Page 12 - EurOil Week 43 2021

EurOil ENERGY TRANSITION EurOil

QE, Shell team up to produce

blue hydrogen in UK

UK QATAR Energy (QE) has teamed up with Royal Shell, signed at the UK Global Investment Sum-
Dutch Shell to develop blue and green hydrogen mit in London, “creates a viable path for inno-
Shell is already involved projects in the UK, the companies said on Octo- vation and investments in low-carbon fuels and
in several hydrogen ber 19. technologies across the UK’s energy sector, a key
projects in the UK. The pair will look in particular at “integrated area of investment for QE.”
and scalable opportunities in key sectors where While many of its Gulf neighbours have
hydrogen could help decarbonise, especially embraced hydrogen as a future fuel, Qatar has
around industrial cluster development and also thus far shown restraint, maintaining its focus on
for the transport sector, with a focus on the Lon- expanding its LNG exports. It is yet to unveil any
don metropolitan area,” QE said. domestic hydrogen projects, although Qatari
The agreement comes after the UK pub- Emir Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani on October 19
lished its long-awaited hydrogen strategy announced the creation of a new environment
in late August, recognising both blue and and climate change ministry. It will be headed by
green hydrogen as tools for decarbonising Faleh bin Nasser al-Tani.
emissions. The country is aspiring to be a QE also became the latest oil and gas com-
leader in hydrogen development, producing pany to rebrand itself from Qatar Petroleum ear-
enough of the fuel to decarbonise its own lier this year.
industries and to export supplies to its neigh- Shell is already involved in several hydrogen
bours in Europe. ventures in the UK including Project Cavendish,
There has been a recent flurry of other aimed at producing blue hydrogen on the Isle of
announcements of hydrogen plans in the UK, Grain in Kent, where there is already an LNG
ahead of the country hosting the COP26 sum- terminal. It is also a partner in the HyNet project
mit in November. in north-west England that will produce blue
QE CEO Saad al-Kaabi said the deal with hydrogen in that year. ™

Neptune joins zero flaring

by 2030 initiative

NORTH SEA NORTH Sea producer Neptune Energy has got endorsement of World Bank’s Zero Routine
behind a World Bank initiative to bring an end to Flaring by 2030 initiative further demonstrating
The World Bank routine gas flaring within a decade, the company our commitment,” Neptune’s vice-president for
launched its zero- announced on October 21. operations in Europe, Pete Jones, commented.
routine flaring initiative The World Bank launched its zero-routine “We already have one of the lowest methane
seven years ago, flaring initiative seven years ago and it has taken intensities in the industry at 0.02%. But we want
and it has taken considerable time to gain momentum. A turning to go further, which is why we are supporting this
considerable time to point came last year when the EU announced its initiative.
gain momentum. support as part of a broader strategy to clamp Neptune operates in Norway, the Nether-
down on methane emissions. The initiative lands, Germany, the UK, Algeria and Indonesia.
counts other governments, companies and In Norway, non-emergency flaring has been ille-
development institutions among its endorsers. gal since 1973, while the UK is not expected to
Flaring not only emits CO2 into the atmos- achieve this until 2030.
phere but also methane when the gas passes Neptune also aims to bring its carbon inten-
through the flarer without catching fire. Meth- sity to 6 kg of CO2 per barrel of oil equivalent
ane is many times more potent a greenhouse gas (boe) and achieve net-zero methane emissions
than CO2. Operators can avoid flaring unless in by 2030. This is considerably more ambitious
an emergency by investing in infrastructure to than the goals by many other companies and
commercialise gas, reinject gas into field reser- governments. The EU, eager to take a leader-
voirs or by using it to generate power. ship position in the energy transition, is tar-
“Neptune has set ambitious emissions reduc- geting a 30% reduction in methane emissions
tion targets across our operations, with our by 2030. ™

P12 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 43 28•October•2021