Numerous Houston companies have leaned into ambitious clean energy projects, and a new collaboration between Houston-based Baker Hughes Co. (NYSE: BKR) and Pennsylvania-based Air Products & Chemicals (NYSE: APD) aims to further global development of hydrogen as a zero-carbon fuel source.
Baker Hughes, one of the Houston region's largest oil field and energy services companies, and Air Products, which also has a large presence around Houston, are teaming up to advance the development of hydrogen compression to lower production costs and speed adoption of hydrogen as a clean fuel source, the firms announced June 9. Financial terms of the collaboration were not disclosed.
Baker Hughes will supply advanced hydrogen compression and gas turbine technology for Air Products' net-zero hydrogen energy complex located in Edmonton, Canada. Additionally, Baker Hughes will supply advanced compression technology for a planned green hydrogen facility for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's NEOM smart-city project. The $5 billion green hydrogen production facility, announced in July 2020, will be jointly owned by Air Products, ACWA Power and NEOM.
"Our transformative hydrogen compression and gas turbine technology lowers the overall production cost for new energy frontiers such as hydrogen and is a strategic enabler for key projects," said Rod Christie, executive vice president of turbomachinery and process solutions for Baker Hughes. "Our proven technology is helping to accelerate the hydrogen economy, and our collaboration with Air Products will be critical for a net-zero future."
Air Products also plans to build a new hydrogen and carbon monoxide plant in the Houston region, according to tax incentive applications. The plant, which would convert natural gas and oxygen into carbon monoxide, would be located in La Porte and could produce up to 18 million cubic feet of hydrogen and 33 million cubic feet of carbon monoxide each day.
Meanwhile, Baker Hughes announced plans in April to back an investment fund focused on clean hydrogen infrastructure projects. Baker Hughes, New York-based Plug Power (Nasdaq: PLUG) and Georgia-based Chart Industries Inc. (NYSE: GTLS) were the first investors in the FiveT Hydrogen Fund, which aims to raise around $1.18 billion.
Industry experts maintain that developments in clean hydrogen as a fuel source would make a huge difference in reaching net-zero emissions goals in the future.
Other Houston companies in the energy value chain are also leaning into projects aimed at lowering carbon emissions. A joint venture subsidiary under Houston-based Occidental Petroleum Corp. (NYSE: OXY) is developing what will be the largest direct air capture facility in the world once completed. The joint venture, called 1PointFive Inc., plans to construct a direct air capture facility in the Permian Basin capable of extracting up to 1 million metric tons of atmospheric carbon dioxide annually.
