Santos in zero-emission ‘blue hydrogen’ study
The South Australian energy producer aims to make zero-emission or ‘‘blue hydrogen’’ from natural gas.
Santos has commissioned a study to produce hydrogen from gas in the Cooper Basin, with carbon emissions to be reinjected underground into the Moomba gas fields.
The South Australian energy producer will work with consultancy GHD to complete the study by the end of 2020.
It which aims to make zero-emission or ‘‘blue hydrogen’’ from natural gas.
A final investment decision is also due by year-end on Santos’s carbon capture and storage venture with BP which would reinject 1.7 million tonnes of carbon dioxide produced annually when separating gas at Moomba.
“Carbon capture and storage is the fastest and most efficient route to a hydrogen economy, using less water, de-carbonising natural gas at its source and eliminating Scope 3 emissions,” Santos chief executive Kevin Gallagher said. “CCS enables the capture of carbon dioxide from the production of blue hydrogen, making it a ‘zero-emissions’ fuel.”
Carbon sequestration at Moomba could ultimately be lowered to $20 a tonne from Santos’s original $30 target, compared with the current market price of around $16 a tonne, Santos said at its annual general meeting in April.
Santos said sanctioning investment in the plant still hinged on a CCS methodology being approved for the federal government’s Emissions Reduction Fund.
Scott Morrison boosted the fund by $2bn ahead of last year’s budget, setting it up as a key plank to deliver on his pledge to “meet and beat” Australia’s Paris target to reduce emissions by 26-28 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030.
Big gas industry players including Western Australia’s Woodside Petroleum have started to position themselves for hydrogen production. The LNG producer recently agreed a joint study with Japanese companies as expectations grow for the fuel to eventually mirror LNG.
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