Exclusive: Eclipse Energys microbes can turn idle oil wells into hydrogen factories | TechCrunch

Up to 3 million abandoned oil and gas wells litter the U.S. alone, and while many still contain oil or natural gas, the owners decided it wasn’t worth it to keep pumping.

“They’ve tried everything,” Prab Sekhon, CEO of Eclipse Energy, told TechCrunch. “There’s still a ton of oil left behind.”

Eclipse doesn’t have a way to recover that oil, but it does have a way to squeeze some of the energy they embody up to the surface. Rather than pump harder or inject something to force oil to the surface, Eclipse sends down microbes to munch on the oil molecules and liberate their hydrogen.

Instead of viscous oil, companies only have to deal with hydrogen gas. “Hydrogen flows a lot easier,” Sekhon said, making it easier to extract it from the well.

The Houston-based startup, which was spun out of Cemvita, demonstrated the technology at an oilfield in California’s San Joaquin Basin last summer. Now, it’s partnering with oilfield services company Weatherford International to deploy the technology around the world, the startup exclusively told TechCrunch. The first projects will begin in January.

“They’re an extension of our team,” Sekhon said to characterize the relationship with Weatherford. “They’ll be our operational arm.”

Eclipse, which was previously known as Gold H2, has been developing the technology over the last several years. It has been sampling microbes that naturally occur in oil wells, which live at the interface between oil and water held in aquifers, to find those that are best suited to the job.

As the microbes consume the oil, they break it down into hydrogen and carbon dioxide. Both then flow to the surface, where Eclipse and its partners will eventually separate the two. About half of the carbon dioxide is likely to stay in the reservoir, while the other half could be captured using specialized equipment and either sequestered or used.

The goal, Sekhon said, is to produce low-carbon hydrogen for around 50 cents per kilogram, or the same price as hydrogen obtained by breaking down natural gas in an industrial plant, a process that releases more carbon dioxide.

The resulting hydrogen could be used in petrochemical plants or burned for energy.

“It’s taking a liability and turning it into a clean energy asset,” Sekhon said.