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Houston group secures contract for major clean ammonia project in Louisiana

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Houston global engineering firm McDermott will design a Louisiana project to produce millions of tons of clean ammonia. Image via cleanhydrogenworks.com

Houston-headquartered McDermott has received a new contract on a Louisiana clean ammonia project.

Clean energy development company Clean Hydrogen Works tapped McDermott for the front-end engineering and design contract for the Ascension Clean Energy Project. ACE — located in Ascension Parish, Louisiana — is jointly developed by CHW with strategic shareholders ExxonMobil, Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, and Hafnia and is expected to initially produce 2.4 million metric tons per annum of clean ammonia and expand to total 7.2 million metric tons per annum production down the road.

“We are thrilled to partner with McDermott, a company renowned for its extensive experience in mega module construction, demonstrated by a remarkable track record of on-time, on-budget execution of major energy and chemicals projects," Johnny Cook, CHW senior vice president of engineering, procurement, and construction, says in a news release. "This collaboration further strengthens key competitive advantages of our project, including being a mega module capable site with ready infrastructure access to gas, shipping and CCS, an unmatched shareholder base with expertise in CCS and maritime transport, and an experienced team with demonstrated success in executing mega module projects.”

The project has carbon capture and sequestration contracts with ExxonMobil and expects regulatory approvals by early 2025. ACE is expected to reach its final investment decision by late 2025 and start production in 2029. McDermott’s Houston office will lead the project with support from its Gurugram, India, office.

“This FEED award is testament to McDermott’s industry-leading mega-module delivery and installation expertise, and the breadth of our capabilities across the energy transition,” Rob Shaul, McDermott’s senior vice president of Low Carbon Solutions, adds. “Our integrated delivery model, with self-perform construction capabilities and portfolio of McDermott-owned, globally diversified, module fabrication yards means we can offer CHW a repeatable modular implementation solution that is expected to maximize value, reduce risk and provide quality assurance.”

Earlier this year, Houston-based Element Fuels completed the pre-construction phase of its hydrogen-powered clean fuels refinery and combined-cycle power plant in the Port of Brownsville — a project that McDermott is also providing FEED services for.

Also recently, McDermott secured an agreement to work on Canada's first commercial green hydrogen and ammonia production facility.

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The facility, once completed, will be able to produce 165 kilo tons per Annum of hydrogen and 5,000 metric tons per day of ammonia. Photo via Getty Images

Houston company scores agreement to work on Canadian green hydrogen project

contract secured

Houston-headquartered McDermott has reported that it secured an agreement to work on Canada's first commercial green hydrogen and ammonia production facility.

The Early Contractor Involvement agreement is from Abraxas Power Corp. to work on the Exploits Valley Renewable Energy Corporation (EVREC) project located in Central Newfoundland and will include developing a wind farm with up to 530 turbines that will have the ability to generate 3.5 gigawatts of electricity and 150 megawatts solar photo voltaic. Additionally, the facility, once completed, will be able to produce 165 kilo tons per Annum of hydrogen and 5,000 metric tons per day of ammonia.

"The agreement is testament to McDermott's industry-leading delivery and installation expertise, and the breadth of our capabilities across the energy transition," Rob Shaul, McDermott's senior vice president, Low Carbon Solutions, says in a news release. "Our century of experience, from concept to completion, and integrated delivery model, means we can offer Abraxas a repeatable modular implementation solution that is expected to drive cost savings, reduce risk and provide quality assurance."

Per the agreement, the company will provide front-end engineering design, engineering, procurement, and construction execution planning services, and more for the project. According to McDermott, the company's contribution to the project will be led from McDermott's Houston office with support from its office in India.

Recently, another collaboration McDermott is working on reached a new milestone. Houston-based Element Fuels has completed the pre-construction phase of its hydrogen-powered clean fuels refinery and combined-cycle power plant in the Port of Brownsville. McDermott is providing front-end engineering design services for the project.

In October, McDermott announced that it signed a lighthouse agreement with United Kingdom-based industrial software company AVEVA and Massachusetts-based product lifecycle management platform provider Aras. With the new software, McDermott plans "to develop its asset lifecycle management capability across the energy transition, oil and gas, and nuclear sectors," per the news release.

Element Fuels has designed the plant to produce and recycle hydrogen that will generate and deliver cleaner, higher-quality fuels. Photo via Getty Images

Houston clean fuels producer reaches milestone on South Texas hydrogen-powered refinery

hi to hydrogen

Houston-based Element Fuels has completed the pre-construction phase of its hydrogen-powered clean fuels refinery and combined-cycle power plant in the Port of Brownsville.

Element Fuels, which has contracted with Houston-based McDermott to provide front-end engineering design services for the project, has designed the plant to produce and recycle hydrogen that will generate and deliver cleaner, higher-quality fuels, including much-needed high-octane gasoline and electricity for commercial and consumer consumption.

“Element Fuels has received the necessary permitting to construct and operate a refinery capable of producing in excess of 160,000 barrels, or approximately 6.7 million gallons, per day of finished gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel,” Founder and Co-CEO of Element Fuels John Calce says in a news release. “A permit for a greenfield refinery of this size, scope, and functionality has not been granted in the United States since the 1970s. This speaks to the innovative approaches we are taking to address climate and sustainability concerns in cleaner, greener ways that are new to the refinery space.”

The project is expected to go online in 2027 and will produce enough low-carbon hydrogen to supply approximately 100 percent of the refinery’s fuel requirements, essentially eliminating CO2 emissions, per the news release. More than 100 megawatts of excess electricity generated from the power plant will be provided to the Energy Reliability Council of Texas for the surrounding community’s needs.

“Element Fuels is not only ushering in the next generation of clean fuels, we’re also proving that, without a doubt, there is a way to produce higher quality, cleaner, higher-octane fuels that significantly advance the energy transition," Calce continues. "This changes everything – for the industry, for consumers, and for the well-being of the planet.”

The plant is located in South Texas and built on more than 240 acres within the Port of Brownsville. Element Fuels is reportedly collaborating with local and Port officials "to advance the Justice40 initiative established by the U.S. Department of Commerce to contribute to a climate-positive environment that provides residents of the Brownsville area and Rio Grande Valley with clean energy and affordable and sustainable housing," per the release.

“Building on our successful collaboration during early project phases, we believe we are uniquely positioned to leverage our expertise and knowledge to further support Element Fuels throughout the next stages of this unique project,” adds Rob Shaul, senior vice president at Low Carbon Solutions at McDermott. “We remain focused on the delivery of low carbon pathway projects and are committed to advancing the landscape of energy production.”

Houston-based oil and gas engineering and construction services provider McDermott is making some major software changes to better operate in the ongoing energy transition. Image via mcdermott-investors.com

Houston company upgrades digital solutions with new partnerships to better address energy transition

software secured

A Houston engineering and construction solutions company serving the energy industry has announced an agreement that will introduce new software to the company's energy transition plans.

McDermott announced today that it has signed a lighthouse agreement with United Kingdom-based industrial software company AVEVA and Massachusetts-based product lifecycle management platform provider Aras. With the new software, McDermott plans "to develop its asset lifecycle management capability across the energy transition, oil and gas, and nuclear sectors," per the news release.

"McDermott is uniquely positioned to combine its extensive expertise in digital twin and industry-leading engineering procurement and construction (EPC) experience," Vaseem Khan, McDermott's senior vice president of Global Operations, says in the release. "The agreement represents our shared vision and commitment to data-centric digital deliverables management and creates an opportunity for robust digital transformation of industry processes."

The new technology should help reduce both cost and risk by improving decision-making, achieving better compliance and traceability, and enhancing performance.

"McDermott's engineering expertise forms an essential input in pioneering an industry solution that is urgently needed to improve outcomes in the energy, nuclear, marine, and other sectors," Rob McGreevy, chief product officer at AVEVA. "Together, we will provide competitive advantages for customers who join the lighthouse program."

The deal includes integrating Aras' Innovator platform with AVEVA Unified Engineering, AVEVA Asset Information Management, and other AVEVA tools and services to create, and McDermott will provide feedback and testing for its new software platforms.

"AVEVA's robust industry asset lifecycle management solutions, built on the Aras platform, will enable McDermott to leverage a fully connected digital thread of the asset's engineering and operations information," Roque Martin, CEO of Aras, says in the release. "We will create useful, usable, and powerful software for our joint customer base."

Houston-based oil and gas engineering and construction services provider McDermott outlines company's progress toward sustainability with new report. Image via mcdermott-investors.com

Houston O&G services company lays out 2022 wins in new report

report card

People. Planet. Progress. These are the first three words on the homepage for the a new report on sustainability from a Houston company.

Published this month, the 2022 Sustainability Report from McDermott — a global leader in engineering, procurement, and construction solutions for the energy industry — showcases the organization's dedication to developing sustainable solutions and innovative technologies.

"As our customers set ESG targets and work to meet and exceed their stakeholder expectations, they increasingly rely on McDermott for innovative methods and low-carbon solutions leveraging our more than 100 years of complex project experience," says Michael McKelvy, McDermott's president and CEO, in the news release. "With our customers, we are advancing global decarbonization through low-emissions options across our engineering, procurement and construction operations."

In the third annual report of its kind, McDermott highlights key climate and sustainability accomplishments achieved in 2022 in each of the three aforementioned focus areas.

People

  • Joining the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Energy Initiative to further ingrain McDermott with academic institutions collaborating to achieve net-zero targets
  • Launch of the RISE Female Development Program as part of the commitment to diversity and inclusion, and specifically, gender equality, across the organization

Planet

  • Voluntary, inaugural submission of ESG metrics to the Carbon Disclosure Project platform
  • Introduction of a new Carbon Footprint Dashboard that established a baseline against which 2023 KPIs and targets will be assessed to measure project-related emissions
  • 62 percent increase in project water reuse compared to 2020
  • Elimination of the need for plastic water bottles on all maritime fleet vessels with the introduction of onboard filtration systems

Progress

  • Awarding of Borwin6, the largest renewables energy project for McDermott to-date
  • Application of modular solution delivery practiced for over 50 years to construct and deliver Green and Blue hydrogen facilities
  • Scaling up technology for liquefied hydrogen spheres and development of fully integrated renewable and low-carbon hydrogen demonstration and framework in Texas
  • Completion of Phase 1 rollout of a vehicle utilization AI platform that measures emissions and provides fleet management teams with actionable insights

"McDermott is committed to sustainable, positive improvement in the communities where we operate, for our customers, and for our employees and the world," states Rachel Clingman, McDermott's executive vice president, sustainability, and governance in the announcement. "We matured our strategy and focus in 2022. We are aligned and working hand-in-hand with customers and stakeholders on specific plans and goals."

The 74-page report offers additional details on these initiatives, as well as commentary on the task force on climate-related financial disclosures compliance and environmental performance data for the year ended on December 31, 2022.

McDermott outlined its sustainability wins from 2022. Image via mcdermott-investors.com

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Houston cleantech company closes $12M seed round

fresh funding

Houston-based Helix Earth Technologies has closed a $12 million Seed 2 funding round to scale manufacturing of its energy-efficient commercial HVAC add-on technology.

Veriten, a Houston-based energy investment firm, led the round. Rua Ventures, Carnrite Ventures, Skywriter LLC and Textbook Ventures also participated.

Helix Earth—which was founded based on NASA technology, spun out of Rice University and has been incubated at Greentown Labs—is developing high-efficiency retrofit dehumidification systems that aim to reduce the energy consumption of commercial HVAC units. The company reports that its technology can lead to "healthier indoor air, lower energy bills, reduced building maintenance, and more comfortable spaces for building owners and occupants."

"Building owners are dealing with rising energy costs, uncontrolled humidity, and aging infrastructure with no viable, cost-effective path forward. We are in the field today solving these problems for commercial customers, and this capital puts us on an aggressive path to scale,” Rawand Rasheed, Helix Earth co-founder and CEO, said in a news release.

“The strength of this round reinforces our team's conviction that we can transform innovation-starved sectors with transformational solutions that deliver order-of-magnitude improvements to owners and operators, for both their bottom line and the environment,” Rasheed added.

Maynard Holt, Veriten’s founder and CEO, said that the investment firm is tripling its investment in Helix Earth.

"The team has built breakthrough technology with real applicability across multiple industries,” Holt said in the release. “Their first product will have an immediate and measurable impact on our energy system, and they are already pursuing adjacent innovations to help heavy industries operate more efficiently and with less waste. This is a well-rounded team with a proven track record of strong execution and disciplined capital management.”

Helix Earth also closed a $5.6 million seed funding round in 2024, led by Veriten.

Last year, the company secured a $1.2 million Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II grant and won in the Smart Cities, Transportation & Sustainability contest at the 2025 SXSW Pitch Showcase. Rasheed was also named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 Energy and Green Tech list for 2025.

SLB and NVIDIA expand partnership to scale AI across energy sector

AI partnership

Houston-based energy technology company SLB has expanded its 18-year tech collaboration with chipmaker NVIDIA to include the development of an “AI factory for energy.”

Through their partnership, SLB and NVIDIA will create AI infrastructure and models built around SLB’s existing digital platforms to help energy companies scale AI for data and operations.

In addition to the development of the “AI factory,” SLB will:

  • Provide modular design services to enhance NVIDIA’s blueprint for building, launching and operating gigawatt-scale AI data centers. In this case, modular design involves manufacturing data center components off-site.
  • Use NVIDIA’s AI infrastructure to improve the processing of large datasets and AI models across SLB’s digital platforms.

Energy companies generate vast amounts of operational data, which can slow down and silo decision-making, SLB says. By combining NVIDIA’s Omniverse libraries and its Nemotron open models with SLB’s digital and AI platforms, the companies aim to more rapidly transform data into actionable insights.

Omniverse libraries are sets of prebuilt 3D elements, such as objects, surfaces and interactive features, that make it easier to construct detailed virtual spaces without having to design everything manually. They’re commonly used for building immersive environments, digital replicas of real-world systems and simulation scenarios.

Nemotron open models are AI models that are freely available to download and modify. Instead of relying on a hosted service, you can run them on your own infrastructure and tailor them to fit specific needs.

Vladimir Troy, vice president of AI infrastructure at NVIDIA, says the energy sector is at the forefront of AI driving a “new industrial revolution.”

“The winners in AI will be companies with the best data, the deepest domain expertise, and the ability to scale,” Demos Pafitis, SLB’s chief technology officer, added. “By collaborating with NVIDIA to advance modular data center construction and harness our domain expertise and digital platforms, we’re enabling the energy industry to deploy AI at scale and transform operational data into smarter decisions.”

Houston poised for Texas-sized data center growth and more energy news

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Editor's note: The top energy transition news of the month looks at the future of data centers in Houston; a big step for Fervo; and what hotter, longer summers mean for Texans. Below are the five most-read EnergyCapital stories published March 16-30, 2026:

1. Houston data center capacity could more than double by 2028, CBRE report says

Houston's data center scene has received its latest bullish forecast. Photo via serverfarmllc.com

The Houston market could more than double its data center capacity by the end of 2028, a new report indicates. The report, published by commercial real estate services provider CBRE, says greater demand for data center capacity in the Houston area is being fueled by energy companies, along with large-scale cloud services and AI-driven tenants. In the second half of 2025, the Houston market had 154 megawatts of data center capacity, which was on par with capacity in the second half of 2024. Another 28.5 megawatts of capacity was under construction during that period. Continue reading.

2. Fervo secures $421M in financing for Cape Station construction

Fervo Energy has closed financing to support the remaining construction costs for the first phase of Cape Station. Photo via fervoenergy.com

Houston geothermal unicorn Fervo Energy has closed $421 million in non-recourse debt financing for the first phase of its flagship Cape Station project in Beaver County, Utah. Fervo believes Cape Station can meet the needs of surging power demand from data centers, domestic manufacturing and an energy market aiming to use clean and reliable power. According to the company, Cape Station will begin delivering its first power to the grid this year and is expected to reach approximately 100 megwatts of operating capacity by early 2027. Fervo added that it plans to scale to 500 megawatts. Continue reading.

3. Energy expert: What record heat and extended summers mean for Texans

Extreme weather in Texas is not only increasing but also becoming more hazardous for communities, infrastructure, and the economy. Photo by Jarosław Kwoczała on Unsplash

Earth’s third-warmest year on record occurred in 2025, reinforcing a decades-long pattern of rising global temperatures. This warming trend is increasingly reflected in regional weather patterns across the United States, particularly in Texas, where hotter summers, prolonged droughts, and heavier rainfall events are becoming more common. A 2024 report from Texas A&M University highlights how these shifts are already reshaping weather conditions across the Lone Star State. The assessment analyzes climate and weather data from 1900 through 2023 and projects likely trends through 2036. Continue reading.

4. TotalEnergies strikes $1B federal deal to exit offshore wind sector

TotalEnergies is canceling its U.S. offshore wind projects. Photo via totalenergies.com

TotalEnergies, a French company whose U.S. headquarters is in Houston, has agreed to redirect nearly $930 million in capital from two offshore wind leases on the East Coast to oil, natural gas and liquefied natural gas (LNG) production. In its agreement with the U.S. Department of the Interior, TotalEnergies has also promised not to develop new offshore wind projects in the U.S. “in light of national security concerns.” Continue reading.

5. 30+ CERAWeek events featuring Houston energy leaders

Heading to CERAWeek? Here's where to find Houston energy leaders on the Agora track. Photo courtesy of CERAWeek

CERAWeek returned to Houston March 23-27, bringing more than 1,000 speakers, executives and energy innovators to Houston.Here are some of the many events that featured Houston leaders on the Agora track. Continue reading.

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