First Results of a Natural Hydrogen Exploration Evaluation of Morocco

Summary Natural hydrogen, also referred to as geological, ‘gold’ or ‘white’ hydrogen, has recently garnered significant academic and commercial interest as a potentially low-cost and clean energy source. To advance the understanding and to ultimately support the ranking of differing geological prospectivity, we classify components of potential hydrogen systems into analytical stages based on source, migration, reservoir, trap and seal. This approach is akin to that used in mineral and petroleum system analyses (summarised within Figure 1 ). Whilst numerous formation processes exist (as summarised for example by Zgonnik, 2020 ), we propose the most relevant for serious consideration are: 1) redox reactions between iron-rich rocks and water; 2) radiolysis; 3) thermogenesis/pyrolysis of organic matter; 4) the migration of deep-derived hydrogen from mantle sources. We have developed robust methods to map these possible sources leveraging our industry leading and extensive gravity and magnetic databases combined with detailed geological evaluation. Subsequently, we consider the reservoir and seal qualities, geothermal setting, migration networks and quantification estimates to ultimately provide a relative ranking of prospectivity across our study area.