfus is CEO and founder of Ardinall Investment Management, which is an investment firm that works in “sustainable investing and resilient infrastructure.”

She previously spent 15 years at Goldman Sachs as a portfolio manager and managing director in the Goldman Sachs Investment Partners Group that focused on energy, industrials, transportation and infrastructure investments across the capital structure.

She currently serves as a director on the board of Cadiz Inc. and on the board of CDPQ. She also works in the energy transition space as a director on several companies' boards.

“We welcome Maria to the ExxonMobil Board as the company executes its strategy to grow shareholder value by playing a critical role in a lower-emissions future, even as we continue to provide the reliable energy and products the world needs,” Joseph Hooley, lead independent director for Exxon Mobil Corporation, says in a news release. “Her deep financial background combined with her extensive work in sustainability will complement our Board’s existing skill set.”

Dreyfus is the vice chair of the advisory board of Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy, and serves as co-chair of its Women in Energy program.

“With the close of our Pioneer merger, we gained a premier, tier-one Permian asset, exceptional talent and a new Board member who brings keen strategic insight,” says ExxonMobil Chairman and CEO Darren Woods in the release. “Our boardroom, shareholders and stakeholders will greatly benefit from Maria’s experience.”

ExxonMobil has annouonced how it plans to reduce its carbon footprint. Photo via exxonmobil.com

ExxonMobil updates corporate plan that aims to lower emissions

future focused

ExxonMobil has updated its corporate plan through 2027, which will reflect their continued strategy to provide the products that work towards lowering emissions.

ExxonMobil is pursuing more than $20 billion of lower-emissions opportunities through 2027. The $20 billion request represents the third increase in the last three years, and is in addition to the company’s recent $5 billion all-stock acquisition of Denbury. Denbury helped expand carbon capture and storage opportunities through access to the largest CO2 pipeline network in the United States.

The portfolio will include opportunities in lithium, hydrogen, biofuels, and carbon capture and storage. The company is expecting that in aggregate it is expected to generate returns of approximately 15 percent and could potentially reduce third-party emissions by more than 50 million tons per annum (MTA) by 2030, which aligns with the company’s goals to combat climate change.

The company’s Low Carbon Solutions business reduces consumer’s greenhouse gas emissions, and will get approximately 50 percent of the planned investments support to help build this core part of ExxonMobil’s goal. The balance of the company’s low carbon capital will be used to reduce its own emissions, which will support its 2030 emission reduction plans and its 2050 Scope 1 and 2 net-zero ambition.

In addition, they are developing a leading position in lithium by fully leveraging its upstream skills in geoscience, reservoir management, efficient drilling, fluid processing, and extraction to separate lithium from brine. The company’s first phase of lithium production in southwest Arkansas is currently underway with first production is expected in 2027, and possible global expansion of the project. ExxonMobil aims to produce enough lithium to supply the manufacturing needs of approximately 1 million EVs per year by 2030.

“We continue to see more opportunities to harness our technology, scale, and capabilities to implement real solutions to lower emissions and to profitably grow our Low Carbon Solutions business,” Darren Woods, chairman and CEO, says in a news release. “Success in accelerating emission reductions requires the development of nascent markets. We need technology-neutral durable policy support, transparent carbon pricing and accounting, and ultimately, customer commitments to support increased investment. We’re actively advocating for each of these areas so we can grow a profitable, and ultimately large, low carbon business.”

In the Permian Basin, ExxonMobil is on track to reach net-zero emissions for unconventional operations by 2030. They expect to leverage its Permian greenhouse gas reductions plans to accelerate Pioneer’s net-zero ambition by 15 years (2035 from 2050.)

Recently, ExxonMobil and Pioneer Natural Resources announced an agreement for ExxonMobil to acquire Pioneer, which is an all-stock transaction valued at $59.5 billion, or $253 per share, according to ExxonMobil’s closing price on October 5, 2023. The merger combines Pioneer’s more than 850,000 net acres in the Midland Basin with ExxonMobil’s 570,000 net acres in the Delaware and Midland Basins, of which the companies will have an estimated 16 billion barrels of oil equivalent resource in the Permian.

The plan also intends to deliver $6 billion in additional structural cost reductions by the end of 2027, which should bring the total structural cost savings to $15 billion compared to 2019. Upstream earnings potential is expected to more than double by 2027 versus 2019, which is attributed to investments in high-return, low-cost-of-supply projects.

Other plan highlights included:

Expecting capital investments to generate average returns of around 30 percent, with payback periods less than 10 years for greater than 90 percent of the capex.
Generated $9 billion in structural cost savings with $6 billion more expected by 2027.
Increased pace of share repurchases to $20 billion per year from the Pioneer close through 2025.
Oil and gas production in 2024 to be about 3.8 million oil-equivalent barrels per day, rising to about 4.2 million oil-equivalent barrels per day by 2027.
Product Solutions is “leveraging scale and technology advantages” to nearly triple earnings potential by 2027 versus 2019.

ExxonMobil has placed a big bet on the carbon capture market. Photo via exxonmobil.com

Newly Houston-headquartered ExxonMobil acquires carbon capture company in $4.9B deal

M&A Moves

Spring-based energy giant ExxonMobil is making a nearly $5 billion bet on its future in the carbon capture sector.

ExxonMobil announced July 13 that it has agreed to buy Plano-based Denbury, a publicly traded company specializing in carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS), in an all-stock deal valued at $4.9 billion. The deal’s value is based on ExxonMobil’s July 12 closing stock price — $89.45 per share.

Darren Woods, chairman and CEO of ExxonMobil, says the pending acquisition of Denbury “reflects our determination to profitably grow” his company’s low-carbon business unit.

The deal will give ExxonMobil the largest CO2 pipeline network in the U.S. at 1,300 miles, including nearly 925 miles in Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi, along with 10 onshore carbon sequestration sites.

Dan Ammann, president of ExxonMobil Low Carbon Solutions, says Denbury’s CO2 infrastructure “provides significant opportunities to expand and accelerate ExxonMobil’s low-carbon leadership across our Gulf Coast value chains.”

“Once fully developed and optimized,” Ammann adds, “this combination of assets and capabilities has the potential to profitably reduce emissions by more than 100 million metric tons per year in one of the highest-emitting regions of the U.S.”

ExxonMobil explains that CCUS — when carbon dioxide is captured and stored deep underground instead of being released into the atmosphere — is viewed as critical to meeting net-zero goals. The company forecasts the global market for CCUS will catapult to $4 trillion by 2050. Houston-based consulting firm Rystad Energy predicts total spending on CCUS projects in 2023 will reach $7.4 billion.

In addition to Denbury’s CCUS assets, the deal with ExxonMobil includes Gulf Coast and Rocky Mountain oil and natural gas operations. These assets consist of reserves exceeding the equivalent of 200 million barrels of oil, with 47,000 oil-equivalent barrels per day of current production.

Directors at ExxonMobil and Denbury have unanimously approved the deal, which is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2023.

Denbury, founded in 1951, posted $1.7 billion in revenue last year, up from 36 percent from 2021.

Chris Kendall, president and CEO of Denbury, launched his oil and gas career at Mobil Oil. Mobil merged with Exxon in 1999 to form the country’s largest oil and gas company, which just made official its headquarters relocation from Irving to Spring.

ExxonMobil generated revenue of nearly $413.7 billion in 2022, making it one of the country’s biggest publicly traded companies.

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Floating solar projects take shape and more energy transition news to know

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Editor's note: We're looking back at the biggest energy transition stories from the second half of August 2025, from floating solar projects to low-carbon ship fuel and the return of Energy Tech Venture Forum. Here are the five most-read EnergyCapitalHTX stories from August 15-31:

Rice Alliance names participants in 22th annual energy forum

Here are the 100 startups selected to participate in this year's Rice Alliance Energy Tech Venture Forum. Photo by Natalie Harms

The Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship has named the 100 energy technology ventures that will convene at the 22nd annual Rice Alliance Energy Tech Venture Forum, as part of the second annual Houston Energy and Climate Startup Week. Half of the startups, which hail from nine countries and 19 states, will pitch during the event, which culminates in the annual recognition of the “Most Promising Companies." Continue reading.

Houston environmental firm makes partnership to deliver low-carbon ship fuel

Houston-based Anew Climate will provide renewable natural gas to Canada-based Seaspan. Photo via seaspan.com

Houston-headquartered environmental services firm Anew Climate and Vancouver-based ship-to-ship marine bunkering of liquified natural gas company Seaspan Energy have entered into a first-of-its-kind strategic agreement to offer the delivery of renewable liquefied natural gas (R-LNG) to customers on the North American West Coast. Continue reading.

Houston energy hub announces first cohort for new accelerator

Energytech Nexus has named its first COPILOT accelerator cohort. Photo via Getty Images.

Energytech Nexus, a Houston-based hub for energy startups, has named its inaugural cohort of 14 companies for the new COPILOT accelerator. The eight-month COPILOT program offers mentorship, training and networking for startups. Program participants will be tasked with developing pilot projects for their innovations. Two Houston startups are members of the first COPILOT class. Continue reading.

Houston companies team up on $700M floating solar projects in Texas

Two Houston companies plan to develop 500 megawatts of floating solar installations in Texas by the end of the decade. Photo via Getty Images.

Diamond Infrastructure Solutions has given Third Pillar Solar exclusive rights to access Diamond’s Texas reservoirs for the possible launch of utility-scale floating solar installations. Both companies are based in the Houston area. The potential investment in the floating solar project exceeds $700 million, and the project is expected to generate up to 500 megawatts of solar energy. Continue reading.

Houston energy firm to develop data center projects in Matagorda County

Two new data center projects are coming to the ERCOT South Zone. Photo via Getty Images.

Houston-based Barrio Energy will develop two new projects for 10-megawatt data center sites in Matagorda County. Located in the ERCOT South Zone, the projects will assist in powering advanced computing operations, modular data centers and cryptocurrency mining. Continue reading.

Houston American Energy shares details on Baytown recycling facility, new innovation center

coming soon

Houston American Energy Corp. (NYSE: HUSA) plans to break ground on its new advanced recycling facility in the Cedar Port Industrial Park in Q4, the company shared in an announcement this week.

The company acquired a 25-acre, $8.5 million site for development in July from TGS Cedar Port Partners, which handles approximately 5 billion pounds of plastic resin annually. HUSA also plans to build the Abundia Innovation Center on the site.

HUSA named Houston-based Corvus Construction Company the design and construction partner on both projects.

“The site at Cedar Port is in the largest master-planned rail and barge served industrial park in the United States with direct access to the Houston Ship Channel and the Port of Houston,” Ed Gillespie, CEO of HUSA, said in a news release. “It provides robust logistical advantages for the transportation of both feedstock and our low-carbon drop-in fuels and chemical products. Critically, the region has a deep pool of engineering and operations talent. HUSA looks forward to working with local communities and adding economic growth in the Gulf Coast region.”

The new advanced recycling facility will convert plastic waste into pyrolysis oil and will serve as a hub for a five-year development plan designed to scale production capacity.

The facility will be built around New York-based Abundia Global Impact Group LLC’s technologies and proprietary pyrolysis process, which converts plastic and certified biomass waste into high-quality renewable fuels.

HUSA acquired AGIG this summer. At the time, the combined company shared that it planned to serve a multi-billion-dollar global demand for renewable fuels, Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) and recycled chemical feedstocks.

The Abundia Innovation Center is planned to serve as a state-of-the-art research and development facility for the renewable energy sector, aiding in the commercial and technical validation of new technologies. HUSA previously announced that Nexus PMG, also based in Houston, will provide strategic support and guidance in the development of the innovation hub.

According to HUSA, the recycling facility and innovation center will “create the foundation for HUSA’s long-term vision to be a leader in the low-carbon fuels sector by driving collaborative innovation.”

UH researchers make breakthrough in cutting carbon capture costs

Carbon breakthrough

A team of researchers at the University of Houston has made two breakthroughs in addressing climate change and potentially reducing the cost of capturing harmful emissions from power plants.

Led by Professor Mim Rahimi at UH’s Cullen College of Engineering, the team released two significant publications that made significant strides relating to carbon capture processes. The first, published in Nature Communications, introduced a membraneless electrochemical process that cuts energy requirements and costs for amine-based carbon dioxide capture during the acid gas sweetening process. Another, featured on the cover of ES&T Engineering, demonstrated a vanadium redox flow system capable of both capturing carbon and storing renewable energy.

“These publications reflect our group’s commitment to fundamental electrochemical innovation and real-world applicability,” Rahimi said in a news release. “From membraneless systems to scalable flow systems, we’re charting pathways to decarbonize hard-to-abate sectors and support the transition to a low-carbon economy.”

According to the researchers, the “A Membraneless Electrochemically Mediated Amine Regeneration for Carbon Capture” research paper marked the beginning of the team’s first focus. The research examined the replacement of costly ion-exchange membranes with gas diffusion electrodes. They found that the membranes were the most expensive part of the system, and they were also a major cause of performance issues and high maintenance costs.

The researchers achieved more than 90 percent CO2 removal (nearly 50 percent more than traditional approaches) by engineering the gas diffusion electrodes. According to PhD student and co-author of the paper Ahmad Hassan, the capture costs approximately $70 per metric ton of CO2, which is competitive with other innovative scrubbing techniques.

“By removing the membrane and the associated hardware, we’ve streamlined the EMAR workflow and dramatically cut energy use,” Hassan said in the news release. “This opens the door to retrofitting existing industrial exhaust systems with a compact, low-cost carbon capture module.”

The second breakthrough, published by PhD student Mohsen Afshari, displayed a reversible flow battery architecture that absorbs CO2 during charging and releases it upon discharge. The results suggested that the technology could potentially provide carbon removal and grid balancing when used with intermittent renewables, such as solar or wind power.

“Integrating carbon capture directly into a redox flow battery lets us tackle two challenges in one device,” Afshari said in the release. “Our front-cover feature highlights its potential to smooth out renewable generation while sequestering CO2.”

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