Energy technology giants such as SLB and Baker Hughes are known for oilfield services, but efforts to help lower the world’s global emissions are not only gaining momentum, but also bringing in revenue.

Baker Hughes saw its new energy orders jump 45% year-over-year to about $750 million, the company said Jan. 24. Last week, SLB reported its transition technologies portfolio generated more than $1 billion of revenue in 2023.

Propelled by global and U.S. policies supporting the drive to lower greenhouse gas emissions, service companies are using their skillsets to capture a piece of what is considered a multibillion-dollar opportunity as its customers look to reduce emissions and enhance efficiency.

Speaking during an earnings call Jan. 24, Baker Hughes CEO Lorenzo Simonelli said the company is pursuing an “all-of-the-above strategy,” where its technologies and capabilities will play a key decarbonization role irrespective of fuel source.

“Our total addressable market … for new energy in 2030 is between $60-$70 billion across the five major markets that we serve,” Simonelli said. “We believe we can book $6-$7 billion of new energy orders by 2030. So, again, it’s something that we see as a growing area of the business.”

Baker Hughes’ targeted energy markets include carbon capture and storage, clean power, emissions management, geothermal and hydrogen.

The oil and gas sector’s deep understanding of complex subsurface rock and interactions with fluids on the oil and gas side serves as a key lever for helping to scale lower-carbon technologies and emission-reduction efforts.

Synergies have been found in CCS and geothermal along with solar, wind and other renewable energies. Similar to fossil fuels production, the expertise is enabling energy companies to successfully tackle projects and move closer to net-zero emissions goals.

“It is important to note the pace of the transition will not impact the ultimate size of the new energy market opportunity,” Simonelli said. “As an illustration, the IEA [International Energy Agency] has sized the annual clean energy investment at $4.5 trillion by the early 2030s and $4.7 trillion by 2050 under their net-zero scenario. In comparison, investment in fossil fuels totaled just under $1 trillion last year.”

Bringing in billons

SLB has set out to bring in $3 billion in new energy revenue by 2030, focusing on carbon capture and sequestration (CCS), geothermal, geoenergy, clean hydrogen and lithium.

“We believe that CCS is likely to be leading in terms of potential contributor to this ambition, followed by likely hydrogen starting to be in a position that will more impact the later part of the cycle in the next decade,” SLB CEO Olivier Le Peuch said on the company’s latest earnings call.

“We feel confident by the early investment we are making. We will feel confident about the development of the market, the support of the incentive across many regions and the early stage of success in CCS,” he said.

While SLB’s offshore, international and digital activity lifted the technology company’s revenues, executives reported Jan. 19, SLB’s new energy technologies also are being tapped by customers across the globe.

Fourth-quarter 2023 highlights included a collaboration with tech powerhouse Microsoft and the Northern Lights Joint Venture—comprised of Equinor, Shell and TotalEnergies—to optimize integrated cloud-based workflow for Norway’s first license for CO2 storage on the Norwegian Continental Shelf.

SLB’s storage site-evaluation solution, which the company said incorporates measurement, monitoring and verification planning, along with its reservoir management and subsurface technology expertise, are being put to use in the United Arab Emirates. Sharjah National Oil Corp. awarded SLB a CCS consultancy project.

In Japan, SLB’s technology was used during drilling, injection and monitoring of two injection wells and in an injection test for Inpex and Jogmec’s carbon capture, utilization and sequestration pilot test in a depleted oil and gas field.

“We are seeing very positive momentum in this space,” Le Peuch said of CCS, “And we are actively participating in more than $400 million of CCS tenders globally.”

CCS growth

The Global CCS Institute reported in November that the number of CCS facilities and CO2 capture capacity reached an all-time high in 2023.

The international think tank said it was tracking 41 commercial-scale projects in operation, as of July 2023, with a capture capacity of 49 million tonnes per annum (mtpa). The project pipeline capacity jumped to 361 mtpa of CO2, up 50% from 2022, according to its 2023 Global Status of CCS report.

At the time, the organization said 26 facilities were in the construction phase and 325 were in various stages of development.

With 73 new facilities entering the pipeline in 2023, the U.S. dominated CCS deployment—followed by the U.K., Canada and China.

Le Peuch pointed out that SLB has seen some success in North America with the adoption of technologies that includes CCS, giving the company “tailwind to outperform the market in 2023.” It is something he sees continuing.

SLB has been seeding investments in CCS for the last two or three years, looking to organically and inorganically develop its technology position, Le Peuch added.

Other service companies also see rising demand for CCS technologies on the horizon. Halliburton is among them.

“We also expect strong demand for our services in carbon capture and storage, where Halliburton’s leading capabilities to design, deliver and validate reliable barriers play a crucial role,” Halliburton CEO Jeff Miller said Jan. 23. “As our customers invest in carbon storage, our tailored cement designs and casing equipment technology enable them to address the unique challenges of long-term carbon sequestration.”

Lithium, geothermal

Other areas getting attention from service companies include geothermal and lithium.

Halliburton Labs, a subsidiary focused on collaborating with entrepreneurs and academics, last week closed on an investment in XtraLit.

The Israel-based company is focused on extracting lithium, a key ingredient in EV batteries, from oil and gas produced water.

Miller said Hal Labs made a small investment of about $100,000 into the company—‘’a tiny piece of their Series B” funding.

“Hal Labs continues to attract, in my view, more quality investable companies over time. We’re watching them enter Series As and, in some cases, Series B,” Miller said. “And so, it’s a journey.”

However, he cautioned that the investment was not corporate venture capital.

“We’re not investing in the companies that join Hal Labs other than small 3% to 5% stakes that we get from them, generally for the services that we provide to them as a member of Halliburton Labs,” he said.

In addition to CCS, SLB sees growth potential in geothermal energy as it moves beyond established basins, Le Peuch said.

“We have a lot of success in geothermal, and it represents a portfolio of technology that we have that we are developing, that we are promoting to our customers that have a distinct lower-emission carbon intensity compared to existing or legacy technology,” he said.

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