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Eni discusses green, blue hydrogen

production in North Africa

AFRICA REPRESENTATIVES of Italy’s Eni met with Holding Co. (EGAS), on blue and green hydro-
Egyptian and Algerian officials last week to dis- gen production.
cuss the prospects for green and blue hydrogen The agreement provides for the parties to
production. study the commercial feasibility of using electric-
In a statement, the Italian company said ity generated from renewable sources to produce
that Alessandro Puliti, its COO for natural green hydrogen and electricity generated from
resources, had spoken with Toufik Hakkar, the natural gas, with the resulting carbon dioxide
CEO of Algeria’s national oil company (NOC) emissions to be captured and stored in depleted
Sonatrach, in Algiers on July 7. fields, to produce blue hydrogen, it said.
Puliti and Hakkar both said they hoped to The study will also analyse potential demand
expand co-operation on technical issues in line for future hydrogen production, both within
with the memorandum of understanding (MoU) Egyptian and on the export market, the Italian
signed between the two sides in late March. major said.
Specifically, they discussed plans for assess- Additionally, it will assess the commercial
ing the “technical and commercial feasibility of a viability of several specific proposals for produc-
pilot project to produce hydrogen using electric- tion and sale of hydrogen, it acdded.
ity generated from renewable sources (solar and Eni did not reveal any details of these propos-
wind),” Eni said. als. It did state that it was pursuing co-operation
The parties will also evaluate proposals for with EEHC and EGAS within the framework
conserving the water extracted during oil pro- of wider efforts “to reach the target of eliminat-
duction operations and using it as raw material ing Scopes 1, 2 and 3 net emissions (net GHG
for the electrolysis process that yields hydrogen, life-cycle emissions) and cancelling out the rel-
it stated. ative emission intensity (net carbon intensity)
The project is representative of both com- by 2050, referring to the entire life cycle of the
panies’ desire to reduce their greenhouse gas energy products sold.”
(GHG) emissions, it added. Egypt, meanwhile, sees co-operation with
In a separate statement, Eni reported that it Eni on hydrogen production as a way to facili-
had signed an agreement with two state-owned tate the transition to renewable energy sources
Egyptian companies, Egyptian Electricity Hold- and diversify domestic energy supply sources, it
ing Co. (EEHC) and Egyptian Natural Gas added.™

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