Gold H2 Uses Microbes to Convert Residual Oil in Depleted Well to Make Hydrogen: They Think They Can Soundly Beat Green Hydrogen Costs with Similar Emissions

     With a process they are calling bio-stimulation, U.S. company Gold H2 announced that the first phase of their pilot test at a legacy oilfield in California’s San Joaquin Basin, extracting a gas stream with 40% purity hydrogen from a depleted oil well. I first wrote about so-called gold hydrogen, also known in this case as bio-hydrogen, a few years ago. Finally, Gold H2 is doing pilot tests of its new technology. I have also heard of injecting oxygen to produce hydrogen, but that is a much different process.

“Gold H2 exists to do what no one ever has: produce clean hydrogen directly in the subsurface using biology, engineering, and existing energy infrastructure,” said Prabhdeep Singh Sekhon, CEO of Gold H2.

“This field trial is tangible proof. We’ve taken a climate liability and turned it into a scalable, low-cost hydrogen solution. It’s a new blueprint for decarbonisation, built for speed, affordability, and global impact.”

     According to the news release:

“Using the abandoned oil as a feedstock, the microbes produce a hydrogen-rich stream that can be extracted using existing well infrastructure. Once scaled, Gold H2 claims that the process will have a similar carbon intensity as green hydrogen but with costs below $1 per kg – comparable to the current price of natural gas.”  

     That kind of pricing, comparable to grey hydrogen production costs, at $1 to $1.50 per kg, would be amazing and economical for producers, if it could be achieved. If these trials are confirmed successful and tweaked for commercialization without significant technological constraints, they could be scaled up quickly due to the favorable economics. Bloomberg doesn’t think green hydrogen will hit parity with grey hydrogen made from natural gas for decades. The DOE has an unfeasible aspirational goal of green hydrogen via electrolysis production costs of $1/kg by 2031, but that seems highly unlikely. 2050 seems more likely. Gold H2 thinks they can do it for $0.80 kg and even down to $0.5. CEO Prabhdeep Sekhon thinks it should be given in $/MW to be more comparable.

     The company utilizes a proprietary blend of microbes and nutrients that consume the oil left in the reservoir and a product of the reaction is hydrogen gas, which can be produced through the well tubing. The hydrogen is processed and purified, which does require energy and produces some CO2, but the emissions are similar to those of green hydrogen derived from water electrolysis. The purification process involves separating H2 from other gases and is currently the major cost hurdle.

     The current Congressional spending bill being debated is threatening to reduce or eliminate the 45V tax credits for clean hydrogen, just implemented in the Inflation Reduction Act. If the credit is removed, the company is prepared to offer its proprietary technology to countries with favorable incentives, such as Canada, the Middle East, Europe, and Brazil.

     Project partners and investors, Chart Industries, Inc., and ChampionX, are optimistic about the technology scale-up:

“This breakthrough isn’t just a step forward, it’s a leap toward climate impact at scale,” said Jillian Evanko, CEO and President at Chart Industries, Inc., Gold H2 investor and advisor. “By turning depleted oil fields into clean hydrogen generators, Gold H2 has provided a roadmap to produce low-cost, low-carbon energy using the very infrastructure that powered the last century. This changes the game for how the world can decarbonize heavy industry, power grids, and economies, faster and more affordably than we ever thought possible.”

“ChampionX is proud to have supported this pioneering effort,” said Deric Bryant, COO and President of Chemical Technologies at ChampionX. “As a technology-focused company that supports sustainable energy production through the entire lifecycle of a well, we’re excited by the results of Gold H2’s field trial and what it could mean for the future of clean hydrogen production.”

     The process utilizes existing water injection infrastructure, which suggests it is going to be used mainly in depleted waterflooded fields to tap residual and immovable oil – that oil that stays in the reservoir even after secondary recovery, which is a vast amount of oil. Indeed, Sekhon confirms this. Wells in the San Joachin Basin are commonly steam-flooded for EOR. The reservoir itself becomes a bioreactor. Another co-benefit of the process is that depleted wells can be converted to microbial water injection/production for hydrogen recovery, rather than be plugged and abandoned, delaying decommissioning liabilities.

     The microbial breakdown of oil, known as biodegradation, is not new. It has been used, for instance, to break down oil that has been spilled to remove a portion of it from the environment. Their method leverages the metabolic pathways of certain microbes to produce hydrogen from oil in rock. The process begins by identifying the microbes that are naturally present in the reservoir so that they can understand the existing microbial community. The desired microbes are fed by specifically tailored nutrients. With the nutrients, the process can be turned up or down, on or off.

     At scale, they think they can produce well over 100 tons of H2 per day in a commercial field. Processing may take different forms and be done by different providers depending on local offtake needs and H2 purity specs. Hydrogen embrittlement is a concern in steel pipelines. Their pressures are lower than in the H2 pipeline, but they can build new pipelines or use coatings as needed. Off-takers could in the future be AI data centers. There are several depleted oil reservoirs in several regions in the U.S. favorable for data center locations.

     Projects should be near the depleted oil assets. That is very important for hydrogen. Gold hydrogen could compete with stranded gas for data centers or power plants. It can be blended with natural gas in some cases. The process produces water that could be used for cooling in data centers.

     There is a great webinar by Enverus where Enverus analyst Graham Bain discusses gold hydrogen with Prabhdeep Sekhon, CEO of Gold H2. Sekhon is a petroleum engineer who started out working for Hess in the early years of the Bakken and internationally. He thinks that gold hydrogen changes the story about hydrogen and decarbonization. He sees the issue as an integrated subsurface problem that requires microbiology, geology, and reservoir engineering. With gold hydrogen, the reservoir is transformed into a bioreactor with the feedstock already in place – just add microbes and nutrients. Oil reservoirs have microbiomes. With oil production, the natural microbes are generally not desirable and may be intentionally inhibited. Microbe balances are rewired by the addition of the optimal microbes and nutrients in amounts that are not too high as to make a gas cap that would seal in pressure. Microbes are also added to inhibit the formation of methane and H2S. In fact, Sekhon says this makes up about 60% of the microbial brew. He said something about temperature of 170 deg C and 300,000 ppm salinities, but I’m not sure if that is an upper limit (I would think so since 170 deg C would be considered a high-temperature reservoir), or ideal. They note that another company, Geo-redox, is doing a different process to create serpentinization to make hydrogen in a deeper and hotter reservoir.

     Sekhon notes that the color wheel for hydrogen qualifies something that should be quantified, and it would be better to compare and classify by cost and carbon intensity. A downside of green hydrogen is the large amount of water needed as feedstock. Grey hydrogen requires methane as a feedstock. Gold hydrogen requires no water. Its feedstock is built in, and in addition, it avoids or delays a liability to decommission the well, potentially by 10-20 years as the suggested gold hydrogen project life. He says that permeability is more important than porosity for microbes. Stimulated reservoir volume (SRV) is also important. He mentions that in some projects, one may want to create methane in a reservoir or compress residual oil so that it can be produced. He notes that the company may become involved in projects to inhibit H2S production via microbes and sweeten sour crude. The microbes they use are naturally occurring. They spent a few years bioprospecting for the optimal microbe formulas, utilizing hundreds of static and dynamic lab tests. They are also working with microbes on other problems. In fact, he notes that in light of his disdain for the hydrogen color wheel, or rather in light of their diversifying projects, they are planning to rebrand and rename the company in the near future. He notes that reservoirs vary, so each must be bio-stimulated according to its characteristics. Field tests differ from lab tests. They are planning nine-month field trials. Purification plants are on the surface and can be controlled. As in natural/geologic hydrogen production, consumption of H2 must be prevented; thus, the 60% inhibitory microbes and their interest in sweetening sour reservoirs. He notes that they don’t have to worry about structural geological traps like natural hydrogen explorers. He mentions that they are looking at making ammonia in the subsurface with H2 and nitrogen gas (N2).

      In responding to a question about volumes per well, he notes that it depends on the reservoir. An independent lab suggested volumes of 1000kg per well per day. At less than $1 per kg production costs, including purification, that can mean a nice profit. He thinks they can develop 10,000 – 250,000 + kg/day projects. He predicts stable production over a 10-20-year period. The water vapor produced must be cooled. He mentions an MOU with a major turbine manufacturer to go from 100% methane to 100% H2 with the same turbine. Gemini out of LA is developing a compressor that also purifies H2, so new tech will soon be applicable. He wonders how fast they could get to deployments of 1MM to 10MM kg per day. Of course, there is still a need to reduce costs. Green H2 projects have been cancelled due to costs, even before the 45V issues. He thinks 45V credits should stay as prescribed in the IRA, but is ready to focus where the incentives are best, if necessary.

    

References:

 

Gold H2 uses microbes to extract hydrogen from disused oil well. The Engineer. June 26, 2025. Gold H2 Taps Hydrogen From Abandoned Oil Well

Oil-Eating Microbes Offer Tantalizing Clean Hydrogen Solution. Toya Levi. Bloomberg. June 24, 2025. Oil-Eating Microbes Offer Tantalizing Clean Hydrogen Solution | Gold Hydrogen

Creating clean hydrogen from old oil reservoirs using biology. Colorado Hydrogen Network. Podcast. January 17, 2025. Creating clean hydrogen from old oil reservoirs using biology | Gold Hydrogen

DOE Sets Eyes on Cutting Clean Hydrogen Cost, $1/Kilo by 2031. Jennifer L. Carbon Credits. May 10, 2024. DOE Sets Eyes on Cutting Clean Hydrogen Cost, $1/Kilo by 2031

Press Release: Gold H2 Delivers First Successful Subsurface Bio-Stimulated Hydrogen Production Field Trial. Toya Levi. Gold Hydrogen. Press Release. Jun 25, 2025. Press Release: Gold H2 Delivers First Successful Subsurface Bio-Stimulated Hydrogen Production Field Trial | Gold Hydrogen

Rewiring the Reservoir | Biohydrogen and the Next Energy Frontier. Webinar. Enverus. Graham Bain. Prabhdeep Sekhon, CEO of Gold H2. June 18, 2025. Rewiring the Reservoir | Biohydrogen and the Next Energy Frontier