Vallourec and Baker Hughes Forge Alliance to Unlock Underground Hydrogen Storage

MEUDON, France – February 17, 2026 – In a significant move to accelerate the green hydrogen economy, energy technology leader Baker Hughes and premium tubular solutions provider Vallourec have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to advance underground hydrogen storage. The collaboration aims to integrate Vallourec’s innovative Delphy storage system with Baker Hughes' renowned compression technologies, creating a comprehensive solution designed to overcome critical infrastructure hurdles and reduce costs for industrial-scale hydrogen projects.

This partnership arrives at a pivotal moment, as industries from steel manufacturing to sustainable aviation fuel production look to green hydrogen as a cornerstone of their decarbonization strategies. By combining their specialized expertise, the two companies intend to offer a streamlined, efficient, and safer pathway for storing large quantities of compressed hydrogen, a key enabler for the global energy transition.

A Synergistic Solution for a Growing Market

The core of the collaboration lies in the powerful synergy between Vallourec's storage innovation and Baker Hughes' compression mastery. Vallourec's Delphy is a market-ready, certified solution for storing compressed gaseous hydrogen vertically underground. Leveraging the company's long-standing expertise in high-performance seamless tubes, Delphy is engineered to store between 1 and 100 tons of hydrogen at pressures up to 500 bar. Its unique vertical design, extending up to 100 meters deep, reduces the surface footprint by as much as 30 times compared to conventional above-ground tanks, making it ideal for space-constrained industrial sites.

Safety, a paramount concern for hydrogen infrastructure, is central to Delphy's design. The system uses hydrogen-qualified alloys to ensure tightness and prevent embrittlement, and its underground placement inherently cuts the required safety perimeter by approximately 50%. This advanced design has already earned certifications from leading classification bodies DNV and Bureau Veritas, confirming its technical viability and adherence to rigorous safety standards. A fully operational demonstrator in Aulnoye-Aymeries, France, has successfully validated the technology's performance.

Complementing this storage solution is Baker Hughes' century-long experience in compression. As a critical step before storage, efficient compression is essential for the economic viability of any hydrogen project. Baker Hughes offers a vast portfolio of hydrogen-ready technologies, including high-pressure ratio compressors (HPRC) and reciprocating compressors, which are vital for pressurizing hydrogen for dense storage. The collaboration will focus on optimizing the integration of these compression systems with the Delphy storage units, determining the most efficient operating pressures for applications ranging from green ammonia production to clean power for data centers. The stated goal is to reduce the total cost of ownership for customers, thereby increasing the competitiveness of green hydrogen against conventional energy sources.

Beneath the Surface: The Next Frontier in Energy Security

The partnership tackles one of the most significant challenges for a hydrogen-powered future: the need for safe, scalable, and geographically flexible storage. While massive salt caverns can store thousands of tons of hydrogen, they are geographically limited to specific geological formations and require lengthy development times. On the other end of the spectrum, above-ground pressure vessels are suitable for smaller quantities but have a large surface footprint and significant safety perimeters, making them impractical for large industrial needs.

The Vallourec-Baker Hughes offering carves out a critical niche between these two extremes. The modular Delphy system provides an intermediate-scale solution (up to 100 tons) that can be deployed at or near the point of use, such as an industrial complex or a large-scale refueling hub. This capability is crucial for ensuring a stable supply of hydrogen to balance the intermittent nature of renewable energy sources used in its production, thus enhancing grid stability and energy security. By placing the storage infrastructure underground, the solution minimizes visual impact and land use, which can help streamline permitting processes and improve public acceptance.

This approach directly supports the development of decentralized hydrogen ecosystems. Industries can build on-site storage capacity tailored to their specific needs, reducing reliance on complex transportation logistics and ensuring a resilient energy supply for their operations. As the world moves to decarbonize hard-to-abate sectors, this type of integrated, site-specific infrastructure will become indispensable.

A Strategic Pivot Toward Decarbonization

For Vallourec, this MOU represents a landmark step in its strategic transformation from a legacy supplier to the oil and gas industry into a key enabler of the energy transition. The company is successfully leveraging its core competencies in materials science and advanced tubular manufacturing to innovate for the green hydrogen market. This pivot is not just a strategic repositioning but a significant future revenue driver. The company projects its "New Energies" division, which includes the Delphy solution, to contribute 10% to 15% of its total EBITDA by 2030, with a potential project pipeline for Delphy already valued at around €2 billion from approximately 50 discussions worldwide.

Philippe Guillemot, Chairman and CEO of Vallourec, highlighted the strategic fit of the partnership. "We are proud to initiate this collaboration with Baker Hughes, a recognized leader in compression technology," he stated in the press release. "Our capabilities are highly complementary, particularly as Baker Hughes holds strong expertise in compression, a critical step before the storage of compressed hydrogen. This cooperation confirms Vallourec’s strategy to develop relationships along the value chain and commitment to bringing green hydrogen, at scale, for industry decarbonization.”

For Baker Hughes, the alliance reinforces its established leadership across the hydrogen value chain. The company has been actively expanding its portfolio and has been selected for major global hydrogen projects, including the NEOM green hydrogen complex in Saudi Arabia. By integrating its proven compression technology with an innovative storage solution like Delphy, Baker Hughes can offer a more complete package to its customers, further solidifying its role as an essential technology partner for the burgeoning hydrogen economy.

Navigating the Path to Commercialization

While the MOU marks a crucial step, the path to widespread commercial deployment involves navigating a complex landscape of market demands and evolving regulations. The collaboration will initially focus on joint engineering and marketing efforts to present a unified solution to customers in key sectors like green steel, sustainable fuels, and clean power generation. Studies have already shown that integrated solutions can yield significant economic benefits; for instance, one analysis indicated that using Delphy could reduce the levelized cost of green ammonia by up to 15%.

The regulatory environment for underground hydrogen storage is still maturing, but the pre-emptive certifications from DNV and Bureau Veritas give the Delphy system a strong foundation for market entry. These qualifications demonstrate a commitment to safety and reliability that will be critical for gaining regulatory approval and customer trust in key markets like Europe and North America, both of which have ambitious hydrogen strategies. By providing a technologically sound and certified system, the partnership is well-positioned to meet the growing demand for infrastructure that can support the ambitious decarbonization goals set by governments and corporations around the globe.