bp joins consortium to develop green hydrogen in Egypt

bp has joined an existing consortium comprising Masdar, Hassan Allam Utilities and Infinity Power to explore the development of a green hydrogen project in Egypt.

The partners are exploring the potential for a single large-scale, multi-phase project for the development of gH2 and its derivatives, with a focus on exports.

bp will act as the main developer and operator of the project on behalf of the consortium.

To this end, the consortium has signed a Framework Agreement with the Egyptian government to start evaluating the feasibility of the project.

Nader Zaki, bp's regional president for the Middle East and North Africa commented on the signing: "The diverse experiences of partners in energy projects present a great opportunity for regional cooperation and accessing global markets, fundamentally supporting Egypt's energy transition plans."

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Amr Allam, Co-CEO of Hassan Allam Holding, added that the growing consortium is a significant step forward to advancing the development of green hydrogen in Egypt. "Our combined local and global expertise will create economic opportunities and contribute to a cleaner and greener future for Egypt and help to decarbonize hard-to-abate sectors globally relying on fossil fuels,” said Allam.

Egypt as a hydrogen hub

This collaboration aims to turn Egypt into a hydrogen export hub, which according to Nayer Fouad, CEO of Infinity Power, could "help to power green industry in Africa and beyond and strengthen Egypt’s role as a leader in green power.”

The announcement is one of many recent agreements aimed at developing the country's green hydrogen potential.

In February this year, several agreements were signed to unlock investment of up to $40 billion for the development of green hydrogen projects in the Suez Canal Economic Zone.

These projects are situated in what is referred to as the sun belt, an area located between latitudes 22 and 31.5 north. The region enjoys an average of 9-11 hours of sunshine a day, providing high potential for harnessing renewables for hydrogen production.

According to the International Energy Agency, Egypt produced 11.5% of its energy from renewables in 2021 and has ambitious plans to increase the share of renewables to 42% by 2035.

The country's push towards renewables has prompted new investment opportunities and the liberalisation of the energy market has made it more accessible to local and international private investors.