Provaris Energy (ASX:PV1) – formerly Global Energy Ventures – has provided the market with an update on collaborative activities under its existing MOU with Provaris in Europe to supply hydrogen to Germany.

Provaris’s ultimate value proposition is that it wants to produce ocean tankers capable of transporting hydrogen. While prototype designs have been certified, no tanker as of yet makes up part of Provaris’s asset base.

What the company is doing is attempting to lock in supply and offtake agreements early.

Under its existing MOU with Uniper, both players are moving towards a sales purchase agreement (SPA) – and shipping contracts – before the start of next year. That’s the ultimate update provided on Thursday.

It’s unusual to see companies providing updates on MOUs inked relatively recently, but this follows an interesting exchange from Provaris’s CEO to ASX compliance back in early August.

Listings at ASX ultimately suggested Provaris was talking up non-binding MOUs unlikely to go anywhere, but that was not the way Provaris saw it.

“At this reasonably early stage of the rapidly expanding hydrogen sector globally (and, in particular, in Europe) major participants understandingly are assessing all options and it would be unusual for them to agree to full exclusivity,” PV1 CEO Martin Carolan wrote in early August.

He was referring specifically to the MOU with Uniper, on which Provaris provided update today.

“Major European utilities are generally reluctant to have their name included in any announcements. The fact that Uniper was prepared for the Company and [a Provaris subsidiary] to include reference to Uniper in the announcement is a further indication of their commitment to the scope of the cooperation under the MOU,” Carolan added at the time.

PV1 last traded at 2.3cps.