SLB and NVIDIA expand partnership to scale AI across energy sector

AI partnership

SLB and NVIDIA plan to build an "AI factory for energy" to help the industry transform massive amounts of data into actionable information. Photo courtesy SLB

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.”

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Houston-based energy technology company SLB has rolled out two new tools for the energy transition. Photo via slb.com

Houston-based corporation introduces two new energy transition tools

hi, tech

Houston-based energy technology company SLB has rolled out two new tools — one for evaluating sites for carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) and the other for measuring methane levels.

SLB (Schlumberger) says the screening and ranking technology can help developers pinpoint ideal CCUS locations during the site selection process. The company says this tool helps simplify “a complex and multifaceted process.”

“CCUS is one of the most immediate opportunities to reduce emissions, but it must scale up by 100 to 200 times in less than three decades to have the expected impact on global net zero ambitions,” says Frederik Majkut, senior vice president of carbon solutions at SLB. “Ensuring that a storage site is both safer and economical is crucial for the speed, scale, and investment needed to meaningfully drive CCUS growth for a low-carbon energy ecosystem.”

The tool crunches data to identify the potential capabilities, economic viability, and risks of developing a CCUS project. The technology already has been used in Trinidad and Tobago, a two-island Caribbean country, to screen and rank possible CCUS sites.

“Using industry-leading and proprietary technologies and workflows, we provide a consistent and reliable method for screening and ranking potential storage sites, including an assessment of the risk, to ensure economic feasibility and long-term reliability,” SLB says on its website.

SLB unveiled the technology at the ADIPEC energy conference in the United Arab Emirates.

Prospective sites for CCUS projects include oil reservoirs, gas reservoirs, salt caves, and shale formations. More than 500 CCUS projects are in various stages of development around the world, according to the International Energy Agency.

Texas is poised to become a major player in the CCUS movement, with Houston set to serve as a hub for CCUS activity. Next March, Houston is hosting a major CCUS conference at the George R. Brown Convention Center. Sponsors of the event are the Society of Petroleum Engineers, American Association of Petroleum Geologists, and Society of Exploration Geophysicists.

The other tool released by SLB measures methane levels. Specifically, it’s a self-installed methane monitoring system that relies on sensors to detect, locate and assess emissions across oil and gas operations. Methane represents about half of the emissions from these operations.

“The technology automates continuous methane monitoring — eliminating the need for manual data collection during typical intermittent site visits, which only offers producers a small sample of their emissions,” says SLB.

The new joint venture, OneSubsea, is based in Oslo, Norway, and Houston. Photo courtesy

Houston company closes offshore JV deal to drive innovation, efficiency in subsea production

teaming up

A new joint venture with co-headquarters in Houston will explore opportunities in the market for subsea systems that tap into offshore energy reserves.

The business, called OneSubsea, is a joint venture of Houston-based energy technology company SLB (Schlumberger), Norwegian energy engineering company Aker Solutions, and Luxembourg-based energy engineering company Subsea7. SLB holds a 70 percent stake in OneSubsea, with Aker’s share at 20 percent and Subsea7’s share at 10 percent.

The financial foundation of the joint venture is a combination of $700.5 million in stock, cash, and a promissory note. In addition, SLB and Aker folded their subsea businesses into the joint venture, which was announced in 2022.

“As demand grows for cost-effective, efficient, and sustainable energy,” the joint venture says, “a large portion of the corresponding supply increase will come from offshore developments resulting in strong deepwater activity … and the need for innovative subsea solutions.”

OneSubsea is based in Oslo, Norway, and Houston.

As Aker explains, a subsea system “provides a way to produce hydrocarbons from areas not economically or easily developed by the use of an offshore platform.” The system’s ocean-floor components are connected to subsea pipelines, riser systems, and other equipment.

Hydrocarbons are the key components of oil and natural gas.

“The offshore market is demonstrating a sustained resurgence as operators across the world look to accelerate development cycle times and increase the productivity of their offshore assets,” says Olivier Le Peuch, CEO of SLB.

Mads Hjelmeland is the newly appointed CEO of OneSubsea, which employs about 11,000 people around the world.

“OneSubsea’s extensive technology portfolio and engineering expertise enable us to address future market trends and needs at a unique scale. In doing so, we aim to fulfil our purpose of expanding the frontiers of subsea to drive a sustainable energy future,” says Hjelmeland, who is based in Houston.

Hjelmeland’s tenure with the previous iteration of OneSubsea began in 2014. That’s a year after SLB and Cameron, a supplier of equipment, systems and services for the oil and gas industry, formed a joint venture known as OneSubsea to serve the subsea oil and gas market. SLB owned a 40 percent stake in OneSubsea, and Cameron owned a 60 percent stake.

To establish OneSubsea, Cameron contributed its subsea business, and SLB pitched in a $600 million payment to Cameron along with several business units.

In 2016, SLB acquired Cameron in a cash-and-stock deal initially valued at $14.8 billion. OneSubsea then became a subsidiary of SLB, and that subsidiary is now part of the newly reconfigured OneSubsea.

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Houston startup nets new funding to accelerate methane leak detection

fresh funding

Houston climatech startup Aquanta Vision has secured pre-seed funding to accelerate the commercialization of its methane leak detection software.

EIC Rose Rock participated in the round, joining investors like Marathon Petroleum Corporation, Chevron Technology Ventures, Ecosphere Ventures, and Odyssey Energy Advisors. The investment follows successful field trials for Aquanta Vision’s optical gas imaging (OGI) detection software, according to the company.

“This investment highlights our shared excitement as our patented novel technology improves detection levels for OGI camera operators,” Babur Ozden, Aquanta Vision’s CEO and founder, said in a news release. “The funding from EIC Rose Rock enables us to strategically accelerate this impact.”

Aquanta Vision’s OGI technology features an automated detection layer through an add-on app that improves methane detectability without requiring new hardware. It installs in minutes, runs locally and provides real-time, in-flight plume visualization for inspections with drone-mounted and handheld cameras.

“We are excited to partner with Aquanta Vision to scale and deploy this world-class technology that enables the energy industry to continue to deliver the secure, reliable and affordable energy that drives the American economy,” David Clouse, managing director of the EIC Rose Rock fund, added in the news release.

The company has partnered with Teledyne Flir and Sierra Olympia, makers of one of the world’s largest deployed fleet of handheld and drone-mounted optical gas imaging cameras used in industrial inspections. AquantaVision is now working with Teledyne Flir’s product team, as well as Sierra Olympia and its OEM partners.

Aquanta Vision has estimated that methane leaks cost the U.S. energy industry billions of dollars each year, with 60 percent of leaks going undetected, and methane leaks accounting for around 10 percent of natural gas's contribution to climate change, according to MIT’s climate portal.

Houston trio lands on Time’s list of 10 most influential energy companies

making an impact

Three companies with headquarters in Houston made Time magazine’s new list of the 10 most influential energy companies.

The unranked list includes:

Houston-based oil and gas giant Chevron
Houston-based Fervo Energy, a geothermal power provider that just went public in a $1.9 billion IPO
Saudi Aramco, the world’s largest oil company, whose U.S. headquarters is in Houston

In naming Chevron to the list, Time cites the company’s standing as the only major American oil company operating in Venezuela. Time says Chevron wields “extraordinary power” over Venezuela’s massive oil reserves.

Despite pressure from the White House on U.S. oil and gas producers to ramp up investments in Venezuela, “Chevron has pumped the brakes, pledging to boost output gradually and not chase price fluctuations,” Time says.

“Chevron has been in Venezuela for over a century,” CEO Mike Wirth told shareholders in January. “We remain committed to leveraging our deep expertise and long-standing partnerships for the benefit of our shareholders and the people of Venezuela.”

Time points out that Fervo sits “at the front of the pack” in generation of geothermal energy. The Houston-based company uses fracking techniques borrowed from the oil and gas industry to create underground hot-rock reservoirs that heat water to generate electricity.

Fervo’s Cape Station in Utah is scheduled to start delivering power to the grid this year. At full capacity of 500 megawatts, it will be the first large-scale commercial geothermal plant in the U.S. Time says another site in Utah, Project Blanford, is Fervo’s hottest well yet, highlighting the potential for harnessing geothermal heat for at-scale clean energy.

“It’s hard to find something that can [deliver] reliable 24/7 energy, that’s carbon-free, and can be constructed in a timely manner,” Fervo CEO Tim Latimer said. “It’s energy without a lot of the compromises.”

Government-owned Saudi Aramco, which last year earned $104.7 billion in profit, not only is a dominant player in the Mideast oil and gas sector, but Time says it holds “global clout in politics and business” that reaches far beyond oilfields. For example, the company finances big projects spearheaded by Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman, who chairs Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund. These include initiatives in global sports, tourism, and AI.

Baker Hughes teams up with Oklahoma co. to advance geothermal development

geothermal partnership

In recent months, Houston-based energy corporation Baker Hughes has launched multiple partnerships to expand geothermal energy extraction across the United States. The latest, a deal with Oklahoma-based Helmerich & Payne Inc. (H&P), was announced Wednesday.

As part of the deal, H&P will provide a geothermal-capable land drilling rig, while Baker Hughes will contribute technology and expertise. The rig is expected to be deployed later this year, according to a news release.

“Geothermal energy plays a critical role in meeting growing power demand by providing clean, reliable baseload generation,” Amerino Gatti, executive vice president of oilfield services & equipment for Baker Hughes, said in the release. “This collaboration reflects a deliberate step to move its development in the U.S. from concept to reality. By working together, Baker Hughes and Helmerich & Payne are helping customers advance these critical energy projects with greater confidence and deliver reliable, sustainable power.”

Investment in the geothermal energy sector is currently exploding in the U.S., having grown by at least 1,000 percent just in the last seven years, according to a recent report by Rocky Mountain Institute.

On one hand, only about 1 percent of the American energy grid currently uses geothermal, but on the other, the U.S. holds roughly 25 percent of the world’s geothermal capacity. Harnessing that power becomes even more attractive as conflicts in Russia and Iran continue to hamstring energy markets from those countries and revitalize interest in renewable energy.

Baker Hughes has been at the forefront of the geothermal boom. This new deal with H&P combines H&P’s drilling platform technology with Baker Hughes’s subsurface and energy extraction support technologies.

“This agreement underscores Helmerich & Payne’s commitment to supporting emerging energy opportunities through our drilling technologies and operational expertise,” H&P President and CEO Trey Adams added in the release. “We are pleased to collaborate with Baker Hughes to support the advancement of geothermal development in the United States.”

The deal with H&P is just one of several recent ones Baker Hughes has closed. In March, they announced support for XGS’s geothermal extraction projects in New Mexico, which are being used to meet the increasing demands of data centers in the state. Last May, Fervo Energy selected Baker Hughes to supply equipment for its flagship geothermal project in Utah.

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