Hydrogeninsight | Gold H2 says it has a ‘pathway’ to $0.50/kg hydrogen with its microbe-based production technology
Houston-based company is hoping to deploy its tech in international markets due to uncertain regulatory environment in the US.
Rachel Parkes – Deputy Editor
Published 25 June 2025, 02:57
A US start-up that says it can use microbes to make hydrogen underground, has claimed that it can see a “pathway” to producing H2 for just $0.50/kg — significantly cheaper than any form of hydrogen made today, including grey H2 made with unabated fossil gas.
The CEO of Gold H2, Prabhdeep Singh Sekhon, made the claim in an interview with Bloomberg, pointing out that this could even make hydrogen competitive with fossil gas.
Grey hydrogen can be produced today for around $1-2/kg, depending on where in the world it is made.
Houston-based Gold H2 — not to be confused with Australian natural-H2 player Gold Hydrogen — recently completed a field trial that saw it successfully use its biotechnology to produce hydrogen in a depleted oil well in California’s San Joaquin basin.
However, the field test produced so-called gold hydrogen at just 40% purity, meaning that it will require further processing and purifying, adding both costs and emissions to the process.
Nevertheless, Sekhon told Bloomberg that emissions related to its hydrogen purification system would be comparable to those from green hydrogen production, and below any H2 production process using fossil gas.
Gold H2’s proprietary biotechnology involves flooding disused wells — which must be able to hold water and maintain temperatures of 54-82°C — with water, and with microbes and nutrients deployed from an onsite fermentation unit.
These microbes then break down hydrocarbons in the well into hydrogen and carbon dioxide, with most of the latter naturally sequestered by the reservoir, and any produced CO2 reinjected into a different reservoir zone.
The California field trial is just the latest carried out by Gold H2 and its parent company, chemicals company Cemvita, to test the technology.
Cemvita announced the completion of a field trial in the Permian Basin (which straddles Texas and New Mexico) in 2022, while Gold H2 said last year that it was planning three to four field trials with unnamed US oil majors over the course of 12 months.
Gold H2 is finalising further pilots in the US, including one in Texas in the coming months, and is now looking further afield due to the uncertainty unleashed by president Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill.
The legislation, which is currently being scrutinised by the Senate, plans to effectively scrap the Biden-era 45V green hydrogen tax credits.
These will not impact natural hydrogen producers directly, but could dampen demand, especially if the White House also cuts or reduces the $7bn previously promised in capital grants to build seven H2 Hubs in the country.
As a result, Gold H2 is looking to build further projects abroad — in Canada, the Middle East, Europe and Brazil — Sekhon said.