MMEX Resources Corp. announced its sponsorship and filing for a Permian Basin H₂ hub under the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) guidance for funding clean H₂ infrastructure.

On September 22, 2022, The DOE released its Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) to solicit Regional Clean Hydrogen Hubs (H₂Hubs) under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL). The FOA stated, “This $8-B effort will catalyze investment in the development of H₂Hubs that demonstrate the production, processing, delivery, storage, and end-use of clean H₂, in support of the Biden Administration’s goal to achieve a carbon-free electric grid by 2035 and a net zero emissions economy by 2050.” The DOE will select 6 to 10 regional H₂ hubs with a preferred DOE investment for each hub in the range of $500 MM to $1 B with 50% of the amount funded by outside sources.

Jack W. Hanks, President and CEO of MMEX Resources Corp. said, “We have filed with the DOE to start the process for the Trans Permian H₂Hub. The BIL and The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 change the landscape dramatically for hydrogen production and use with its supporting tax credits and creation of the regional hydrogen hubs. With its abundant resources of oil, natural gas, oil and natural gas pipelines, sun, wind, transcontinental interstate highways and railroad access, open space and reusable water resources, the Permian Basin has all the requisites to be chosen as one of the regional hubs.”

“We formed the regional hub Trans Permian H₂Hub, LLC to apply for DOE funding and are including the Texas Permian Basin cities of San Antonio, San Angelo, Big Spring, Midland, Odessa, El Paso, Fort Stockton, Alpine, Presidio and Del Rio with an outreach of H₂ attributes across Texas, the U.S. Southwest and Mexico. Our planned projects within the Trans Permian H₂Hub include hydrogen bus manufacturing, H₂ re-fueling stations, green and blue hydrogen production, ammonia and methanol production, solar and wind power, and metropolitan bus transport projects in the major cities. We plan to work with the many natural gas transmission pipelines in the Permian to blend H₂ with natural gas to reduce CO₂ emissions and to work with our four railroads serving the Trans Permian to convert locomotives to H₂ to reduce emissions. We plan to include community benefits programs including environmental justice that check the core elements set out in the FOA. We are in discussions with each of the county or city economic development agencies in the region to implement economic and community development programs. The H₂Hub also encompasses several university, college, and trade school campuses to implement hydrogen attributes curriculum or job training. The Trans Permian H2Hub is open for participation to any interested party. We are now receiving letters of support and participation in our non-binding, non-exclusive cooperation agreement.”

Hanks continued, “We are already heavily invested in Pecos County, Texas and the Permian Basin for development of both green and blue hydrogen projects. We announced on August 24, 2021, a green hydrogen project utilizing the Siemens Energy electrolyzer technology along with solar power and we announced in our SEC 10K filing on July 15, 2022, our discussions to develop a blue hydrogen project at the same site to produce hydrogen utilizing an autothermal reformer technology along with carbon capture powered by renewable energy. We are now in discussions with European buyers to purchase green ammonia and/or green methanol converted from the hydrogen. For the blue hydrogen project, the hydrogen will be used in Siemens Energy turbines and generator sets to produce 365 MWe of electric power which are projected to utilize initially a 75% hydrogen-25% natural gas feed and moving to a 100% hydrogen feed, with the electric power to be marketed by the power commodity trading desk of a Super Major.”

The new Trans Permian H₂Hub website includes the MMEX Trans Permian H₂Hub presentation, including several maps of the region.