Bahrain's Oil and Gas Holding Company (nogaholding), the National Oil and Gas Authority’s investment arm, has announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding with Air Products to assess the feasibility of developing a hydrogen economy in the kingdom. 

 

The MoU was signed under the patronage of Oil Minister Shaikh Mohamed Khalifa Al Khalifa, said a Bahrain News Agency report.

 

Representing nogaholding, Mazan Matar, Chairman of Bahrain LNG, signed the MoU with Imtiaz Mahtab, Air Products President of Middle East, Egypt and Turkey.

 

“Amid global challenge of greenhouse gas emission and increasing international recognition of hydrogen’s benefit, this joint effort explores the viability of developing hydrogen as a sustainable fuel in the transport sector as well as an avenue to the transition of a lower carbon energy mix in Bahrain,” Shaikh Mohammed said. 

 

“We are honoured to partner with Air Products, a leading global player who spearheads pioneering technologies and solutions to CO2 Capture, H2 for Mobility and LNG production worldwide,” he said.

 

Capturing carbon to improve the quality of natural gas has been practised for decades but the cutting-edge technology ‘Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage (CCUS)’ removes and sequesters carbon dioxide (CO2) indefinitely, he added as he spoke about circular carbon economy.

 

“It will be a game changer that turns a waste product into marketable commercial or industrial products,” he said.

 

Bahrain is committed to working collectively with the rest of the world to combat climate change, he said.

 

“Hydrogen usage, circular carbon economy and LNG regasification would play a role in the solutions for a clean energy environment while addressing the global challenge of growing energy needs.  We are keen to collaborate with prominent international institutions on researches and innovations to leapfrog the development of our oil and gas sector. We look forward to working closely with Air Products who would share its vast experience and technological know-how in industrial gases to unlock the kingdom’s potential,” he said.

 

Mazen Matar said that the studies outlined in the MoU encompass different areas from analysing the potential of hydrogen resources and evaluating other oil recovery possibilities to devising plans of deploying permanent hydrogen refueling stations with an ultimate goal of achieving hydrogen economy.

 

“Air Products Bahrain is looking forward to collaborating with nogaholding to explore potential development opportunities supporting energy transition within the Kingdom of Bahrain,” Imtiaz Mahtab.