The DoE wants to see oil majors committing to hydrogen
US clean hydrogen needs oil major backing
Hydrogen sector will struggle to reach required scale without commitment of big oil, US DoE official tells Hydrogen Americas Summit
The US clean hydrogen sector will struggle to scale up significantly until the country’s oil majors are fully behind it, according to a senior US Department of Energy (DoE) official. No US refineries have so far signed clean hydrogen offtake deals, highlighting the majors’ reluctance to back the sector, Jigar Shah, director of the Loan Programs Office at the DoE, told the Hydrogen Americas Summit. “I do not see any major traditional players involved in hydrogen, none whatsoever, none of the big oil majors,” he says. “Until you see the really large incumbents say: ‘We are actually going to bet the company on this conversion’, [then] you are not going to see the level of growth to be able to s
Also in this section
4 March 2026
Turmoil in Middle East reminds nascent clean hydrogen sector that its future prospects are dependent on global energy markets and geopolitics
25 February 2026
Low-carbon hydrogen and ammonia development is advancing much more slowly and unevenly than once expected, with high costs and policy uncertainty thinning investment. Meanwhile, surging energy demand is reinforcing the role of natural gas and LNG as the backbone of the global energy system, panellists at LNG2026 said
18 February 2026
Norwegian energy company has dropped a major hydrogen project and paused its CCS expansion plans as demand fails to materialise
4 February 2026
Europe’s largest electrolyser manufacturers are losing patience with policymakers as sluggish growth in the green hydrogen sector undermines their decision to expand production capacity
