Climate tech company Gold H2 has produced hydrogen during a field trial at an oil field in California’s San Joaquin Basin, using microbes as part of a process that transforms residual oil.

The Houston-based company on June 24 said it successfully completed the world’s first field trial demonstrating subsurface bio-stimulated hydrogen production. Working with ChampionX as oilfield service provider, Gold H2 called the first-of-a-kind application of its proprietary biotechnology a “transformative shift in clean energy development.” The commercial field trial achieved 400,000 ppm of hydrogen in produced gases.

Targeting hydrogen production costs below 50 cents per kg, Gold H2 said the technology is ready for commercial deployment.

“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 decarbonization, built for speed, affordability, and global impact.”


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The company said California’s depleted oilfields could yield up to a quarter trillion kilograms of low-carbon hydrogen, enough to power Los Angeles for more than 50 years and avoid roughly 1 billion metric tons of CO₂ equivalent.

Jillian Evanko, CEO of Gold H2 investor and advisor Chart Industries, called the breakthrough a leap toward climate impact at scale.

“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,” Evanko said. “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.”