Gold H2, a Houston-based clean-hydrogen-producing company, has signed a significant memorandum of understanding (MOU) in the USA with a major oil and gas company, marking the beginning of a series of pilots with large oil majors over the course of the next 12 months.
This pilot will commercially demonstrate Gold H2’s first-of-its-kind Gold Hydrogen® producing biotechnology and aims to produce cheaper, cleaner hydrogen than ever before ($0.80/kg), according to a news release.
The technology will help produce new clean energy sources and allow oil and gas companies to transform uneconomical, non-productive oil wells into mass hydrogen-producing assets. This business model will reshape the traditional oil and gas industry landscape by further accelerating the clean energy transition and creating new economic opportunities in areas that were previously dismissed as unviable.
Under the right conditions, depleted oil reservoirs can be transformed into subsurface hydrogen biorefineries. With current iterations of its solution, Gold H2 targets reservoirs that are currently, or have the capacity to be waterflooded with temperatures between 130°F and 180°F and total dissolved solids concentration of less than 100,000 ppm.
Supplementing a water flood injection system, Gold H2 deploys the Mobile Microbe Manufacturer (M3), an onsite fermentation unit, to inject its microbes along with additional nutrients to begin the production process. Each M3 can convert up to 120 oil wells, and each well is expected to produce up to 2.5 tons of hydrogen per day. Gold H2 also takes several steps for risk mitigation, including utilizing targeted biochemistry, installing a minimal equipment footprint, and using non-GMO microbes. The Gold H2 solution is optimized to mitigate concerns of corrosion or biofouling.
The aforementioned MOU aims to deploy the first waterflood pilot and has a clear pathway to becoming a major commercial project. This further pushes the momentum that Gold H2 is experiencing, following its recent CEO hire of Prabhdeep Sekhon and ongoing discussions that are progressing with notable industry players in Canada, India, Eastern Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East.
