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Houston geothermal energy startup grows local office presence

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Fervo Energy went from a 5,158-square-foot space to a 23,782-square-foot office in downtown Houston. Photo via Hines

On the heels of landing more than $240 million in venture capital, Houston-based geothermal power provider Fervo Energy has more than quadrupled the size of its headquarters.

Fervo previously occupied 5,158 square feet at 114 Main St. in downtown Houston. The company recently left the Main Street space and leased 23,782 square feet at downtown Houston’s 910 Louisiana office tower. Houston-based commercial real estate company Hines owns and manages the 50-story former One Shell Plaza.

“We believe Houston is the center of the energy transition, and downtown Houston has long been its center of activity,” Tim Latimer, co-founder and CEO of Fervo Energy, says in a news release. “The availability of dining options, parks, and biking infrastructure continue to be great assets and a huge draw for our team. For these reasons and more, the only place for Fervo’s headquarters is downtown Houston.”

In February 2024, Fervo announced it had raised $244 million in an investment round led by Oklahoma City, Oklahoma-based hydrocarbon exploration company Devon Energy. Fervo has collected $431 million in funding since its founding in 2017.

Energy companies like Fervo occupy about 43 percent of office space in downtown Houston, according to a new report from the Downtown Houston+ organization. Nineteen new tenants set up shop last year in downtown Houston, with 10 of them operating in the energy sector.

Other energy companies that recently leased office space in downtown Houston include:

  • AES Clean Energy
  • Axip Energy Services
  • EnLink Midstream
  • MRC Global
  • Repsol Renewables
  • Stonepeak

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This article originally ran on InnovationMap.

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Dow will occupy nearly two-thirds of office space at Midway's CityCentre Six office tower that's currently being built in the Energy Corridor. Photo courtesy of Midway

Dow digs up new office space in Houston's Energy Corridor

moving in

Dow Chemical has signed up to be the anchor tenant at the CityCentre Six office tower under construction in Houston’s Memorial City area.

Dow will occupy nearly two-thirds (65 percent) of the 308,000 square feet of office space at the 19-story building, or about 200,000 square feet. The company will relocate employees there from its Houston Dow Center offices at Enclave Plaza in the Energy Corridor.

The current lease expires in 2026. Dow has leased the Energy Corridor space for 15 years.

Houston-based real estate investor and developer Midway recently broke ground on the $87.5 million, 320,000-square-foot CityCentre Six tower, which will be adjacent to the headquarters of Marathon Oil.

“Dow’s commitment as the anchor tenant has been a driving force behind the project’s strong momentum and underscores the strong leasing demand for CityCentre office space, which remains 100 percent leased,” says Chris Seckinger, vice president of investment and development at Midway. “Their presence not only confirms the tower’s status as a premier business destination but also reflects the confidence leading enterprises have in our vision for the district.”

Photo courtesy of Midway

The new tower, set to be completed in 2026, is one of the latest additions to the 47-acre CityCentre mixed-use development.

“Our plans for CityCentre’s north site have been in the works for almost a decade, and CityCentre Six is a significant step towards realizing our long-term vision for the development,” Seckinger said in a January 2024 news release.

Midway’s CityCentre Seven, a six-story office building and hotel, is also under construction at the mixed-use development. The Four Points by Sheraton Houston West hotel currently occupies the site.

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Zero-emission electric air taxi network to land in Texas in 2027

Electric Travel

San Jose, California-based aerospace company Archer Aviation is bringing its air-taxi system to the “Texas triangle” of Houston, Austin and Dallas-Fort Worth.

Currently, the planned zero-emission electric air taxi networks will use Archer’s Midnight air taxi to “turn 60- to 90-minute drives to major airports, business districts and major destinations into 10- to 20-minute flights,” the company said in a news release. Archer plans to begin flights in the Texas triangle next year.

The Midnight air taxi is an all-electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft. It can carry four passengers and a pilot and is designed for consecutive flights of about 20 miles.

Archer cites the Texas triangle as one of the busiest and fastest-growing “megaregions” in the country due to its proximity to coastal regions, major airports, and a number of business districts.

Archer Chief Commercial Officer Nikhil Goel described the air taxi experience to CW Houston as “100 times quieter than a helicopter for the price of an Uber Black.” He added that the air taxis are a combination of a helicopter, a small airplane and a drone.

In Houston, Archer’s air taxi network will aim to connect George Bush Intercontinental, William P. Hobby and Sugar Land Regional Airport with downtown destinations, including the Thompson Hotel helipad, and Galveston.

In Austin, it plans to link the city's Austin-Bergstrom International Airport and Austin Executive Airport with the F1 Circuit Helipad at the Circuit of the Americas. Archer debuted its Midnight aircraft at the F1 Prix in the Fan Zone and the F1 Paddock at Austin’s COTA.

The Dallas-Fort Worth network is slated to include Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, Dallas Love Field, Addison Airport, Arlington Municipal Airport, Fort Worth Meacham International Airport and Perot Field Fort Worth Alliance Airport, plus major business hubs like Frisco Station.

“Texas is setting the bar for America’s leadership in the next generation of aviation,” Adam Goldstein, founder and CEO of Archer Aviation, said in the release. “Our planned networks will make the benefits of electric air taxis real for Texans — trading hours in traffic for minutes in the air, while connecting the biggest airports, business districts and sporting hubs in ways that America’s largest megaregion needs to grow.”

Archer is working with state and local partners to develop charging infrastructure and plans to pursue Texas operations through the White House’s eVTOL Integration Pilot Program, according to the release. It recently completed its "No Roads" flight tour, which included multiple flights over the San Francisco Bay, and flew to seven cities over three days.

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This article first appeared on InnovationMap.com.

Fervo Energy scores third consecutive nod on MIT climatech list

top honor

Houston-based geothermal power company Fervo Energy has notched a three-peat on MIT Technology Review’s annual 10 Climate Tech Companies to Watch List.

“The newly public company is betting that Al’s power boom will help turn enhanced geothermal energy into a scalable reality,” MIT Technology Review says of the three-time honoree.

Fervo went public in May through a $2.2 billion IPO.

Other Fervo recent milestones include:

“We are in the midst of a once-in-a-generation surge in power demand that is likely to dictate the outcome of the American success story in both artificial intelligence and industrial growth, but also the extent to which people have access to affordable, reliable power,” Tim Latimer, co-founder, chairman, president and CEO, said during Fervo’s second-quarter earnings call.

“The stakes have never been higher,” he added, “and I’ve never been more convinced that Fervo is uniquely positioned to meet this moment.”

Also making MIT Technology Review’s fourth annual list were:

  • Greentown Houston alum Energy Dome, based in Milan, Italy. “Energy Dome is using the gas to deliver cheap long-duration energy storage for the grid,” MIT Technology Review says.
  • Greentown Houston alum Moment Energy, based in Vancouver, Canada. “The startup is betting that repurposing — rather than recycling — used EV batteries will help buoy much-needed U.S. supply,” MIT Technology Review says.
  • Greentown Boston member Form Energy, based in Somersville, Massachusetts. It’s a three-time honoree. “Form’s 100-hour batteries could make clean energy more weather-resilient and help power data centers,” MIT Technology Review says.

Greentown Labs is an incubator for climatech and energy startups that's co-located in Houston and Boston. Fervo is also an alum of Greentown Houston.

“Whether early-stage startup or multinational corporation, the businesses we’ve chosen are working on technologies to help us address climate change or adapt to our warming world,” MIT Technology Review says. “There’s an urgent need for these innovators: We must begin to drastically reduce emissions to avoid the deadliest impacts of climate change, while also contending with its harmful effects.”

ExxonMobil and Chevron top Q3 estimates on higher prices and strong output

Q3 Report

ExxonMobil and Chevron both reported better than expected quarterly results Friday as the oil majors benefited from higher prices and record production.

Besides the disruption caused by the wars in Iran and Ukraine that have driven up the cost of fuel, Exxon is also seeing strong production in its fields in Guyana and the Permian Basin in the Southwest. Chevron said its results include one month of production in Venezuela where it’s making a big investment.

Utilization at Exxon's U.S. Gulf Coast refineries was at 100%, and U.S. Gulf Coast diesel production was at the second-highest on record.

The price of diesel, currently about $6.32 per gallon, is up 71% since last year, according to AAA. Diesel surpassed $6 last month — a record. Regular gasoline is up about 38% in the past year as well. To that end, some state officials have been offering gas tax holidays and other measures to ease costs.

Pain at the pump

The cost of crude oil — the main ingredient in gasoline as well as diesel — has been volatile amid ongoing uncertainty about the war's future. The conflict with Iran has impeded most shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway that previously served as a delivery route for a fifth of the world’s oil and natural gas.

Both Brent crude and benchmark U.S. crude were at over $100 a barrel on Friday. Brent is still near the high end of its range since the war with Iran began. The highest price for the most actively traded contract in the market for Brent crude since then is nearly $120, reached in March.

At the beginning of the month, the Group of Seven wealthy democracies announced that they planned to release 100 million barrels of oil and fuel products in the coming weeks, starting with “substantial” amounts of diesel.

The release follows on from a March announcement that International Energy Agency member countries would release 426 million barrels of oil and products to stabilize the oil market. European Union countries committed about 92 million barrels, a promise weighted toward refined products made from crude such as diesel.

President Donald Trump has been trying to tamp down soaring energy costs ahead of the U.S. midterm elections. As part of those efforts, he announced earlier this month that the U.S. struck a deal to obtain diesel from Russia. Congress has criticized the deal as fueling Russia’s war against Ukraine, violating existing U.S. laws and drawing the U.S. closer to Russia. Even as Congress has tried to push back, the first tanker carrying Russian diesel to the United States set sail a week ago.

Results beat Wall Street expectations

Darren Woods, ExxonMobil chairman and CEO, noted that investments such as the expansion of its Beaumont refinery in Texas have contributed to an increase in its distillate production by approximately 40% since 2019.

For the third quarter, net income more than doubled to $3.72 per share. On an adjusted basis, profit totaled $4.23 per share, easily topping the average analyst estimate of $4.12 per share.

Revenue during the three months ended in September rose 33% to $113.16 billion, also beating estimates.

The Spring, Texas-based company also raised its quarterly dividend to $1.07 and set a $20 billion stock buyback plan.

Houston-based Chevron said it earned $9.9 billion, or $5.06 per share, during the third quarter, as revenue surged 36% to $67.8 billion. Its results handily topped estimates.

Crude utilization at Chevron's U.S. refineries totaled 98%. Those refineries processed more than 1 million barrels of crude oil per day. The company said it set production records at its Eastern Mediterranean and Australian assets.

Chevron, the second-largest U.S. oil company, has had a presence in Venezuela since 1923. Last month it announced it will invest $7 billion over the next five years in Venezuela. It said Friday that following an accounting-related change during the quarter, it’s now including those results.

Overall capital expenditures during the quarter were lower compared with a year ago because it spent less in the Permian Basin.

Mike Wirth, Chevron’s chairman and CEO, said that the company signed agreements to reduce Bakken midstream costs by about 50%, strengthening the asset’s competitiveness. Chevron increased its holdings in the Bakken fields in North Dakota and Montana following its $53 billion acquisition of Hess Corp. last year.

Shares of Exxon rose 1.3% in morning trading. The stock is up 64% in the past 12 months. Chevron's stock climbed 1.8%.

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