Natural hydrogen –potential and challenges as a clean energy resource

Abstract

With the establishment of low-cost production technologies and global supply chains becoming major issues in the widespread use of hydrogen, natural hydrogen (white hydrogen) is attracting increasing attention as a future source of hydrogen. In addition to its low cost and low carbon intensity, it has the potential to become a new primary energy source unrestricted by current energy geopolitics because of its different generation process from that of oil and natural gas. Reflecting these expectations, the number of exploration projects has been increasing worldwide in recent years, and start-up companies conducting exploration have been successful in raising funds. Public funds have also begun to be invested, and mining laws and other laws for conducting natural hydrogen exploration are being developed in several countries. The challenge is that the full extent of the natural hydrogen system, which consists of the generation, migration, and accumulation process, is not yet known, making it difficult to estimate resources and reserves and, therefore, to understand the economic viability of the project. Only the Bourakébougou project in Mali has reached demonstration production, while the other cases are still in the “observation” and “well test” stages. The natural hydrogen industry is in its infancy at present, but as exploratory drilling and seismic surveys of individual projects progress, the hydrogen system will be revealed with greater resolution. As a result, it is expected that projects with more suitable conditions for development will be discovered, which will lead to development and production.