2 Houston energy giants appear on Fortune’s inaugural AI ranking

AI Leaders

ExxonMobil is on Fortune's first-ever AIQ ranking. Getty Images

Two Houston-area energy leaders appear on Fortune’s inaugural list of the top adopters of AI among Fortune 500 companies.

They are:

No. 7 energy company ExxonMobil, based in Spring
No. 47 energy company Chevron, based in Houston

They are joined by Spring-based tech company Hewlett Packard Enterprise, No. `9.

All three companies have taken a big dive into the AI pool.

In 2024, ExxonMobil’s executive chairman and CEO, Darren Woods, explained that AI would play a key role in achieving a $15 billion reduction in operating costs by 2027.

“There is a concerted effort to make sure that we're really working hard to apply that new technology to the opportunity set within the company to drive effectiveness and efficiency,” Woods told Wall Street analysts.

At Chevron, AI tools are being used to quickly analyze data and extract insights from it, according to tech news website VentureBeat. Also, Chevron employs advanced AI systems known as large language models (LLMs) to create engineering standards, specifications and safety alerts. AI is even being put to work in Chevron’s exploration initiatives.

Bill Braun, Chevron’s chief information officer, said at a VentureBeat-sponsored event in 2024 that AI-savvy data scientists, or “digital scholars,” are always embedded within workplace teams “to act as a catalyst for working differently.”

The Fortune AIQ 50 ranking is based on ServiceNow’s Enterprise AI Maturity Index, an annual measurement of how prepared organizations are to adopt and scale AI. To evaluate how Fortune 500 companies are rolling out AI and how much they value AI investments, Fortune teamed up with Enterprise Technology Research. The results went into computing an AIQ score for each company.

At the top of the ranking is Alphabet (owner of Google and YouTube), followed by Visa, JPMorgan Chase, Nvidia and Mastercard. Aside from ExxonMobil, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, and Chevron, two other Texas companies made the list: Arlington-based homebuilder D.R. Horton (No. 29) and Austin-based software company Oracle (No. 37).

“The Fortune AIQ 50 demonstrates how companies across industry sectors are beginning to find real value from the deployment of AI technology,” Jeremy Kahn, Fortune’s AI editor, said in a news release. “Clearly, some sectors, such as tech and finance, are pulling ahead of others, but even in so-called 'old economy' industries like mining and transport, there are a few companies that are pulling away from their peers in the successful use of AI.

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This article originally appeared on InnovationMap.com.

ExxonMobil says it will "slow the pace" of development of its $10 billion plastics manufacturing plant. Photo via Getty Images.

ExxonMobil postpones $10B plastics manufacturing plant

plastics project postponed

Spring-based ExxonMobil is postponing development of a $10 billion plastics manufacturing plant along the Gulf Coast. Construction on the plant, to be located near Port Lavaca, was supposed to begin next year.

“Based on current market conditions, we are going to slow the pace of our development for the Coastal Plain Venture,” ExxonMobil confirmed in an emailed statement. “We’re confident in our growth strategy, and we remain interested in a potential project along the U.S. Gulf Coast and in other regions around the world. We’re maintaining good relationships with community leaders and contractors, so we are ready to reevaluate the project’s status when market conditions improve.”

According to Independent Commodity Intelligence Services, the Coastal Plain project was preliminary, and ExxonMobil had not yet announced its decision about building a plant for polyethylene production. Polyethylene, the world’s most common plastic, is used in a variety of products, such as bags, bottles, food containers, automotive components, medical tubes, IV bags, children’s toys and cutting boards.

The Coastal Plain postponement follows a judge’s ruling in August that invalidated a decision by Calhoun County ISD board members to negotiate tax breaks with ExxonMobil, according to Inside Climate News. The judge made the ruling in a case filed by environmental activist Diane Wilson and her nonprofit group, San Antonio Bay Estuarine Waterkeeper.

Wilson told Inside Climate News that she thought public opposition played a part in ExxonMobil postponing the Coastal Plain project.

“I think if everybody had just rolled over for them, if they got exactly what they wanted (tax breaks) and there wasn’t a big fight, there would be no delay,” Wilson said.

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.

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

power people

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.

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.

Chambers County has helped fund a new recycling support center in Mont Belvieu that will process post-consumer plastic materials. Photo via Getty Images.

Houston-area logistics co. breaks ground on recycling center tied to circularity hub

coming soon

TALKE USA Inc., a Houston-area arm of German logistics company TALKE, broke ground on its new Recycling Support Center in Mont Belvieu Aug. 1.

The facility will process post-consumer plastic materials, which will then be further processed at Cyclyx's new Houston-based Circularity Center, a first-of-its-kind plastic waste sorting and processing facility that was developed through a joint venture between Cyclix, ExxonMobil and LyondellBasell.

The materials will ultimately be converted into recycling feedstock.

“We’re proud to break ground on a facility that reflects our long-term vision for sustainable growth,” Richard Heath, CEO and president of TALKE USA Inc., said in a news release. “This groundbreaking marks an important milestone for our team, our customers, and the Mont Belvieu community.”

The new facility was partially funded by Chambers County, according to the release. The Baytown Sun reports that the county put $1 million towards the construction of the project, which brings advanced recycling and mechanical recycling to the area.

TALKE USA said it plans to share more about the new facility and its impact in the future.

Meanwhile, the Houston-based Cyclyx Circularity Center (CCC1) is slated to open this year and is expected to produce 300 million pounds of custom-formulated feedstock annually. A second circularity center, CCC2, is expected to start up in the Dallas-Fort Worth area in the second half of 2026. Read more here.

ConocoPhillips is one of the Houston companies on the new Forbes 2000 list. Photo via conocophillips.com

18 Houston-based energy companies land on Forbes Global 2000 list

Forbes 2000

More than 60 Texas-based companies appear on Forbes’ 2025 list of the world’s 2,000 biggest publicly traded companies, and nearly half come from Houston, the majority in the energy sector.

Among Texas companies whose stock is publicly traded, Spring-based ExxonMobil is the highest ranked at No. 13 globally.

Rounding out Texas’ top five are Houston-based Chevron (No. 30), Dallas-based AT&T (No. 35), Austin-based Oracle (No. 66), and Austin-based Tesla (No. 69).

Ranking first in the world is New York City-based J.P. Morgan Chase.

Forbes compiled this year’s Global 2000 list using data from FactSet Research to analyze the biggest public companies based on four metrics: sales, profit, assets, and market value.

“The annual Forbes Global 2000 list features the companies shaping today’s global markets and moving them worldwide,” said Hank Tucker, a staff writer at Forbes. “This year’s list showcases how despite a complex geopolitical landscape, globalization has continued to fuel decades of economic growth, with the world’s largest companies more than tripling in size across multiple measures in the past 20 years.”

The U.S. topped the list with 612 companies, followed by China with 317 and Japan with 180.

Here are the rest of the Texas-based companies in the Forbes 2000, grouped by the location of their headquarters and followed by their global ranking.

Houston area (those in the energy sector are in bold)

ConocoPhillips (No. 105)
Phillips 66 (No. 276)
SLB (No. 296)
EOG Resources (No. 297)
Occidental Petroleum (No. 302)
Waste Management (No. 351)
Kinder Morgan (No. 370)
Hewlett Packard Enterprise (No. 379)
Baker Hughes (No. 403)
Cheniere Energy (No. 415)
Corebridge Financial (No. 424)
Sysco (No. 448)
Halliburton (No. 641)
Targa Resources (No. 651)
NRG Energy (No. 667)
Quanta Services (No. 722)
CenterPoint Energy (No. 783)
Coterra Energy (No. 1,138)
Crown Castle International (No. 1,146)
Westlake Corp. (No. 1,199)
APA Corp. (No. 1,467)
Comfort Systems USA (No. 1,629)
Group 1 Automotive (No. 1,653)
Talen Energy (No. 1,854)
Prosperity Bancshares (No. 1,855)
NOV (No. 1,980)

Austin area

Dell Technologies (No. 183)
Flex (No. 887)
Digital Realty Trust (No. 1,063)
CrowdStrike (No. 1,490)

Dallas-Fort Worth

Caterpillar (No. 118)
Charles Schwab (No. 124)
McKesson (No. 195)
D.R. Horton (No. 365)
Texas Instruments (No. 374)
Vistra Energy (No. 437)
CBRE (No. 582)
Kimberly-Clark (No. 639)
Tenet Healthcare (No. 691)
American Airlines (No. 834)
Southwest Airlines (No. 844)
Atmos Energy (No. 1,025)
Builders FirstSource (No. 1,039)
Copart (No. 1,062)
Fluor (No. 1,153)
Jacobs Solutions (1,232)
Globe Life (1,285)
AECOM (No. 1,371)
Lennox International (No. 1,486)
HF Sinclair (No. 1,532)
Invitation Homes (No. 1,603)
Celanese (No. 1,845)
Tyler Technologies (No. 1,942)

San Antonio

Valero Energy (No. 397)
Cullen/Frost Bankers (No. 1,560)

Midland

Diamondback Energy (No. 471)
Permian Resources (No. 1,762)

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A version of this article originally appeared on CultureMap.com.

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California company launches Tesla Megapack battery project in Houston area

power on

Oakland, California-based Nightpeak Energy announced earlier this month that its 150-megawatt battery storage project in Brazoria County, known as Bocanova Power, is now operating to address Houston’s peak capacity needs.

“This battery storage project will enhance grid reliability in the Alvin area while continuing to support integrating renewable energy,” Cary Perrin, president and CEO of the Northern Brazoria County Chamber of Commerce, said in a news release. “I believe we need energy storage now more than ever for its pivotal role in reducing strain on the grid while meeting fast-growing power demand in Texas and Brazoria County."

The project reached commercial operation in August, according to the release. The project utilizes Tesla's Megapack 2 XL battery storage system, and the facility operates under a long-term power purchase agreement with an undisclosed “investment-grade power purchaser.”

“Bocanova Power demonstrates the speed at which Nightpeak Energy is overcoming complex challenges to energize projects that support America's growing need for affordable, reliable, and secure energy,” Paris Hays, co-founder and CEO/CDO of Nightpeak Energy, added in the news release. “Unprecedented AI data center and manufacturing growth has only accelerated the need for these resources.”

Hays added in the release that the company has plans for more energy infrastructure projects in Texas and in the Western U.S.

Nightpeak Energy develops, owns and operates power plants that support the growing capacity needs of a decarbonized grid. It also owns and operates 240 MW of battery storage and natural gas generation facilities.

The company was founded in 2022 and backed by equity funding of up to $200 million from Dallas-based investment firm Energy Spectrum Capital.

Texas ranks low on most energy-efficient states report

by the numbers

Texas has room to improve when it comes to energy efficiency, recent data from WalletHub shows.

The personal finance website ranked Texas at No. 35 on the latest Most & Least Energy-Efficient States list. Texas improved by one spot on the 2025 report, after coming in at No. 36 last year.

The report measured and ranked the efficiency of auto energy and home energy consumption in the 48 U.S. mainland states based on data from the U.S. Census Bureau, National Climatic Data Center, U.S. Energy Information Administration and the U.S. Department of Transportation – Federal Highway Administration.

Texas earned an overall score of 50.60. It was ranked No. 27 for home energy efficiency and No. 41 for auto efficiency. By comparison, No. 1-ranked Vermont earned a score of 85.30, ranking No. 2 for home energy and No. 6 for out energy.

The top five overall states included:

No. 1 Vermont
No. 2 California
No. 3 Washington
No. 4 New York
No. 5 Massachusetts

South Dakota earned the top rank for home energy efficiency, and Massachusetts earned the top rank for energy efficiency.

“Energy efficiency doesn’t just help save the planet – it also helps save you money by lowering the amount of electricity, gas, oil or other types of energy you need to consume. While there are some steps you can take to become more energy-efficient on your own, living in the right area can give you a big boost," WalletHub analyst Chip Lupo said in the report. "For example, certain states have much better public transportation systems that minimize your need to drive, at least in big cities. Some places also have better-constructed buildings that retain heat better during the winter or stay cooler during the summer.”

According to the report, some progress is being made in increasing energy efficiency across the country. The U.S. Energy Information Administration expects 26 percent of electricity generation in 2026 will come from renewables. A number of them are being developed in the Houston area, including recent announcements like the Pleasure Island Power Collective in Port Arthur.

Still, Houston earned an abysmal ranking on WalletHub's greenest cities in the U.S. report earlier this year, coming in at No. 99 out of 100. Read more here.

Port Houston reports emissions progress as cargo volumes climb

greener growth

Port Houston’s initiatives to reduce emissions have shown some positive results, according to new data from the Port of Houston Authority.

Pulling from the Goods Movement Emissions Inventory (GMEI) report, which tracks port-related air emissions, Port Houston cited several improvements compared to the most recent report from 2019.

The port has seen total tonnage and container volumes increase by 16 percent and 28 percent, respectively, since 2019. However, greenhouse gas emissions have increased at a slower rate, growing only by 10 percent during the same time period, according to the data.

Additionally, emissions of nitrogen oxide fell by 7 percent, and emissions of particulate matter fell by 4 percent, despite adding 280 more pieces of cargo handling equipment.

“These results show that our emission-reduction efforts are working, and we are moving in the right direction,” Chairman Ric Campo said in a news release.

The Port Commission also recently approved items related to the $3 million U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Clean Ports Program (CPP) grant, which it received last year. The items will allow the port to work towards five new sustainability initiatives.

They include:

An inventory of the port’s Scopes 1, 2, and 3 for greenhouse gas emissions
A Port Area Climate Action Plan for the area and surrounding communities
A CPP Truck Route Analysis
Creation of the CPP Trucking Industry Collaborative
Design of a customized website for Port of Houston Partners in Maritime Education, which is a non-profit leading maritime workforce development effort in local schools.

Port Houston aims to be carbon neutral by 2050.

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This article originally appeared on our sister site, Innovation Map.

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