Texas

Exxon, Abu Dhabi's ADNOC to partner in delayed Texas hydrogen project

Published

1 year ago

September 4, 2024

Exxon, Abu Dhabi's ADNOC to partner in delayed Texas hydrogen project

By Sabrina Valle

HOUSTON (Reuters) – Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) will acquire a 35% equity stake in Exxon Mobil Corp’s proposed low-carbon hydrogen project in Texas, with the companies announcing a one-year start-up delay until 2029.

ADNOC’s investment shows a sign of confidence in a multi-billion dollar project that Exxon has threatened to cancel if the U.S. government restricts tax credits for it. A final investment decision has been pushed into 2025, from 2024.

Exxon and ADNOC declined to disclose the value of the transaction.

“This is a very significant investment and the partners it is attracting give a sense for the momentum that’s building around this project,” Exxon President of Low Carbon Solutions Dan Ammann told Reuters.

TAX INCENTIVES

Exxon in 2022 disclosed plans to build the world’s largest low-carbon hydrogen facility at its refining site at Baytown, Texas. Hydrogen is a fuel that produces water when burnt.

The project would be powered by natural gas, with associated CO2 captured and buried underground. It was announced on the back of clean energy tax incentives proposed by the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden.

But the government limited incentives for natural gas-run facilities. Exxon CEO Darren Woods earlier this year said the project could be canceled without similar tax credits offered to hydrogen facilities powered by renewable fuels.

AMMONIA BOOST

The project’s estimated production has been revised since its initial announcement. It was initially set to produce 1 million tons of hydrogen annually.

Now, the goal is to produce 900,000 tons of low-carbon hydrogen and over 1 million tons of low-carbon ammonia, a well-established industrial product commonly used as fertilizer.

Ammonia, which has three atoms of hydrogen in its composition, is also used as a carrier for hydrogen, allowing it to be exported by ship in a liquid form.

Exxon earlier this year signed an agreement with JERA, Japan’s top power generator, to explore selling about 500,000 tonnes annually of low-carbon ammonia.

“The timing (for the hydrogen project) depends on supply, demand and supporting regulation coming together in sync,” said Ammann.

(Reporting by Sabrina Valle; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)

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Texas

Jimbo Fisher’s $77 million buyout was money well spent for Texas A&M. Just look

Published

7 hours ago

October 26, 2025

Press Room

Jimbo Fisher’s million buyout was money well spent for Texas A&M. Just look

I hate to be a voice for the opulent, but if the money works, flaunt it.

All the way to the elite of college football.

So while Texas A&M was dismantling LSU 49-25 Saturday night and taking control of he SEC race, it was hard to not see it for what it was.

While the college football world is collectively sick over the financial waste of universities firing coaches and paying exorbitant buyouts (Penn State, Florida), Texas A&M is doing just fine, thank you. After two years ago paying the largest buyout in college football history.

That was Texas A&M at the end of the 2023 season, doing the utter unthinkable by firing Jimbo Fisher and giving him $77 million to please go away as fast as possible.

That was Texas A&M on Saturday night in LSU’s famed Death Valley, where dreams go to die. Unless you have a spare $77 million laying in the desk drawer.

Hey, you’ve got to spend money to make money, right?

Because that cash — the unimaginable buyout of a colossal mistake of a coaching hire — brought hardscrabble coach Mike Elko to College Station.

You’ve seen Elko by now. Looks like a short order cook, wears a t-shirt on the sideline — untucked because, well, of course it is.

He also has the best team in the best conference in college football 21 games into his buildout at historically underachieving Texas A&M. So underachieving, in fact, that the joke around the SEC is they’re not Texas A&M.

They’re Texas 8&5. Every flipping year — despite every possible advantage to winning.

That’s why it was so strange when Elko stood at the SEC spring meetings in Destin, Fla., five months ago, and said he really liked this team. No, you don’t get it, he said.

He really liked this team. As in, this team can win a championship.

And everywhere around the SEC, they laughed. Because they’ve watched Kevin Sumlin and Fisher since the Aggies rolled into the SEC in 2012.

They’ve watched the program waste one of the greatest talents in college football history (Johnny Manziel), and the greatest high school recruiting class in history (2022).

And frankly, they watched the same Texas A&M begin its first season under Elko by winning seven of eight games. Then lose four of its last five to finish — you guessed it — 8-5.

That’s what makes this season so impressive. It’s not just that Elko has this group of players executing at their collective ceiling and dominating the big, bad SEC, it’s the way they’re burying the narratives of the past.

The Aggies are soft. They’ll fold when it matters most. Punch them in the mouth, and they back down.

They had six sacks against LSU. They had more than 200 yards rushing and 200 yards passing and — get this — won despite being negative-2 in turnover ratio.

They had eight runs of at least 10 yards. Had five catches of at least 17 yards. That’s 13 explosion plays, if you’re counting at home.

They held LSU to 55 yards rushing on 25 carries, and forced talented quarterback Garrett Nussmeier into his worst game of the season. With each play that exposed LSU’s fraud season of hype, coach Brian Kelly’s ball cap spun in a crooked mess.

Let this sink in: Texas A&M, the perpetual underachievers for decades upon decades, outscored LSU 35-7 in the second half. The Tigers’ only touchdown came in garbage time from a backup quarterback throwing to a backup wide receiver — against the backup Texas A&M defense.

And Elko was livid.

Just like he was livid when the Aggies allowed 40 points to Notre Dame and first-year starting quarterback CJ Carr. Took the final drive of the game in South Bend to win that one, a road victory that can only be surpassed by winning in Death Valley for the fist time since 1994.

As LSU coach Brian Kelly walked off the field, LSU fans chanted “Fire Kelly.” Meanwhile, in their own corner of Death Valley, Elko and the players swayed and sang the Aggie War Hymn with the 10,000 or so fans who followed for the ride.

There’s nothing fluky about it. You’ve got to spend money to make money.

Or in this case, to make champions.

Matt Hayes is the senior college football writer for USA TODAY Sports Network. Follow him on X at @MattHayesCFB.

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Texas

State to take control of Fort Worth ISD, sparking mixed reactions

Published

2 days ago

October 24, 2025

Press Room

State to take control of Fort Worth ISD, sparking mixed reactions

Parents and teachers across Fort Worth ISD are reacting to news that the Texas Education Agency will take control of the district — a move that’s leaving many educators uneasy but giving some parents hope for change.

Longtime Fort Worth ISD teacher Kelsey De La Torre said the announcement immediately brought her to tears.

“Honestly, I read it today. I got the notification on my phone, and I glanced at it, and I got tears in my eyes,” De La Torre said. “Because it delivers a sense of insecurity and a sense of uncertainty in an environment where you need to be secure and certain.”

State plans leadership overhaul

Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath said the state will appoint a new board of trustees and begin a nationwide search for a new superintendent.

De La Torre worries that leadership changes at the top will trickle down to classrooms.

“The people who are basically giving us our materials, our instruction, our strategies, our resources — that will inevitably impact each and every one of us,” she said.

Parents see opportunity for change

While some teachers fear the change, others in the community see it as a much-needed reset.

Fort Worth parent Adrienne Alexander Haynes said she felt relieved when the news broke.

“I feel like we’ve been stuck in this position of asking for a bare minimum,” Haynes said. “With the state takeover, it’s almost as though we’re finally being rescued out of this hamster wheel that we’ve been in, in our education system.”

Other parents echoed that optimism.

“I’m excited for the future,” said Kathy Kessler, another Fort Worth ISD parent. “I’m excited that there are opportunities to try and make things better, where our kids are being more productive in school.”

Concerns about deeper systemic issues

Still, De La Torre — who also has three children in the district — said the state’s intervention doesn’t address the real barriers students face.

“We’re still going to have an issue with poverty. We’re still going to have an issue with students who are homeless. We’re still going to have an issue with kids who go home and don’t have any food,” she said. “When are we going to fix those issues? Because that’s what’s keeping kids from growing.”

Support for current superintendent

Both parents and teachers agreed on one thing — they want Superintendent Dr. Karen Molinar to stay in her role. Many believe she’s made significant progress in the short time she’s led the district.

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