British oil and gas giant BP has its eye on the Egyptian hydrogen market

British Petrolium (BP) will invest in green hydrogen in Egypt. The British oil company has just joined a consortium of companies recently formed to develop green hydrogen. The consortium includes energy company Masdar, Infinity Power and Hassan Allam Utilities. Under the agreement signed a few days ago, BP will act as the main developer and operator of the project on behalf of the consortium.

The three companies have thus decided to combine their respective green hydrogen production projects in Egypt and will also explore the potential of a single, large-scale, multi-phase project for the development of green hydrogen and its derivatives for export. The newly formed consortium has signed a framework agreement with the Egyptian government to begin a series of studies and activities to assess the technical and commercial feasibility of the project.

BP’s contribution

“We welcome BP’s entry into the consortium, which builds on the well-established relationships between our companies and supports Masdar’s ambition to drive the development of green hydrogen worldwide,” explained Mohammad Abdelqader El Ramahi, Masdar’s Head of Green Hydrogen. The agreement with BP was signed in the presence of several members of the Egyptian government, including Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly, Mohamed Shaker, Minister of Electricity and Renewable Energy, and Hala El-Said, Minister of Planning and Economic Development.

In 2022, the consortium obtained Cairo’s approval to implement a project to build facilities in the Suez Canal Economic Zone to convert 4 GW of clean electricity into hydrogen via water electrolysis, a process that involves transforming electrical energy into chemical energy.

A first project in Egypt

According to Masdar, the choice of Egypt for its investments in green hydrogen is mainly due to the North African country’s potential for renewable energies, particularly solar and wind power. In the first phase of this initial project, Masdar, Infinity and Hassan Allam will develop a production capacity of 100,000 tonnes of e-methanol per year. This fuel is obtained by mixing carbon dioxide (CO₂) and hydrogen (H₂).

According to many experts, this new energy could replace conventional energy sources, particularly petrol and diesel, and is particularly useful for decarbonising maritime transport. In the Suez Canal Economic Zone, the consortium will expand the capacity of their facilities by 2030, with a projected production of 480,000 tonnes of hydrogen and “2.3 million tonnes of green ammonia for export as well as for local industries”, explains Amr Allam, the joint managing director of Hassan Allam Holding.