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Meanwhile, Sweden’s Maha Energy was belat- more CCS infrastructure is developed, the costs
edly awarded an EPSA for Oman’s Block 70. will come down.
Preliminary reports on the federal plan sug-
If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping gests that it envisions several Canadian prov-
the Middle East’s oil and gas sector then please click inces producing blue and green hydrogen, with
here for NewsBase’s MEOG Monitor. this industry generating significant jobs and rev-
enue at the same time as it reduces GHG emis-
Canada leads the US sions. However, concerns remain about the costs
In North America, Canada is leading the way on involved, as well as the cost-competitiveness of
integrating hydrogen into its energy mix, while low-carbon hydrogen.
little is being done in the US. Indeed, in Canada, Despite these hurdles, however, Canada
hydrogen could play a key role in the future of appears to be advancing more rapidly than
its oil sands – a region that has been battling neighbouring US as far as its low-carbon hydro-
to shake off its image as a major polluter. And gen industry is concerned. This is not to say that
efforts to formulate a strategy are underway on nothing is being done in the US, though. Rather,
both the federal and provincial levels. smaller-scale initiatives are quietly being pro- Although
Alberta Associate Minister of Natural Gas gressed, and could ultimately help underpin a
Dale Nally was reported in early September as broader national hydrogen strategy. concerns about
saying that his province would unveil a strat- The US Department of Energy’s (DoE) H2@ cost remain,
egy for developing blue hydrogen no later than Scale programme, described as a “multi-year ini-
October. This blue hydrogen would be used as tiative to fully realise hydrogen’s benefits across Canada appears
a cleaner alternative to natural gas for produc- the economy,” has now been underway for four
ing heavy crude from Alberta’s steam-driven years, and is beginning to show results. Over the to be advancing
oil sands projects. The plan is aimed at allow- past year, the DoE is reported to have channelled
ing Alberta to produce more crude from the oil more than $100mn in grants to around 50 pro- more rapidly
sands without exceeding the province’s cap of jects to further the H2@Scale initiative. than the US on
100mn tonnes per year (tpy) on carbon emis- The Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Energy Associ-
sions, according to Nally’s comments. ation’s (FCHEA) president, Morry Markowitz, low-carbon
“Hydrogen will allow us to continue to move described in August the programme as “crucial
the bar and reduce the carbon intensity of the oil to enabling broader commercialisation of trans- hydrogen
sands until you get to a point where there is no formational hydrogen and fuel cell technologies”.
difference in [greenhouse gases] in conventional The FCHEA has published its own roadmap
oil and oil sands,” he told Reuters earlier this towards a hydrogen economy for the US, which
month. “Reducing the carbon intensity of the oil could be used to inform a national strategy if the
sands would, of course, allow more expansion.” US government decides to pursue one.
Alberta’s strategy is being developed at the Thus far, the US has not prioritised decar-
same time as – and in line with – a federal hydro- bonisation nearly as much as Canada or various
gen plan that is being prepared by Ottawa. Can- other countries on the federal level, and it has
ada is already a leading producer of hydrogen, been up to the private sector to advance initia-
making about 3mn tpy using steam methane tives, including those involving hydrogen. With
reformation of natural gas. However, it is now a particularly tense presidential election loom-
planning to target low- or zero-carbon hydro- ing, much is currently uncertain about how
gen. Alberta considers itself well-positioned to much this will change beyond 2020.
lead the way on blue hydrogen development,
given that it already uses CCS to sequester CO2 If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping
emissions from the oil sands through Royal the North American oil and gas sector then please click
Dutch Shell’s Quest project. It is hoped that as here for NewsBase’s NorthAmOil Monitor .™

Week 39 01•October•2020 www. NEWSBASE .com P11