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The UK has established a new hydrogen coun- hoped that a finalised national strategy will be
cil, whereas in Italy, the gas grid operator Snam ready by the end of the year.
has finished testing a hybrid hydrogen-blend The key players in this drive will be Gazprom
turbine designed by Baker Hughes. Its plan is to and Rosatom, the ministry expects. Gazprom
feed up to 7 bcm per year into the Italian gas grid wants to produce so-called turquoise hydrogen
– enough to cover the gas needs of 3mn families. using methane pyrolysis, where gas is passed
Snam and 10 other European grid opera- through molten metal, producing solid carbon
tors have also published a plan for developing a as a useful by-product. So far, pyrolysis is only
6,800-km hydrogen grid by 2030, mainly con- used on a very small scale globally.
sisting of repurposed gas pipelines, reaching Rosatom, on the other hand, wants to pro-
23,000 km in size a decade later. This initiative duce yellow hydrogen, generated from water
would cost somewhere in the region of €27- using electrolysis, but with the process powered
64bn ($31-73bn). But the operators estimate with nuclear rather than renewable energy.
that hydrogen could be delivered across Europe Whether Russia can establish itself as a com-
efficiently, at a levelised transport cost of only mercial hydrogen exporter in time to capture a
€0.09-0.17 per kg per 1,000 km. part of the European market in unclear. The EU’s
Over in the Netherlands, Norwegian engi- strategy heavily prioritises green hydrogen pro-
neering consultancy DNV GL has teamed up duced from renewables, and sees other types as
with Dutch glass maker Celsian to create a Dutch only a short-term solution.
consortium to develop a burner technology ena- Embracing hydrogen will also be an expen-
bling energy-intensive industries to move from sive undertaking for Russia, which is short of
gas to hydrogen. revenues following the collapse in commodity
These announcements follow the European prices and the launch of an economic support
Commission’s long-awaited unveiling of a new package.
EU hydrogen strategy, calling for 10mn tonnes Meanwhile, Rosneft has reported the dis-
per year (tpy) of the fuel to be produced using covery of a new oilfield at its Vostok Oil project
electrolysis by 2030. in the Russian Arctic, estimated to be 146mn
Over in Norway, state-owned Equinor has barrels in size. Rosneft claims that its Vostok Oil
posted its fourth quarterly loss in a row, on project could yield as much as 2.3mn bpd of oil
impairments and upstream losses as a result of by 2030, but low prices and the initiative’s con-
low prices and production cuts. siderable cost raise concerns about feasibility.
The company booked a net loss of $251mn Lastly, Gazprom Neft has launched a new
in the second quarter, versus a $1.48bn gain a $1.4bn complex at its refinery in Moscow. The
year earlier. Its pre-tax earnings also collapsed to Euro+ facility will boost the quality and quantity
$354mn, from $3.15bn a year before. All three of of light fuels such as gasoline and diesel, partly
its upstream units – E&P Norway, E&P Interna- at the expense of heavier and less valuable fuels.
tional and E&P USA, suffered adjusted earnings
losses. But a strong trading performance pro- If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping
vided some relief for the company. the former Soviet Union’s oil and gas sector then
please click here for NewsBase’s FSU Monitor .
If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping
Europe’s oil and gas sector then please click here for GLNG: All eyes on Asia
NewsBase’s EurOil Monitor. Significant developments in the LNG space – in
terms of new projects, trends and milestones –
FSU: Russia goes local have largely come from Asia over the past few
Russia has watched with keen interest as gov- days. These include progress on new LNG-to-
ernments and businesses in Europe, the main power projects.
market for its oil and gas, have drawn up plans Details emerged last week of the LNG-to-
to develop hydrogen as an energy source. It is power project being proposed for Vietnam by
understood that the Russian energy ministry has Chan May LNG, which is considering investing
submitted a draft five-year plan to put Russia on up to $6bn in a 4-GW power plant, LNG import
the road to becoming a hydrogen exporter. It is terminal and storage facilities.

P8 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 30 29•July•2020