European Commission Study to Quantify Subsurface Natural Hydrogen Reservoirs for Future Production in Europe
Getech, a leading locator of subsurface resources, has been selected as a key technical delivery partner in a consortium that has been awarded a major European Commission ('EC') contract to deliver the first Europe-wide assessment of natural hydrogen potential and associated regulatory requirements, with an expected contract value to Getech of more than €1 million, to be realised over the course of FY26 and FY27.
The 12-month study, commissioned by the Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs (DG GROW), is titled 'Mapping underground reservoirs of natural hydrogen in Europe and developing the necessary legislation for sustainable production'.
Getech will deliver the main geological components of the study as part of a consortium led by Trinomics B.V.. The project will develop the first Europe-wide view of the potential of Natural Hydrogen as a low carbon energy source by mapping geological settings favourable for natural hydrogen accumulations, across all EU Member States, assessing the feasibility of commercial extraction at selected locations and providing evidence-based recommendations to inform future regulation and market design.
The award follows a competitive EC procurement process assessing technical capability, sector expertise and the ability to deliver a consistent Europe-wide evaluation across all Member States. In delivering the project, Getech will draw on its natural hydrogen exploration workflow experience, world-leading proprietary gravity and magnetic datasets and Globe geoscience platform, which together provide unique, consistent subsurface insight into this potentially transformative low carbon energy source. Getech's revenue for the project will comprise consultancy, data and software licence fees.
Chris Jepps, CEO at Getech, commented:
'Being selected by the EC for this landmark natural hydrogen study is a strong validation of Getech's technical capabilities and investment in natural hydrogen as an emerging resource. Natural hydrogen has the potential to play an important role in the EU's decarbonisation and energy security, and this project puts Getech at the centre of how the world evaluates natural hydrogen's potential and designs policy to support its responsible development.
For Getech, this contract is both financially material and gives the Company an unparalleled opportunity to further validate and refine its natural hydrogen exploration methodologies at continental scale. The methodology and expertise we build through this study are directly transferable, and we see clear potential to scale this partnership model to other regions across the globe where natural hydrogen remains largely unexplored.
As hydrogen establishes itself as a pillar of the global energy transition, Getech's proprietary datasets and geoscientific insight will be of growing importance to governments, energy companies and regulators worldwide.'
Figure 1 - The growing global use of hydrogen by sector and the increasing demand for new hydrogen applications by 2030 (IEA 2026, licence: CC BY 4.0).
This project may also encourage other studies into this potentially transformational low carbon resource elsewhere in the world. Large parts of Africa, South America and Central Asia remain unexplored from a natural hydrogen perspective, despite strong geological indicators of substantial subsurface potential. Getech will be well positioned to participate in any such activities given its proprietary global datasets and the experience gained from this EC mandate providing a proven foundation from which to lead equivalent assessments.
Source: Getech
