Oil major BP plans UK’s biggest blue hydrogen project

Oil and gas supermajor BP said on Thursday it had started developing plans for what would be the largest hydrogen project in the UK, aiming to produce 1 GW of blue hydrogen by 2030, as part of its efforts to contribute to industry decarbonization and the UK’s low-carbon energy plans.

Blue hydrogen is hydrogen produced by converting natural gas into hydrogen and carbon dioxide, with the CO2 then captured and permanently stored.

BP is proposing the development of the H2Teesside project, which would be a significant step in developing ‎BP’s hydrogen business and make a major contribution to the UK Government’s target of developing 5 GW of hydrogen production by 2030, the oil giant said.

The project would be located in Teesside in northeast England, with a final investment decision (FID) targeted for early 2024. The project could begin production in 2027 or earlier, said BP, which has already launched a feasibility study to explore technologies that could capture up to 98 percent of carbon emissions from the hydrogen production process.

“Blue hydrogen, integrated with carbon capture and storage, can provide the scale and reliability needed by industrial processes. It can also play an essential role in decarbonizing hard-to-electrify industries and driving down the cost of the energy transition,” said Dev Sanyal, BP’s executive vice president of gas and low carbon energy.

Hydrogen, especially green hydrogen, has become the latest fad among energy companies, including Big Oil, who see potential in developing and investing in technologies to produce green hydrogen.

French supermajor Total looks to become a large producer of clean hydrogen one day, chairman and chief executive Patrick Pouyanné said at an event last month, while BP, Shell, and Eni are also developing green hydrogen projects.

Last November, BP created a partnership with offshore wind giant Ørsted to develop an industrial-scale electrolyzer project for green hydrogen ‎production in Germany.