Sign in
SoutH2 Corridor feasibility studies are underway: Algeria’s state-owned Sonatrach signed an MoU with Germany’s VNG, Italy’s Snam and Sea Corridor, and Austria’s Verbund to conduct feasibility studies for the implementation of the SoutH2 Corridor pipeline, according to a press release (pdf). The parties are set to jointly study the green hydrogen value chain of green hydrogen if Algeria is included in the project as a hydrogen producer and exporter to Europe. No timeline or financial details were disclosed for the studies.
That’s not all: Sonatrach also signed an MoU with Mubadala-owned Spanish oil refiner Cepsa to jointly explore establishing a project to produce green hydrogen and its derivatives in Algeria, according to a press release (pdf). The two phases of the MoU include assessing the project’s viability in the first and then developing it in the second. No timeline or financial details were disclosed for this project as well.
We knew this was coming: Plans for the SoutH2 Corridor project MoU were announced last July by the companies after a meeting involving company executives that discussed the project’s goal to supply the EU with nearly four mn tons of green hydrogen annually from Algeria to Germany via Italy and Austria.
About the project: The SoutH2 Corridor is a 3.3k km hydrogen pipeline connecting North Africa, Italy, Austria, and Germany. The project is set to use over 70% repurposed infrastructure, with new pipeline segments only where necessary. The project’s website boasts governments’ “political endorsement” and “support” from companies involved in hydrogen production and offtake along the corridor.
Cepsa is also playing a role in Europe’s hydrogen network: The company signed agreements with Norwegian ammonia producer and shipper Yara Clean Ammonia and Dutch energy network operator Gasunie to facilitate transportation of green hydrogen to Germany and neighboring European countries last year. The agreement was to have the two parties establish a green hydrogen maritime corridor between the Spanish port of Algeciras, near Cepsa’s green hydrogen hub, and the Dutch port of Rotterdam.
REMEMBER- Major companies are planning to use the corridor: Saudi renewables giant Acwa Power signed an MoU with the Tunisian government in June to develop a USD 6.2 bn renewables-powered green hydrogen project capable of producing 200k tons of green hydrogen, which will be exported to Europe via the SoutH2 Corridor pipeline. TE H2 — a JV between French energy giant TotalEnergies and Luxembourg’s EREN Groupe — and Austrian utilities company Verbund also signed an agreement with Tunisia in May to study the production of 200k tons of green hydrogen for export annually using the pipeline.
