Advocating natural gas at the outset of a green hydrogen and renewables-oriented two-day summit may have seemed an unlikely topic to greet many of the 2,000 delegates in the Palais de Congress auditorium. But Dr. Leila Benali’s comments signalled a focus on pragmatism in maintaining hydrogen’s momentum amid challenging market conditions.

“We cannot talk seriously about hydrogen and power-to-X if we’re not credible in building natural gas infrastructure,” she said.

To that end, she said a formal request for proposal will be issued for a floating storage and regasification unit in the Nador West Med port in eastern Morocco, the first step in building gas infrastructure at the deepwater port, and to develop pipelines to connect supply and demand centres.

Other key messages in her opening address were the need to support research and innovation to support industrial strategy and youth, and positioning the North African country as a gateway for connectivity.

“We have deepwater ports, high-speed rail lines and quality road networks,” she said.

“To governments in general, we need to accelerate our partnerships, we need to move fast, as fast as our climate demands and population needs. We need to move beyond pilot projects, with fair risk sharing and returns. You know how much I don’t like MOUs – we need to turn them into actual investments.”

Morocco’s energy industry remains heavily dependent on traditional, imported fossil fuels, although it has made significant investments in renewable energy. In 2022, coal, oil, and natural gas comprised the vast majority of its energy supply and electricity generation.

Under ambitious green hydrogen production targets, it plans to meet over 4% of global demand by 2030, developing 4TWh for domestic use and 10TWh for export.