Digital Energy Journal- Metatek / NHSG to develop new methods for exploration for hydrogen

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Metatek / NHSG to develop new methods for exploration for hydrogen

Wednesday, March 11, 2026

Geoscientists embark on new natural hydrogen exploration following breakthrough

A consortium of international geoscientists are today announcing a formal partnership to undertake new methods of exploration for natural hydrogen, following some breakthrough developments in exploration techniques.

Exploration businesses NHSG and Metatek have agreed to collaborate to advance science-based exploration for natural hydrogen and to offer a new approach to the challenge of identifying potentially commercial accumulations of hydrogen gas in the subsurface.

The NHSG/Metatek partnership provides a new exploration tool built on NHSG's insights into, and modelling of, gas phase generation of hydrogen from ultramafic rockshyfe in different geotectonic settings, alongside Metatek's unique technologies and insights into subsurface imaging and modelling. It is the result of a series of joint studies undertaken since 2022.

The studies have revealed a clearer understanding than ever before of what constitutes a high potential hydrogen source rock, hence a series of integrated geological-geophysical workflows and proprietary technologies are now available to evaluate subsurface protoliths and identify exploration targets in different geotectonic settings.

The collaboration brings together NHSG's international experience in oil & gas and minerals exploration, its extensive research and its proprietary Hy-Eval® tool for evaluating and quantifying hydrogen yield, with Metatek's market leading technologies in geophysics and multiphysics.

The NHSG/Metatek partnership already has a global track record, for example a recent project in the United Arab Emirates for client RAK GAS that involved interpreting legacy data, field work and data sample collection and analysis.

Ian Hutchinson, NHSG's Technical Director, comments: 'This is a fantastic opportunity to partner with a world class geophysical company in the search for natural hydrogen, combining both parties' unique IP and novel technologies into a powerful exploration tool. A classic case where the combined value of this collaboration will be far greater than the sum of the individual parts.'

Jonathan Watson, Metatek's General Manager, adds: 'We look forward to working alongside NHSG to drive this targeted and focused exploration approach and accelerate the race to find what is a very difficult to detect resource. By applying our advanced technologies and insights into subsurface imaging and modelling, we believe we can help bring about successful future drilling programmes.'

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