A nugget of news out of the US and Germany this week may have slipped under the radar, but it carries big implications for one of the UK’s most ambitious hydrogen and energy storage projects.
ExxonMobil and BASF have agreed to push forward with methane pyrolysis... and that development lands squarely in the sweet spot of EnergyPathways PLC's (AIM:EPP) strategy.
Why is this interesting? Because methane pyrolysis sits at the core of EP's MESH project in Barrow-in-Furness, which aims to produce around 20,000 tonnes of low-carbon hydrogen and 60,000 tonnes of synthetic graphite each year.
It is the technology that underpins part of an ambitious plan. And when two industrial giants on different continents decide the same pathway is worth scaling, that bet starts to look less speculative.
EP has already tied itself closely to Hazer Group, the Australian firm regarded as one of the leaders in this field, and is running an integrated engineering study with KBR.
It also holds exclusive rights to deploy Hazer’s technology in the UK, giving it a protected position just as global interest is rising.
Hazer’s chief executive has described the combination of hydrogen and graphite co-production as a “genuine gamechanger” for the UK, a claim that is now easier for investors to take seriously.
The ExxonMobil–BASF move matters because it shows that methane pyrolysis is not just an academic curiosity.
Their joint plan to build a demonstration unit at Exxon’s Baytown complex, capable of producing up to 2,000 tonnes of hydrogen and 6,000 tonnes of solid carbon annually, signals that the process has crossed the threshold from laboratory to industrial evaluation.
BASF has highlighted efficiency gains, economic attractiveness and emissions reductions as the key goals. Exxon brings scale and operational expertise to turn those ambitions into something that can stand up in a commercial environment.
And the fundamentals are hard to ignore. Methane pyrolysis avoids the high energy demands of water electrolysis, does not require water at all, and avoids the carbon emissions associated with conventional steam-methane reforming.
The result is a route to low-carbon hydrogen that could, in time, be cheaper for taxpayers and energy customers than the “blue” and “green” alternatives.
It does not mean EnergyPathways is suddenly de-risked or that MESH becomes inevitable.
Delivery, funding and permitting challenges lie ahead. But in a sector where technology risk is often the biggest hurdle, this external validation is welcome.
ExxonMobil and BASF’s decision to pursue the same fundamental chemistry gives EnergyPathways and its partners a much stronger footing as they push forward with what could be a nationally significant asset.
Sometimes the biggest signals come from the smallest pieces of news. This is one of them.