Clean, Cheap, and Underground: Morten Stahl’s Investment Case for Natural Hydrogen

An investment should leave the next generation with both financial security and a healthier planet. That belief guides Morten Stahl’s work in natural hydrogen. He sees the possibility of earning a return as part of what could help an environmental solution reach more people. For him, the practical test is whether customers have an affordable reason to use it.

Stahl, founder and CEO of Natural Hydrogen Ventures, applies that thinking to investments in companies exploring for naturally occurring hydrogen and developing related technologies. His ambition to be a good ancestor connects the money he hopes to leave his children with the world they will inherit.

His approach recognises the value of consuming less while questioning how much progress can depend on widespread changes in behaviour. In his view, cleaner options need to work within everyday budgets and industrial requirements. “We should all think about how much we consume,” he says. He also wants people with fewer resources to have opportunities to improve their living standards.

That outlook shaped his search for investments in cleaner energy and production. Stahl makes time to read and investigate unfamiliar subjects. Reading about Australian companies exploring natural hydrogen first brought the resource to his attention. His earlier hydrogen investments helped him recognise its potential and prompted further research. The attraction was a possible answer to a problem he already understood: making cleaner hydrogen affordable.

What followed was deeper involvement through research and industry conferences. The appeal, he explains, was the possibility of finding a naturally occurring resource that could serve existing demand at a competitive price. “Environmental benefits are essential, but a resource also needs to be affordable and practical to use,” Stahl says. “For me, the investment case depends on whether it can meet customers’ needs at a price they can justify.”

Stahl says he encountered scepticism early on, including doubts that natural hydrogen existed. This mindset is now a thing of the past and his current focus has moved on to the next question. Finding commercial quantities of hydrogen underground and supplying it reliably at an acceptable cost are different achievements. He sees the latter as the evidence needed to give more investors confidence.

The US Geological Survey defines natural or geologic hydrogen as hydrogen gas found beneath the Earth’s surface. It is generated and stored underground, unlike hydrogen manufactured through industrial processes. Exploration involves assessing where hydrogen could form and accumulate, then investigating whether those accumulations could be recovered through wells. The agency’s research programme examines the geological conditions and exploration methods needed to find recoverable resources. 

For Stahl, that scientific work must connect with existing markets. He points to industrial uses, including ammonia and fertiliser production, as a starting point for evaluating demand. His interest is in whether natural hydrogen could supply those needs affordably and with environmental benefits. Those outcomes remain goals to demonstrate as individual projects develop.

He also sees work beyond financing individual projects. Alongside investment work, Stahl runs an industry media business and helps co-host conferences, seeking to make the field more familiar to potential investors. In his view, exploration and infrastructure need capital, and attracting it requires a clearer understanding of the opportunity. His entrepreneurial instinct is to address gaps that could slow that work.

That conviction comes with an acknowledgement of uncertainty. He cautions against committing all available savings to an emerging field. “I see huge potential in the future of this space, but no one should ever put all their eggs in one basket,” he remarks. “Have courage to invest not only in the growth but also in the potential impact.” His willingness to support early development rests on accepting that commercial success still needs to be established.

That responsibility extends to the people who could help develop the resource. Stahl sees a potential role for oil and gas workers whose experience includes assessing what lies underground, drilling wells, and operating them. In his view, those capabilities could support exploration and development as natural hydrogen projects progress. Stahl states, “Leveraging existing skills is a huge part of the industry’s growth potential.”

He wants that experience to remain useful as energy needs change. The prospect of putting established skills to work matters to his investment philosophy because it connects environmental aims with livelihoods. For Stahl, a commercially viable resource could give customers another option and experienced workers another place to apply their knowledge.

“The oil, gas, and mining industries have expertise that could help bring natural hydrogen into commercial use,” Stahl says. “Putting those skills to work could support livelihoods while helping us build a more liveable planet.”