Abu Dhabi’s state-owned Adnoc will take a 25pc stake in the design stage of BP’s H2Teesside blue hydrogen project in northern England, marking its first investment in the UK. As part of the same deal, BP and Adnoc will conduct a joint feasibility study for a 1GW blue hydrogen project in the UAE.

Meanwhile, Abu Dhabi’s state-owned renewable energy company, Masdar, has signed a memorandum of understanding to acquire a stake in BP’s proposed Hygreen Teesside green hydrogen project.

In addition, Adnoc, BP and Masdar have all agreed to work with Abu Dhabi Waste Management Centre and airline Etihad Airways to explore the production of sustainable aviation fuels from hydrogen and municipal waste gasification in the UAE.

The partnership with Adnoc and Masdar will help all three firms in the transition to a low-carbon economy, according to BP CEO Bernard Looney.

“By joining forces with Adnoc and Masdar we are reinforcing the world-leading role that Teesside, and the UK more widely, can play in developing new supplies of energy, as well as new skills and supply chains,” he says.

“We welcome the opportunity to collaborate with BP in both the UAE and UK” Jaber, Adnoc

These new agreements follow from the formation of a strategic partnership between BP, Adnoc and Masdar in September 2021, including the intention to develop the H2Teesside 1GW blue hydrogen facility—on which BP is the lead developer—and a 1GW facility in the UAE.

H2Teesside aims to start up in 2027 and is planned to capture and store 2mn t/yr CO₂ via the Northern Endurance Partnership. It forms a key part of the Net Zero Teesside cluster—one of the industrial clusters that has received funding from the UK’s carbon capture and storage (CCS) funding programme.

BP has already signed a number of offtake deals as it looks to develop the facility. FID is expected in early 2024.

Green and blue

Hygreen Teesside will be developed in stages, with FID in 2023 to be followed by first-phase construction of a 60MW electrolyser that will be ramped up to 500MW by 2030.

H2Teesside and Hygreen will have a combined capacity of 1.5GW—a significant proportion of the 10GW the UK wants to develop by 2030.

BP is also pursuing green hydrogen production projects at its refineries in Rotterdam in the Netherlands, Lingen in Germany and Castellon in Spain. And it has carried out a feasibility study identifying opportunities for green hydrogen production at its Kwinana site in Western Australia.

Adnoc branches out

The partnerships represent a way for Adnoc to diversify its portfolio, according to CEO Sultan Ahmed al-Jaber.

“We welcome the opportunity to collaborate with BP in both the UAE and the UK, laying the groundwork for deeper commercial partnership in the area of new energies and clean technologies,” he says.

300,000mn t/yr – Amount of hydrogen produced by Adnoc

Adnoc announced plans in May to build a blue ammonia project in Abu Dhabi, and the firm has signed agreements to explore export opportunities with Japanese and South Korean companies.

The firm has also announced plans to build a green ammonia project in Abu Dhabi powered by an 800MW solar power plant.

Adnoc produces 300,000mn t/yr of hydrogen and has plans to boost capacity to more than 500,000mn t/yr by 2030.

The UAE's energy ministry and Adnoc formed a hydrogen alliance with sovereign wealth funds ADQ and Mubadala earlier this year to develop the production and export of hydrogen products.

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Author: Tom Young