Chairman of Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS) Magdy Galal and the Chairman of the Egyptian Electricity Holding Company (EEHC) Gaber Dessouki, have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Managing Director of Eni’s International Egyptian Oil company (IEOC), Marco Rotondi, to cooperate in green and blue hydrogen production projects, a press release reported.

The MoU also targets estimating the technical and commercial feasibility of such projects in Egypt.

Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Tarek El Molla, Minister of Electricity and Renewable Resources, Mohamed Shaker and Chief Operating Officer Natural Resources of Eni, Alessandro Puliti have witnessed the MoU signing.

According to the MoU, the three companies will collaborate in exploring joint projects for green hydrogen production by using electricity generated from the renewable resources,  in addition to blue hydrogen production by storing carbon dioxide in the natural gas brown fields.

They will also work on defining the probable markets for domestic consumption of hydrogen and the available export opportunities, as well as setting the required plans and operations for implementing these projects.

During the ceremony, El Molla affirmed that this MoU came in the framework of the political leadership directives to accelerate the implementation of hydrogen production projects as a clean fuel in cooperation with the international companies.

For his part, Shaker asserted the importance of Egypt’s efforts to set a national strategy for producing green hydrogen, referring to the country’s capabilities of generating electricity from renewable resources.

Meanwhile, Puliti said that the MoU is a part of Eni’s strategy to tail off carbon emission by 2050 and it is coordinated with Egypt’s Vision 2030 that targets having different energy mix.

He added  that Eni has large expertise in the Egyptian market through its subsidiary IEOC,  which has been working in Egypt since 1954, affirming  his company’s commitment to achieving Egypt’s objectives in this regard.

This MoU came in line with Egypt’s direction to expand in the hydrogen production field in accordance with its strategy that aims at diversifying  sources of energy production, as well as achieving the optimum use of its natural resources.