Hydrogen Central

The Hydrogen Race Has A New, Low-Cost, Underground Runner

hydrogen low-cost

The Hydrogen Race Has A New, Low-Cost, Underground Runner.

The case for producing hydrogen from underground reservoirs in the same way natural gas is produced took a step forward last week with the successful testing in Australia of an exploration well which flowed high purity hydrogen and helium.

If underground (or natural) hydrogen can be produced at a commercial level, and at a reasonable cost, it could imperil plans to manufacture hydrogen as an oil and gas replacement.

The Ramsay project of Gold Hydrogen reported flows to the surface of both hydrogen and helium from drilling on the Yorke Peninsula across St Vincent Gulf from the South Australian capital, Adelaide.

The company said natural hydrogen with purity levels up to 95.8% hydrogen had been encountered across seven zones with the highest purity at a depth of 1740 feet (531 metres).

“Natural hydrogen and helium flowed to the surface, achieving the primary objective before formation water encroachment impeded further flow testing,” Gold Hydrogen said in a statement filed at the Australian Stock Exchange.

“This is a crucial result ahead of stage two testing.”

The Ramsay project is following up reports of naturally occurring hydrogen in oil wells drilled in the 1920s and 30s.

Theory Confirmed

Gold Hydrogen managing director, Neil McDonald, said in a statement that to test seven zones in Ramsay from 200 meters to 1000 meters and to have confirmed natural hydrogen can be extracted to the surface from all seven zones, plus confirming that helium can be extracted to surface from a 180m gross thick pay zone is a remarkable result.

Seismic testing of the company’s large land holdings on the Yorke Peninsula and south of Adelaide is planned to start soon to help identify future drilling targets.

Interest in underground hydrogen, which can also be called natural or white hydrogen, has been growing as the gas itself is increasingly seen as having a future in decarbonizing the environment.

The challenge for everyone involved is to find a way of producing hydrogen at an affordable price.

Gold Hydrogen believes that the naturally occurring form of the gas can be produced at a cost of less than $1 per kilogram, a fraction of the $3.70/kg cost for hydrogen produced from natural gas, $4.20/kg from coal or prices ranging from $4.22/kg up to $16.80/kg using renewable energy to break down water by electrolysis

While only a small company with a stock market value of just $85 million (A$125 million) Gold Hydrogen has impeccable management connections and a share price which has doubled since the start of the year, as well as being 400% higher than this time last year.

Downer Led

Its chairman is Alexander Downer, a former Australian foreign minister and former Australian High Commissioner in London, a posting which in 2016 briefly put him in touch with George Papadopoulos who was working for the presidential election campaign of Donald Trump.

It was that encounter which eventually led to an international ruckus and an inquiry led by special counsel Robert Mueller.

Downer has moved on from the political and diplomatic phase of his career to now be developing other interests that include chairmanship of Gold Hydrogen, the uranium investment company, Yellowcake, and chairman of the International School of Government at Kings College, London.

READ the latest news shaping the hydrogen market at Hydrogen Central

The Hydrogen Race Has A New, Low-Cost, Underground Runner. source

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