SLB awarded Petrobras contract for subsea seawater injection systems in Brazil

JV deal

SLB's OneSubsea will provide seawater injection systems to boost recovery and cut emissions at Petrobras' Búzios field. Photo courtesy of SLB

Houston energy technology company SLB announced a contract award by Petrobras to its OneSubsea joint venture for two subsea raw seawater injection systems to increase recovery from the prolific Búzios field in offshore Brazil.

The subsea RWI systems will work to increase the production of floating production storage and offloading (Petrobras FPSO) vessels that are currently bottlenecked in their water injection capacities.The RWI systems, once operational, can reduce greenhouse gas emissions per barrel of oil.

“As deepwater basins mature, we see more and more secondary recovery opportunities emerging,” Mads Hjelmeland, CEO of SLB OneSubsea, says in a news release. “Subsea raw seawater injection is a well-proven application with a strong business case that we think should become mainstream. By placing the system directly on the seabed, we free up space and reduce fuel needs for the FPSOs as well as lessen the power needs for the injection systems. It’s a win-win for Petrobras, and one that we are very excited about.”

SLB OneSubsea works to “optimize oil and gas production, decarbonize subsea operations, and unlock the large potential of subsea solutions to accelerate the energy transition,” per to the company.

SLB OneSubsea is contracted to provide two complete subsea RWI systems to support Petrobras’ FPSOs P-74 and P-75. They will consist of a subsea seawater injection pump, umbilical system and topside variable speed drive. In addition,the team will also provide technical support using AI-enabled Subsea Live services, which includes condition monitoring and access to domain experts.

“This contract will consolidate our solid local content presence in the country, contributed by the largest manufacturing plants and state-of-the-art subsea service facilities in Brazil,” Hjelmeland continues.

GA Drilling will work with Petrobras’ R&D center to roll out an autonomous drilling system. Photo via Getty Images

Petrobras teams up with Houston co. to improve efficiency in drilling

offshore optimization

Slovakian geothermal drilling technology company GA Drilling, whose U.S. headquarters is in Houston, has teamed up with Brazilian energy giant Petrobras to reduce well construction costs and well-drilling risks.

Under the new partnership, GA Drilling will work with Petrobras’ R&D center to roll out an autonomous drilling system that enables drilling at offshore wells from a light vessel instead of a costlier semi-submarine or drill ship.

“Taken together, the benefits of our drilling technologies equal better efficiency, leading to lower costs, [a] smaller operational footprint, and ultimately lower risk overall,” Igor Kočiš, co-founder and CEO of GA Drilling, says in a news release.

GA Drilling says its drilling system improves drilling efficiency and enables replacement of conventional drill pipes with lower-risk tubes. Features of the system include drilling automation and control systems, and real-time communications.

In April 2024, GA Drilling announced it had closed on $15 million in funding. Investors included Houston-based oil and gas drilling contractor Nabors Industries, the newly established Underground Ventures geothermal investment fund, and Slovakian venture capital firm Neulogy Ventures.

A year earlier, GA Drilling conducted the first public demonstration of its Anchorbit drilling tool at a Houston test well owned by Nabors. The tool is designed to simplify and improve drilling into high-temperature hard rock formations.

The three award honorees for OTC 2024 have been named and will be honored on May 5. Photo via otcnet.org

Annual offshore conference in Houston names honorees for leadership, sustainable efforts

otc 2024

The 2024 Offshore Technology Conference has revealed the three Distinguished Achievement Award recipients that will be recognized at the conference next month.

OTC, a conference that has served the offshore energy community for over 50 years, will bring 276,000 square feet of exhibit space to NRG Park and welcome over 31,000 attendees for more than 350 sessions. The awards reception will kick off the week on May 5.

One of the awards recipients named is Kerry J. Campbell, who will accept the OTC Distinguished Achievement Award for Individuals. Campbell was selected based on his "work in developing modern deepwater site characterization practice and for teaching and mentoring generations of site characterization professionals," reads the news release.

He's previously co-chaired sessions at OTC and served on a subcommittee for the organization, in addition to co-writing seventeen OTC papers. He retired from Fugro in 2020 after helping integrate 3D marine seismic data for engineering applications.

Petrobras will accept the OTC Distinguished Achievement Award for Companies, Organizations, and Institutions at the May banquet. The company was selected "for the deployment of a wide set of new technologies for the successful revitalization of the Marlim Field and the entire deepwater Campos Basin, unlocking new paths for mature deepwater asset redevelopment, with significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions," per the release.

For about 50 years, the Campos Basin has been subjected to exploration and is known for various shallow water discoveries. In 1992, Petrobras was recognized for its deepwater development in Marlim, and over 30 years later, the company will be praised for its work redeveloping mature fields and the pioneering subsea, drilling, reservoir and decommissioning technologies.

The third and final award recipient is EnerGeo Alliance, which will receive the OTC Special Citation award for promoting efficiency and environmental sustainability within offshore seismic data collection.

"For more than 50 years, EnerGeo Alliance has been a stalwart in the quest for accessible, affordable energy around the globe, while also being a standard-bearer for safety and the environment," reads the release. "EneGeo Alliance has set the standard in the energy geoscience industry by establishing best practices and recommended guidance in key energy areas, including its Environmental Impact Assessment Handbook and Greenhouse Gas Emissions Guidance, for its members."

Virginia-based Leidos has extended its work with Houston-based Nauticus Robotics. Photo via LinkedIn

Engineering tech co. expands collaboration with Houston robotics startup in $2.1M contract extension

underwater moves

A major customer of Webster-based Nauticus Robotics, a maker of autonomous oceangoing robots, has bulked up its current contract.

Reston, Virginia-based Leidos has tacked on a $2.1 million extension to its existing contract with Nauticus. That brings Leidos’ total financial commitment from $14.5 million to $16.6 million.

In partnership with Leidos, Nauticus is developing next-generation underwater drones for business and military customers. These unmanned underwater vehicles are being designed to carry out tasks that are dangerous or impossible for human divers to do, such as mapping the ocean floor, studying sea creatures, and monitoring water pollution.

“This very important work combines great attributes from each company to deploy a truly novel subsea capability,” says Nicolaus Radford, founder and CEO of Nauticus.

Based on Nauticus’ Aquanaut product, these robots will feature the company’s toolKITT software, which supplies artificial intelligence capabilities to undersea vehicles.

“This work is the centerpiece of Nauticus’ excellent collaboration with Leidos,” says Radford, “and I look forward to continuing our mutual progress of advancing the state of the art in undersea vehicles.”

Founded in 2014 as Houston Mechatronics, Nauticus adopted its current branding in 2021. Last year, Nauticus became a publicly traded company through a merger with a “blank check” company called CleanTech Acquisition Corp.

During the first six months of 2023, Nauticus generated revenue of nearly $4 million, down from a little over $5.2 million in the same period last year. Its operating loss for the first half of 2023 was almost $12.7 million, up from slightly more than $5.2 million during the same time in 2022.

Nauticus attributes some of the revenue drop to delays in authorization of contracts with government agencies.

The company recently lined up a $15 million debt facility to bolster its operations.

“I’ve never been more optimistic about the future of Nauticus. We employ some of the best minds in the industry, and we are positioned with the right product at the right time to disrupt a $30 billion market,” Radford said earlier this month. “Demand from potential customers is high, but constructing our fleet is capital-intensive.”

More good news for Nauticus: It recently signed contracts with energy giants Shell and Petrobras. Financial terms weren’t disclosed.

The Shell contract involves a project in the Gulf of Mexico’s Princess oil and gas field that Nauticus says could lead to millions of dollars in additional contracts over the next few years. Shell operates the offshore field, which is around 40 miles southeast of New Orleans, and owns a nearly 50 percent stake in it.

Co-owners of the Princess project are Houston-based ConocoPhillips, Spring-based ExxonMobil, and London-based BP, whose North American headquarters is in Houston. In July, the Reuters news service reported that ConocoPhillips was eyeing a sale of its stake in the Princess field.

Under the contract with Petrobras, whose U.S. arm is based in Houston, Nauticus will dispatch its Aquanaut robot to support the Brazilian energy company’s offshore activities in South America. Nauticus says this deal “opens up a potential market opportunity” in Brazil exceeding $100 million a year.

Nauticus Robotics has secured a new customer, taking expanding its services to Brazil. Photo courtesy of Nauticus

Houston robotics company secures deal with Brazilian energy giant

sea change

Houston-based Nauticus Robotics, a developer of autonomous ocean robots, has landed a deal to supply its equipment to one of the world’s largest energy companies — a deal that eventually could blossom into $100 million worth of contracts.

Under the deal, Nauticus will dispatch its Aquanaut autonomous subsea robot to support offshore oil exploration activities carried out by Brazil’s Petrobras. Specifically, Aquanaut — propelled by artificial intelligence-enabled software — will supervise infield inspection services over a two-month span.

The deal with Brazil’s Petrobras represents Nauticus’ entry into the South American market and puts Nauticus in a position to score several Petrobras contracts that could collectively be valued at $100 million. Both companies are publicly traded.

Nicolaus Radford, founder and CEO of Nauticus, says Brazil offers a significant market opportunity for his company, as South America’s largest nation boasts one of the world’s most active offshore energy basins.

“A contract with [a] worldwide leading operator for Nauticus speaks to the state-of-the-art technologies of our autonomous robots as we further penetrate the global markets,” Radford says in a news release.

Petrobras is one of the world’s biggest offshore operators, managing 57 platforms, operating 10,000 miles of oil and gas pipelines, and producing the equivalent of 2.6 million barrels of oil per day. The company generated $124.47 billion in revenue last year.

Founded in 2014, Nauticus posted revenue of $11.4 million in 2022. The company went public last year through a $560 million merger with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC). Nauticus recently opened a new office in The Ion, in addition to their Webster office.

“I see Nauticus being the preeminent ocean robotics company. I want Nauticus to be an empire. It starts small but it grows — and it grows in many different ways, and we’re exploring all of those different ways to grow,” Radford told InnovationMap in May. “We’re leading a technology renaissance in the marine space — and that happens only a few times in an industry.”

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Federal judge strikes Trump order blocking wind energy development

wind win

In a win for clean energy and wind projects in Texas and throughout the U.S., a federal judge struck down President Donald Trump’s “Day One” executive order that blocked wind energy development on federal lands and waters, the Associated Press reports.

Judge Patti Saris of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts vacated Trump’s executive order from Jan. 20, declaring it unlawful and calling it “arbitrary and capricious.”

The challenge was led by a group of state attorneys general from 17 states and Washington, D.C., which was led by New York Attorney General Letitia James. The coalition pushed back against Trump's order , arguing that the administration didn’t have the authority to halt project permitting, and that efforts would critically impact state economies, the energy industry, public health and climate relief efforts.

White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers told the Associated Press that wind projects were given unfair treatment during the Biden Administration and cited that the rest of the energy industry suffered from regulations.

According to the American Clean Power Association, wind is the largest source of renewable energy in the U.S. It provides 10 percent of the electricity generated—and growing. Texas leads the nation in wind electricity generation, accounting for 28 percent of the U.S. total in 2024, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Several clean-energy initiatives have been disrupted by recent policy changes, impacting Houston projects.

The Biden era Inflation Reduction Act’s 10-year hydrogen incentive was shortened under Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, prompting ExxonMobil to pause its Baytown low-carbon hydrogen project. That project — and two others in the Houston region — also lost federal support as part of a broader $700 million cancellation tied to DOE cuts.

Meanwhile, Texas House Democrats have urged the administration to restore a $250 million Solar for All grant that would have helped low-income households install solar panels.

Texas launches cryptocurrency reserve with $5 million Bitcoin purchase

Digital Deals

Texas has launched its new cryptocurrency reserve with a $5 million purchase of Bitcoin as the state continues to embrace the volatile and controversial digital currency.

The Texas Comptroller’s Office confirmed the purchase was made last month as a “placeholder investment” while the office works to contract with a cryptocurrency bank to manage its portfolio.

The purchase is one of the first of its kind by a state government, made during a year where the price of Bitcoin has exploded amid the embrace of the digital currency by President Donald Trump’s administration and the rapid expansion of crypto mines in Texas.

“The Texas Legislature passed a bold mandate to create the nation’s first Strategic Bitcoin Reserve,” acting Comptroller Kelly Hancock wrote in a statement. “Our goal for implementation is simple: build a secure reserve that strengthens the state’s balance sheet. Texas is leading the way once again, and we’re proud to do it.”

The purchase represents half of the $10 million the Legislature appropriated for the strategic reserve during this year’s legislative session, but just a sliver of the state’s $338 billion budget.

However, the purchase is still significant, making Texas the first state to fund a strategic cryptocurrency reserve. Arizona and New Hampshire have also passed laws to create similar strategic funds but have not yet purchased cryptocurrency.

Wisconsin and Michigan made pension fund investments in cryptocurrency last year.

The Comptroller’s office purchased the Bitcoin the morning of Nov. 20 when the price of a single bitcoin was $91,336, according to the Comptroller’s office. As of Friday afternoon, Bitcoin was worth slightly less than the price Texas paid, trading for $89,406.

University of Houston energy economist Ed Hirs questioned the state’s investment, pointing to Bitcoin’s volatility. That makes it a bad investment of taxpayer dollars when compared to more common investments in the stock and bond markets, he said.

“The ordinary mix [in investing] is one that goes away from volatility,” Hirs said. “The goal is to not lose to the market. Once the public decides this really has no intrinsic value, then it will be over, and taxpayers will be left holding the bag.”

The price of Bitcoin is down significantly from an all-time high of $126,080 in early October.

Lee Bratcher, president of the Texas Blockchain Council, argued the state is making a good investment because the price of Bitcoin has trended upward ever since it first launched in early 2009.

“It’s only a 16-year-old asset, so the volatility, both in the up and down direction, will smooth out over time,” Bratcher said. “We still want it to retain some of those volatility characteristics because that’s how we could see those upward moves that will benefit the state’s finances in the future.”

Bratcher said the timing of the state’s investment was shrewd because he believes it is unlikely to be valued this low again.

The investment comes at a time that the crypto industry has found a home in Texas.

Rural counties have become magnets for crypto mines ever since China banned crypto mining in 2021 and Gov. Greg Abbott declared “Texas is open for crypto business” in a post on social media.

The state is home to at least 27 Bitcoin facilities, according to the Texas Blockchain Council, making it the world’s top crypto mining spot. The two largest crypto mining facilities in the world call Texas home.

The industry has also come under criticism as it expands.

Critics point to the industry’s significant energy usage, with crypto mines in the state consuming 2,717 megawatts of power in 2023, according to the comptroller’s office. That is enough electricity to power roughly 680,000 homes.

Crypto mines use large amounts of electricity to run computers that run constantly to produce cryptocurrencies, which are decentralized digital currencies used as alternatives to government-backed traditional currencies.

A 2023 study by energy research and consulting firm Wood Mackenzie commissioned by The New York Times found that Texans’ electric bills had risen nearly 5%, or $1.8 billion per year, due to the increase in demand on the state power grid created by crypto mines.

Residents living near crypto mines have also complained that the amount of job creation promised by the facilities has not materialized and the noise of their operation is a nuisance.

“Texas should be reinvesting Texan’s tax money in things that truly bolster the economy long term, living wage, access to quality healthcare, world class public schools,” said state Sen. Molly Cook, D-Houston, who voted against the creation of the strategic fund. “Instead it feels like they’re almost gambling our money on something that is known to be really volatile and has not shown to be a tide that raises all boats.”

State Sen. Charles Schwertner, R-Georgetown, who authored the bill that created the fund, said at the time it passed that it will allow Texas to “lead and compete in the digital economy.”

___

This story was originally published by The Texas Tribune and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.

Houston-based Fervo Energy closes $462M series E

fresh funding

Houston-based geothermal energy company Fervo Energy has closed an oversubscribed $462 million series E funding round, led by new investor B Capital.

“Fervo is setting the pace for the next era of clean, affordable, and reliable power in the U.S.,” Jeff Johnson, general partner at B Capital, said in a news release. “With surging demand from AI and electrification, the grid urgently needs scalable, always-on solutions, and we believe enhanced geothermal energy is uniquely positioned to deliver. We’re proud to support a team with the technical leadership, commercial traction, and leading execution capabilities to bring the world’s largest next-generation geothermal project online and make 24/7 carbon-free power a reality.”

The financing reflects “strong market confidence in Fervo’s opportunity to make geothermal energy a cornerstone of the 24/7 carbon-free power future,” according to the company. The round also included participation from Google, a longtime Fervo Partner, and other new and returning investors like Devon Energy, Mitsui & Co., Ltd., Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Centaurus Capital. Centaurus Capital also recently committed $75 million in preferred equity to support the construction of Cape Station Phase I, Fervo noted in the release.

The latest funding will support the continued buildout of Fervo’s Utah-based Cape Station development, which is slated to start delivering 100 MW of clean power to the grid beginning in 2026. Cape Station is expected to be the world's largest next-generation geothermal development, according to Fervo. The development of several other projects will also be included in the new round of funding.

“This funding sharpens our path from breakthrough technology to large-scale deployment at Cape Station and beyond,” Tim Latimer, CEO and co-founder of Fervo, added in the news release. “We’re building the clean, firm power fleet the next decade requires, and we’re doing it now.”

Fervo recently won Scaleup of the Year at the 2025 Houston Innovation Awards, and previously raised $205.6 million in capital to help finance the Cape Station earlier this year. The company fully contracted the project's capacity with the addition of a major power purchase agreement from Shell this spring. Fervo’s valuation has been estimated at $1.4 billion and includes investments and support from Bill Gates.

“This new investment makes one thing clear: the time for geothermal is now,” Latimer added in a LinkedIn post. “The world desperately needs new power sources, and with geothermal, that power is clean and reliable. We are ready to meet the moment, and thrilled to have so many great partners on board.”

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