Halliburton Hydrogen Initiatives for 2025: Key Projects, Strategies and Partnerships

Halliburton’s Hydrogen Pivot: From Incubation to Infrastructure Integration

From Incubation to Integration: Halliburton’s Hydrogen Strategy Matures

An analysis of Halliburton’s activities from 2021 to the present reveals a significant strategic evolution in its approach to the hydrogen economy. Between 2021 and 2024, the company’s focus was on foundational development and incubation. This period was characterized by targeted pilots and fostering nascent technologies through its Halliburton Labs accelerator. A key validation point was the partnership with EnergyStock in the Netherlands, which successfully demonstrated the use of Halliburton’s advanced completion tools for pure hydrogen storage in an underground salt cavern. Simultaneously, Halliburton Labs became a crucible for innovation, supporting early-stage companies like Ayrton Energy (developing Liquid Organic Hydrogen Carrier technology), Cache Energy (high-density storage), and FuelX (alane solid hydrogen storage). This initial phase was about testing concepts and nurturing a portfolio of potential future solutions.

Beginning in 2025, a clear inflection point emerged. Halliburton shifted from incubating specific hydrogen technologies to integrating its core, scaled oil and gas competencies into a comprehensive offering for the hydrogen value chain. The company began marketing “integrated hydrogen storage and transport solutions,” leveraging its century of subsurface experience. While major 2025 partnerships with Chevron, Sekal AS, and the Northern Endurance Partnership (NEP) are centered on intelligent fracturing, automated drilling, and Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS), they represent the deployment of critical enabling technologies for the hydrogen economy. Automated drilling can lower the cost of creating storage caverns, and large-scale CCS is essential for producing blue hydrogen. This pivot reveals a strategy to de-risk its entry into hydrogen by repurposing proven, commercially-scaled technologies, positioning itself as the premier infrastructure and services provider for an emerging market. The new opportunity lies in dominating the subsurface engineering aspect of the hydrogen economy, while the primary threat is ensuring the market perceives this as a genuine energy transition strategy rather than a rebranding of existing fossil fuel services.

Investment Landscape: Seeding Future Hydrogen Carriers

Halliburton’s financial strategy in the hydrogen space has been channeled primarily through its clean energy accelerator, Halliburton Labs. Rather than large, direct corporate investments into hydrogen projects, the company has participated in funding rounds for promising startups that are developing key enabling technologies. This approach allows Halliburton to foster innovation and maintain a stake in next-generation solutions without bearing the full development risk. The investments in companies like Ayrton Energy and OCOchem highlight a focus on solving the critical challenges of hydrogen and CO2 transport, which are essential for a functional, large-scale clean energy ecosystem.

Table: Halliburton’s Hydrogen-Related Investments (via Halliburton Labs)

Strategic Alliances: Building the Hydrogen Ecosystem

Halliburton’s partnership strategy has visibly transitioned from focused hydrogen pilots to broad-based collaborations that build the foundational capabilities for a future hydrogen economy. The 2021-2024 period was marked by direct technology-proving partnerships, most notably the EnergyStock project. The recent 2025 partnerships, while not explicitly for hydrogen projects, are strategically vital. Alliances with NEP for CCS, Sekal for drilling automation, and Chevron for intelligent completions create and refine the exact tools and infrastructure—carbon sequestration and advanced well construction—that are prerequisites for large-scale blue hydrogen production and underground storage. This demonstrates a shift from proving a single concept to building a comprehensive, multi-faceted service offering.

Table: Halliburton’s Key Hydrogen and Enabling Technology Partnerships

Mapping the Footprint: From European Pilots to Global Capability Building

Halliburton’s geographic focus for its hydrogen-related activities has expanded significantly, shifting from concentrated R&D and pilot sites to a global presence in key energy hubs. Between 2021 and 2024, activity was centered in Europe and the US. The Netherlands hosted the pivotal EnergyStock hydrogen storage pilot, establishing a key technical proof point on the continent. Concurrently, the US, particularly Texas (home of Halliburton Labs) and Louisiana (site of the LSU/ExxonMobil CO2 research well), served as the hub for technology incubation and foundational CCUS research.

From 2025 onward, the geographic map of Halliburton’s relevant activities has broadened dramatically. While the US remains a key theater with the Chevron partnership in Colorado, the strategic focus has expanded to major offshore energy basins. The company secured work in the UK North Sea through the NEP CCS contract and additional well support contracts with Repsol and ConocoPhillips. It also deployed its automated drilling technology with Sekal for Equinor offshore Norway and engaged in a CCS project with InCapture in Australia. This geographic expansion into the UK, Norway, and Australia is not random; these are regions with ambitious decarbonization targets and established offshore infrastructure ripe for repurposing. This tells us that Halliburton is strategically positioning its advanced, scaled service capabilities in the very locations where the demand for hydrogen and CCS infrastructure is expected to materialize first, moving beyond single pilots to establishing a global operational footprint.

From Lab to Cavern: Tracking the Commercialization of Halliburton’s Hydrogen Technologies

The maturation of Halliburton’s hydrogen-related technology portfolio shows a clear progression from demonstration to the strategic application of commercially scaled systems.

In the 2021–2024 period, the portfolio was bifurcated. On one hand, the company achieved a critical pilot-scale success with its advanced completion tools (SP TRSV, X-Trieve HC packer) in the EnergyStock hydrogen storage project. This moved its subsurface hardware from a theoretical application to a demonstrated, real-world solution for hydrogen containment. On the other hand, a significant portion of its hydrogen focus remained in the incubation stage within Halliburton Labs, supporting pre-commercial technologies like Ayrton Energy’s LOHC system and Cache Energy’s high-density storage medium.

The period from 2025 to today marks a strategic shift toward leveraging fully commercial and scaling technologies. Instead of waiting for its incubated startups to mature, Halliburton is actively deploying its most advanced, proven oil and gas technologies and marketing them for hydrogen and clean energy applications. The automated on-bottom drilling system (with Sekal) and the intelligent hydraulic fracturing process (with Chevron) are not demos; they are commercial services being deployed at scale today. The same is true for the downhole monitoring services being provided to the NEP CCS project. This trend signifies that Halliburton’s immediate go-to-market strategy for hydrogen is not reliant on nascent technology but on the adaptation of its existing, mature, and highly sophisticated technology stack. This approach reduces technical risk and shortens the time to market for its hydrogen infrastructure services.

Table: SWOT Analysis of Halliburton’s Hydrogen Strategy Evolution

The Road Ahead: From Enabler to Integrator in the Hydrogen Economy

The most recent data from 2025 signals that Halliburton is executing a “picks and shovels” strategy for the hydrogen gold rush. By focusing on deploying its best-in-class, commercially-proven technologies for drilling, completions, and subsurface monitoring, the company is positioning itself as an indispensable enabler of the underlying infrastructure. This approach is gaining significant traction, particularly through its involvement in massive CCS projects like the NEP, which serve as a direct and necessary precursor to a viable blue hydrogen market.

Looking ahead, the key signal to watch for is the first major contract where Halliburton’s scaled technologies—such as the automated drilling system developed with Sekal or the intelligent completions technology from the Chevron partnership—are explicitly deployed for a commercial-scale hydrogen storage project. Such a contract would serve as the ultimate validation of its pivot, bridging the gap between its O&G prowess and its clean energy ambitions. While its incubated technologies like LOHC continue on a longer development timeline, Halliburton’s immediate future in hydrogen appears to be as a master integrator, leveraging a century of subsurface expertise to build the foundational infrastructure for the energy transition. Market actors should monitor the company’s ability to convert its CCS and advanced drilling leadership into direct hydrogen project wins.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Halliburton’s core strategy for entering the hydrogen market?
Halliburton is executing a two-phase strategy. From 2021-2024, it focused on incubating new technologies and running pilot tests, like the EnergyStock storage project. Since 2025, it has pivoted to integrating its core, scaled oil and gas expertise (in drilling, completions, and CCS) to offer comprehensive infrastructure and services for the hydrogen value chain, positioning itself as a key infrastructure provider.

How is Halliburton investing in hydrogen? Is it buying hydrogen companies?
Halliburton’s financial strategy avoids large, direct investments. Instead, it invests through its accelerator, Halliburton Labs, by participating in seed funding rounds for promising startups like Ayrton Energy (for hydrogen transport) and OCOchem. This approach allows it to foster innovation in critical areas without bearing the full development risk.

Halliburton’s recent partnerships are for CCS and drilling, not hydrogen. How do these support its hydrogen goals?
These partnerships are strategically vital as they build the foundational infrastructure for a hydrogen economy. Large-scale Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) projects are a prerequisite for producing ‘blue hydrogen.’ Similarly, technologies like automated drilling and intelligent fracturing lower the cost and improve the integrity of creating the underground caverns needed for large-scale hydrogen storage.

What is the biggest risk facing Halliburton’s hydrogen strategy?
According to the analysis, the primary risk is market perception. Since many of its major 2025 contracts are for traditional well services or CCS, Halliburton faces the threat that customers and investors might view its strategy as a simple rebranding of its fossil fuel business rather than a genuine commitment to the energy transition.

What was the significance of the EnergyStock project in the Netherlands?
The EnergyStock project was a key validation point for Halliburton. It successfully demonstrated that the company’s existing advanced completion technology could be used to safely store pure hydrogen in an underground salt cavern. This proved the technical viability of its core hardware for hydrogen applications, moving it from a theoretical concept to a demonstrated, real-world solution.

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