Honeywell, Weatherford partner on emissions management for energy industry

team work

Weatherford and Honeywell announced the partnership that will combine Honeywell's emissions management suite with Weatherford's technology. Photo via Getty Images

Two major corporations have teamed up to provide a comprehensive emissions management solution that should have an impact on the energy transition.

Houston-based Weatherford and North Carolina-based Honeywell, which has a significant presence in Houston, announced the partnership that will combine Honeywell's emissions management suite with Weatherford's Cygnet SCADA platform.

Customers will be able to use the new tool "to monitor, report, and take measures to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions, flammable hydrocarbons, and other potentially dangerous and toxic gases," per a news release.

"Through this collaboration with Honeywell, we have built an alliance that further bridges the gap between technological excellence and environmental stewardship," Girish Saligram, president and CEO of Weatherford, says in the release. "Together, our transformative offering provides cutting-edge tools and actionable data to help customers reach their sustainability goals with confidence and efficiency."

The combined platform will provide upstream oil and gas operators a way to access emissions data in near real-time to better make business decisions on potential issues and meeting regulatory requirements. Additionally, the software should equip users with ways to improve efforts to reach environmental goals.

Honeywell's partnership with Weatherford highlights the importance of empowering organizations with solutions that can help quantify and reduce emissions within the energy industry," Pramesh Maheshwari, president of Honeywell Process Solutions, adds. "By integrating our emissions management solution with Weatherford's well lifecycle technology, our customers can now accurately set targets and monitor near real-time progress on their path to net-zero."

Last fall, a Houston-based unit of industrial conglomerate Honeywell unveiled a gas meter capable of measuring both hydrogen and natural gas. Honeywell’s European launch follows a Dutch test of the EI5 smart gas meter, which the company touts as the world’s first commercially available hydrogen-ready gas meter.

A Houston-based SPAC run by the former Weatherford CEO has agreed to merge with a company that's sustainably producing a material required by several energy transition technologies. Photo via Getty Images

Former Houston energy services CEO's SPAC announces $700M merger with energy transition materials company

M&A moves

Houston-based Pyrophyte Acquisition Corp., a “blank check” SPAC, plans to merge with Canadian quartz silica producer Sio Silica Corp. in a deal valued at more than $700 million.

The companies say the deal carries an enterprise value of $708 million and an equity value of $758 million.

Sio is sitting on a potential supply of 15.2 billion metric tons of high-purity quartz silica, a material needed to produce energy transition technologies such as photovoltaics, solar panels, semiconductors, batteries, and other electronics. Proceeds from the merger will be earmarked for construction of the first phase of Sio’s silica extraction and processing facility near Winnipeg, Manitoba.

“We searched long and hard for the right candidate to combine with Pyrophyte and its energy transition mission. Sio fulfilled all our criteria,” Bernard Duroc-Danner, chairman of Pyrophyte, says in a news release. “We are proud to join Sio on its journey to supply what is becoming in many countries around the world one of the most important strategic minerals for the world’s energy transition.”

In 2021, Pyrophyte’s stock began trading on the New York Stock Exchange in an IPO valued at $201.25 million. Since then, it’s solely been a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) without any business operations. Typically, a SPAC aims to acquire or merge with a private company that boasts a promising business model.

Duroc-Danner is former chairman, president, and CEO of Houston-based oilfield equipment and services company Weatherford International Ltd.

Calgary, Alberta-based Sio says high-purity quartz silica will represent a $30 billion global market opportunity by 2030. Among the products that rely on silica are semiconductors, solar panels, photovoltaic (solar) cells, optical fibers, and batteries.

Once the deal closes, the combined company will operate as Sio Silica Inc., whose stock will be traded on the New York Stock Exchange. Sio’s CEO, Feisal Somji, will lead the newly formed company.

The deal has been approved by Sio’s and Pyrophyte’s boards but still must be endorsed by the companies’ shareholders.

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Houston Energy and Climate Startup Week announces 2025 dates, key events

comeback tour

Six local organizations focused on the energy transition have teamed up to bring back Houston Energy and Climate Startup Week.

The second annual event will take place Sept. 15-19, according to an announcement. The Ion District will host many of the week's events.

Houston Energy and Climate Startup Week was founded in 2024 by Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship, Halliburton Labs, Greentown Labs, Houston Energy Transition Initiative (HETI), Digital Wildcatters and Activate.

“Houston Energy and Climate Startup Week was created to answer a fundamental question: Can we achieve more by working together than we can alone?” Jane Stricker, senior vice president at the Greater Houston Partnership and executive director of HETI, said in the release.

So far, events for the 2025 Houston Energy and Climate Startup Week include an introduction to climatetech accelerator Activate's latest cohort, the Rice Alliance Energy Tech Venture Forum, a showcase from Greentown Labs' ACCEL cohort, and Halliburton Labs Pitch Day.

Houston organizations New Climate Ventures and Digital Wildcatters, along with Global Corporate Venturing, are slated to offer programming again in 2025. And new partners, Avatar Innovations and Decarbonization Partners, are slated to introduce events. Find a full schedule here.

Other organizations can begin entering calendar submissions starting in May, according to the release.

Last year, Houston Energy and Climate Startup Week welcomed more than 2,000 attendees, investors and industry leaders to more than 30 events. It featured more than 100 speakers and showcased more than 125 startups.

"In 2024, we set out to build something with lasting impact—rooted in the ingenuity of Houston’s technologists and founders. Thanks to a collaborative effort across industry, academia, and startups, we’ve only just begun to showcase Houston’s strengths and invite others to be part of this movement," Stricker added in the release. "We can’t wait to see the city rise to the occasion again in 2025.”

Dow aims to power Texas manufacturing complex with next-gen nuclear reactors

Clean Energy

Dow, a major producer of chemicals and plastics, wants to use next-generation nuclear reactors for clean power and steam at a Texas manufacturing complex instead of natural gas.

Dow's subsidiary, Long Mott Energy, applied Monday to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission for a construction permit. It said the project with X-energy, an advanced nuclear reactor and fuel company, would nearly eliminate the emissions associated with power and steam generation at its plant in Seadrift, Texas, avoiding roughly 500,000 metric tons of planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions annually.

If built and operated as planned, it would be the first U.S. commercial advanced nuclear power plant for an industrial site, according to the NRC.

For many, nuclear power is emerging as an answer to meet a soaring demand for electricity nationwide, driven by the expansion of data centers and artificial intelligence, manufacturing and electrification, and to stave off the worst effects of a warming planet. However, there are safety and security concerns, the Union of Concerned Scientists cautions. The question of how to store hazardous nuclear waste in the U.S. is unresolved, too.

Dow wants four of X-energy's advanced small modular reactors, the Xe-100. Combined, those could supply up to 320 megawatts of electricity or 800 megawatts of thermal power. X-energy CEO J. Clay Sell said the project would demonstrate how new nuclear technology can meet the massive growth in electricity demand.

The Seadrift manufacturing complex, at about 4,700 acres, has eight production plants owned by Dow and one owned by Braskem. There, Dow makes plastics for a variety of uses including food and beverage packaging and wire and cable insulation, as well as glycols for antifreeze, polyester fabrics and bottles, and oxide derivatives for health and beauty products.

Edward Stones, the business vice president of energy and climate at Dow, said submitting the permit application is an important next step in expanding access to safe, clean, reliable, cost-competitive nuclear energy in the United States. The project is supported by the Department of Energy’s Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program.

The NRC expects the review to take three years or less. If a permit is issued, construction could begin at the end of this decade, so the reactors would be ready early in the 2030s, as the natural gas-fired equipment is retired.

A total of four applicants have asked the NRC for construction permits for advanced nuclear reactors. The NRC issued a permit to Abilene Christian University for a research reactor and to Kairos Power for one reactor and two reactor test versions of that company's design. It's reviewing an application by Bill Gates and his energy company, TerraPower, to build an advanced reactor in Wyoming.

X-energy is also collaborating with Amazon to bring more than 5 gigawatts of new nuclear power projects online across the United States by 2039, beginning in Washington state. Amazon and other tech giants have committed to using renewable energy to meet the surging demand from data centers and artificial intelligence and address climate change.

Houston geothermal company closes $13M in investments to fuel growth

fresh funding

XGS Energy, a California-headquartered geothermal power company with a major presence in Houston, has closed $13 million in new financing that included new investors Aligned Climate Capital, ClearSky, ClimateIC and WovenEarth Ventures, in addition to inside investors.

The company plans to “aggressively expand” its team in Houston this year, according to a news release.

“We are facing global energy supply challenges of unprecedented scale and urgency,” Kevin Kimsa, Managing Partner at ClimateIC, said in the release. “The XGS team is uniquely primed to meet the moment, bringing together innovative technology and leading engineering talent with the deep experience in infrastructure development and financing critical to deploying large-scale energy systems at speed.”

As part of the financing deal, Mano Nazar, ClearSky Senior Advisor and the former Chief Nuclear Officer of NextEra Energy, will join the XGS Energy Board of Directors.

“XGS’s advanced geothermal technology is uniquely positioned to deliver abundant energy to the grid faster than any other baseload energy technology at a time of unprecedented demand for energy resources,” Nazar said in a news release. “We are excited to partner with XGS to deliver on their mission of sustainable, reliable, and scalable geothermal energy.”

XGS is known for its next-gen closed-loop geothermal well architecture. The company saw massive growth in the Houston market last year and recently completed a 100-meter field demonstration in central Texas. The new funding supports the XGS’s multi-gigawatt project pipeline.

The recent financing also builds on an oversubscribed Series A round led by Constellation Technology Ventures, VoLo Earth Ventures, and Valo Ventures that closed last year.

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