British multinational oil and gas company bp has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Mauritanian government whereby the two parties will collaborate on research and development as well as project rollout regarding large-scale green hydrogen production in the country.
The MoU was signed during the COP27 summit in Egypt by the President of Mauritania, H.E Mohamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazouani; bp’s Chief Executive, Bernard Looney; bp’s Executive Vice President of Gas and Low Carbon Energy, Anja-Isabel Dotzenrath; bp’s Executive Vice President of Production and Operations, Gordon Birrell; and bp’s Senior Vice President for Mauritania and Senegal, Emil Osmayilov.
The deal paves the way for bp to carry out technical and commercial feasibility studies to assess the potential of leveraging Mauritania’s vast wind and solar energy resources to produce green hydrogen.
Already, the British major has a strong relationship with the country with bp developing the massive Greater Tortue Ahmeyim liquefied natural gas project and set to develop the BirAllah gas development offshore Mauritania in partnership with government via state energy firm Société Mauritanienne Des Hydrocarbures. The company has stated that the MoU will not only strengthen the company’s footprint across the market, enabling bp to expand into the Mauritanian green hydrogen space, but improve the country’s energy supply while decarbonizing the overall energy industry.
Dotzenrath stated that bp and Mauritania “now intend to expand our partnership into low carbon energy by exploring the potential for a world-leading green hydrogen development which could position Mauritania at the forefront of the energy transition. Together with the Mauritanian Government, we will now work to understand how green hydrogen could best be delivered, applying our technical skills and expertise to help unlock the country’s clean energy potential.”
The MoU follows Mauritania striking a number of deals with various energy companies and investors, including CWP Global and Chariot, to turn the country into a global green hydrogen hub.
