Page 11 - FSUOGM Week 31 2021

FSUOGM PROJECTS & COMPANIES FSUOGM

Gazprom Neft joins Russian

hydrogen consortium

RUSSIA GAZPROM Neft has joined a consortium of to launch its first pilot hydrogen projects next
Russian companies looking to develop hydrogen year.
The company has as a low-carbon energy source. Russian oil and gas companies are expanding
experience of carbon The oil-producing arm of Russia’s Gazprom their development of low-carbon technologies
storage at its oilfields in has joined the Council of Industrial Partners at in order to improve their environmental, social
Serbia. the Hydrogen Valley consortium, established in and governance (ESG) ratings and keep up with
November last year by companies and universi- shifts in energy investments in Europe.
ties to develop technologies for hydrogen’s pro- Gazprom Neft also announced on July 29 that
duction and use. it had commissioned a geo-seismic monitoring
Gazprom Neft already produces some system for underground associated petroleum
100,000 tonnes per year (tpy) of hydrogen, gas (APG) storage at its Zapadno-Messoyakh-
though not as an energy source but as a raw skoye field, which it operates jointly with Ros-
material in its refining process. The company neft. The system will be powered by solar energy,
sees strong potential for production in Russia it said.
of so-called blue hydrogen, derived from natu- Russian companies are required to utilise
ral gas using steam reforming, with the process 95% of their APG under Russian law, but this is
made clean through the capture and storage of difficult in remote areas like the Zapadno-Mes-
resulting CO2 emissions. soyakhskoye field, situated within the Rus-
Blue hydrogen will play a nearer-term role sian Arctic circle. Gazprom Neft and Rosneft’s
in the energy transition while green hydrogen is solution has been to store the gas underground
phased in, Gazprom Neft said. for future use. The APG storage system was
Gazprom Neft already has experience of car- launched last year and has received some 1.2bn
bon storage in Serbia, where it works at some cubic metres of gas since then.
CO2-rich oil and gas fields. It re-injects the CO2 Gazprom Neft is also working to provide
into reservoirs to maintain pressure. cleaner shipping fuels. It is expected to launch
“Russia has enormous potential to occupy Russia’s first LNG bunkering vessel later this
a commercial niche in the global market for year. And it is also improving the environmental
CO2 utilisation quotas,” the company said. “We quality of its oil-based marine fuels.
have already formed a technological chain for The company announced on July 22 it had
capturing, storing, transporting and geological started producing lower-sulphur marine fuel at
storage of carbon dioxide. In these areas, we its refinery in Moscow, and had shipped the first
see ourselves as a centre of competence and are 10,000-tonne batch of the fuel to customers at
ready to offer the consortium our accumulated the port of St Petersburg. The refinery is antici-
experience.” pated to produce 100,000 tonnes of this fuel by
Gazprom Neft estimates it can expand its the end of the year. Its sulphur content is less than
hydrogen supply to 250,000 tpy by 2024. 0.5%, in line with new pollution rules introduced
The academic institutions involved in the by the International Maritime Organisation
hydrogen consortium are led by the Russian (IMO) last year.
Academy of Sciences. In addition to Gazprom Gazprom Neft already produces low-sulphur
Neft, other commercial players include pet- marine fuel at its other oil refinery in Omsk.
rochemicals group SIBUR, Russian Railways, “Gazprom Neft was among the first to bring
steelmaker Severstal, locomotive manufacturer low-sulphur marine fuel – meeting global envi-
Transmashholding, nuclear plant (NPP) opera- ronmental standards – to market in Russia,” the
tor Rosatom and pipemaker TMK. company said. “Thanks to their high quality and
The consortium is primarily focused on optimum formulations, our products enjoy con-
hydrogen development in the regions of Mos- sistent demand, and are supplied to most Rus-
cow, Tomsk, Sakhalin and Samara. It expects sian ports.” ™

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