Robert Besser
09 Dec 2022, 13:28 GMT+10
LONDON, England: As the governments of major economies are funding the development of green fuels to decarbonize, BP chief executive Bernard Looney said the company is betting on hydrogen to power future low-carbon businesses.
Low-carbon hydrogen is predicted to play a key role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions from heavy industries and transportation, but it is expensive to produce and requires government support to compete against fossil fuels.
For example, under President Joe Biden's $430 billion Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), the US is offering large incentives for producing hydrogen-based fuels.
In an interview with Reuters, Tomeka McLeod, BP's newly-appointed head of hydrogen in the US, said the company is in the early planning stages to develop a large, low-carbon hydrogen hub around its Whiting, Indiana, refinery.
Hydrogen will make a major contribution, along with offshore wind, Reuters reported the company as stating.
BP has made several investments in large hydrogen projects, including in Australia, Europe and the UK, and has overhauled its corporate structure to create a dedicated hydrogen division led by Felipe Arbelaez, which has 150 staff members.
While initially modest, BP's spending on low-carbon hydrogen is predicted to grow into the hundreds of millions by the end of the decade, amidst the launch of related projects.
Reuters calculations showed that in 2022, BP spent some one-quarter of its $15.5 billion budget on low-carbon businesses, considering the $4.1 billion acquisition of US biogas producer Archaea.
In February, Looney and BP's head of renewables Anja-Isabel Dotzenrath will announce a clean hydrogen production target for the first time, with the aim of gaining a 10 percent share of utilizing hydrogen in "core markets" by 2030.
Last month, the company's Chief Financial Officer, Murray Auchincloss, told Reuters, "Hydrogen will be a big focus and it is moving much faster than we ever thought it would."
Most hydrogen is currently made by heating natural gas, a highly polluting process, known as grey hydrogen, which is mainly used in oil refining and the fertilizer industry.
But grey hydrogen becomes "blue hydrogen" if the polluting emissions are captured, while "green hydrogen" is produced by splitting water using renewables-powered electrolysis.
To increase its blue hydrogen output, BP plans to build carbon capture and storage facilities, where carbon is injected into depleted reservoirs.
Get a daily dose of Brazil Sun news through our daily email, its complimentary and keeps you fully up to date with world and business news as well.
Publish news of your business, community or sports group, personnel appointments, major event and more by submitting a news release to Brazil Sun.
More InformationDUBAI - Countries at the COP28 climate conference are considering calling for a formal phase-out of fossil fuels as part ...
(Photo credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports) Miami and China will make their debuts as hosts for Sprint races during the ...
DUBAI - Countries at the COP28 climate conference are considering calling for a formal phase-out of fossil fuels as part ...
Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], December 5 (ANI): The IT city of Bengaluru is all set to host the Men's Volleyball Club ...
The president would welcome his Russian counterpart at the summit, but warns of risks associated with an ICC arrest warrantRussian ...
Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], December 5 (ANI): One of India's biggest running festivals and the World Athletics Elite Label Road ...
NEW YORK, New York - U.S. stocks spent most of Tuesday meandering, with the major indices closing out the day ...
DEARBORN, Michigan: This week, Ford said a six-week United Auto Workers (UAW) strike cut its sales by some 100,000 vehicles ...
WASHINGTON D.C.: This week, the Biden administration adopted a new rule aimed at reducing methane emissions, which targets the role ...
AUSTIN, Texas: During an event held this week in Austin, Texas, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said the electric vehicle (EV) ...
NEW YORK, New York - U.S. stocks closed mixed on Monday following on from last week's volatility."Digestion is the word ...
REDMOND, Washington: Microsoft President Brad Smith said there is no chance of super-intelligent artificial intelligence (AI) being developed within the ...