Koloma Inc., the world’s leading natural hydrogen exploration company, announced today the appointment of Mr Matt Kay as the first Chief Executive Officer of Koloma Australia Pty Ltd.

“We are thrilled to welcome Matt Kay as an experienced leader with a proven track record in delivering growth and success in the natural resources sector to lead Koloma Australia,” said Koloma CEO Pete Johnson. “Koloma Australia was formed over a year ago, and the company has already made significant progress, having established a head office in Adelaide and acquired an initial presence of 18 MM acres in Western Australia, South Australia and Tasmania.”

Mr Kay has more than 30 years’ experience in the resources sector in senior leadership and operational roles, and joins Koloma Australia following the successful Series A initial funding round, as the company establishes operations and prepares for exploring for natural hydrogen across Australia.

“I am excited about the role that Koloma Australia can play in helping to decarbonise the energy industry and other hard-to-abate sectors. Through the science-based, technology powered, commercially focussed ‘Koloma approach’ we will draw on the collective expertise of the Australian team and the international Koloma group to pioneer natural hydrogen as clean energy resource,” said Mr Kay.

Previously Mr Kay was Managing Director of Beach Energy, where he quadrupled the company in scale and expanded operations from a single-basin operator into a multi-basin company. Prior to that he served as Executive General Manager, Strategy and Commercial at Oil Search Pty Ltd, and he spent 12 years with Woodside energy in various leadership roles, including VP of Corporate Development, GM of Production Planning, and GM of Commercial for Middle East and Africa.

Matt Kay is an experienced ASX 100 director and executive, with extensive leadership skills across natural resources and industry, having served on the board of APPEA (Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association) and as chair of the APPEA Executive Committee.

Koloma also thanks Dr. Lawrence (Trey) Meckel, for his efforts in establishing Koloma Australia and building the largest land position in the natural hydrogen industry.  He will continue to lead Koloma Australia’s exploration as Chief Technical Officer.

About Koloma

Koloma is a technology-enabled natural hydrogen exploration company which has demonstrated the presence of significant subsurface hydrogen systems, including in Australia. By leveraging its experience, a proprietary database, and a suite of data analytics tools, Koloma aims to enable large-scale clean hydrogen production with 24/7 dispatchability and global reach.

Koloma Australia was funded independently from Koloma, with investors who see the promise of the Australian market.  Among them, MOL Switch LLC, the venture arm of one of the largest shipping companies in the world, joined as an investor in both Koloma Australia and Koloma, Inc. with a desire to help advance natural hydrogen as a resource for carbon-free shipping globally.

CONTACT:

Sasha Grebe: sasha@koloma.com.au