A global gold rush for buried hydrogen is underway — as hype builds over its clean energy potential

A
global
gold
rush
is
underway
for
a
long-overlooked
resource
that
advocates
say
could
play
a
significant
role
in
the

shift
away
from
fossil
fuels.

Geologic
hydrogen,
sometimes
referred
to
as
white,
gold
or
natural
hydrogen,
refers
to
hydrogen
gas
that
is
found
in
its
natural
form
beneath
Earth’s
surface.
It
is

thought
to
be
produced
by
high-temperature
reactions
between
water
and
iron-ich
minerals.

Hydrogen
has

long
been
billed
as
one
of
many
potential
energy
sources
that
could
play
a
pivotal
role
in
the
energy
transition,
but
most
of
it
is

produced
using
fossil
fuels
such
as
coal
and
natural
gas,
a
process
that
generates
significant
greenhouse
gas
emissions.

Green
hydrogen,
a
process
that
involves
splitting
water
into
hydrogen
and
oxygen
using
renewable
electricity,
is
one
exception
from
what’s
known
as
the
hydrogen

color
rainbow.
However,
its
development
has
been
held
back
by
soaring
costs
and
a
challenging
economic
environment.

It’s
within
this
context
that
momentum
has
been
building
around
geologic
hydrogen.
Exploratory
efforts
are
now
underway
in
countries
such
as
the
U.S.,
Canada,
Australia,
France,
Spain,
Colombia,
South
Korea
and
others.

Research

published
earlier
this
month
by
Rystad
Energy
showed
that
40
companies
were
actively
searching
for
geologic
hydrogen
deposits
by
the
end
of
last
year
—
up
from
just
10
in
2020.

The
consulting
firm,
which
described
the
pursuit
of
geologic
hydrogen
as
a “white
gold
rush,”
said
the
hype
stems
from
hopes
that
the
untapped
resource
could
be
a “gamechanger”
in
the
clean
energy
transition.

“I
would
say
this
is
something
relatively
old
and
new
in
a
way,”
Minh
Khoi
Le,
head
of
hydrogen
research
at
Rystad
Energy,
told
CNBC
via
videoconference. “The
first
project
that
found
hydrogen
was
a
while
ago,
but
it
never
picked
up
from
there,
right?
People
never
seriously
tried
to
go
for
exploration.”

The

initial
discovery
of
geologic
hydrogen
occurred
in
1987
in
a
small
village
roughly
60
kilometers
(37.3
miles)
from
Mali’s
capital
of
Bamako.
A
failed
attempt
to
drill
for
water
by
Canada’s
Hydroma
hit
upon
an
abundance
of
odorless
gas
that
was
inadvertently
found
to
be
highly
flammable.
The
well
was
soon
plugged
and
forgotten.

Almost
two
decades
later,
subsequent
exploration
at
the
site

found
geologic
reservoirs
containing
nearly
pure
hydrogen
gas.
Today,
the
resource
is
being
used
to
provide
power
to
the
Malian
village
of
Bourakébougou.

Last
year,
researchers

found
what
may
be
the
world’s
largest
geologic
hydrogen
deposit
to
date
in
France’s
eastern
Lorraine
region.
The
unexpected
discovery
further
boosted
interest
in
its
clean
energy
potential.

Geoffrey
Ellis,
a
research
geologist
at
the
Energy
Resources
Program
of
the
U.S.
Geological
Survey
(USGS),
told
CNBC
that
there
could
be
a
vast
amount
of
naturally
occurring
hydrogen
buried
in
underground
reservoirs
around
the
world.

Based
on
current
understanding,
Ellis
said
there
is
likely
to
be
about
5
trillion
metric
tons
of
geologic
hydrogen
in
Earth’s
interior,
although
most
of
this
is
likely
to
be
too
deep
or
too
far
offshore
to
be
economically
recovered.

Nonetheless,
Ellis
said
that
just
a
few
percent
of
geologic
hydrogen
recovery
might
well
be
enough
to
supply
all
projected
demand
for
200
years.

“The
potential
is
there
but
we’ve
got
to
do
the
work,”
Ellis
said
via
videoconference,
adding
that
more
investment
is
necessary
to
accelerate
early-stage
research
and
development.

The
U.S.
Department
of
Energy
last
month

announced
$20
million
to
support
16
projects
nationwide
to
advance
the
natural
subsurface
generation
of
hydrogen.
It
said
the
energy
resource
could
potentially
produce
zero
carbon
emissions
when
burned
or
used
in
a
fuel
cell.

“Natural
hydrogen
has
created
a
lot
of
excitement
at
the
moment
but
in
terms
of
potential
I
think
it
is
still
a
little
bit
uncertain
because
none
of
these
projects
have
actually
started
producing
or
extracting
hydrogen
—
except
for
that
one
in
Mali,”
Rystad
Energy’s
Le
told
CNBC.

Le
said
there
were
still “a
lot
of
question
marks
around
the
whole
story
about
natural
hydrogen,”
but
there
appeared
to
be “some
substance”
behind
the
hype.

“If
some
of
these
numbers
that
certain
institutes,
like
the
USGS,
about
the
potential
volume
that
you
can
extract
…
come
true,
it
can
actually
play
quite
a
significant
role,”
he
added.

Not
everyone’s
convinced.
Some
have
expressed
skepticism
about
the
clean
energy
potential
of
natural
hydrogen.

“Sometimes
we
want
to
run
before
we
can
walk,”
Ana
Maria
Jaller-Makarewicz,
an
energy
analyst
at
the
Institute
for
Energy
Economics
and
Financial
Analysis,
told
CNBC
via
videoconference.

The
first
near-term
priority
for
hydrogen,
Jaller-Makarewicz
said,
should
be
looking
for
ways
to
replace
so-called
grey
hydrogen
with
green
hydrogen.

Grey
hydrogen
—

produced
using
natural
gas
and
the
most
common
form
of
hydrogen
production
—
leads
to
large
greenhouse
gas
emissions.
Indeed,
the
Carbon
Trust
has

estimated
that
less
than
1%
of
current
global
hydrogen
production
is
emission-free.

“Don’t
confuse
the
idea
of ‘we
need
to
find
the
solution’
with
the
reality,”
Jaller-Makarewicz
said.

Separately,
the
Hydrogen
Science
Coalition,
a
group
of
academics,
scientists
and
engineers
seeking
to
bring
an
evidence-based
view
to
hydrogen’s
role
in
the
energy
transition,

said
in
a
recent
blog
post
that
geologic
hydrogen
discoveries
currently
supply
the
world
with
less
daily
energy
than
a
single
wind
turbine.

What’s
more,
the
coalition
says
there
are
environmental
concerns
about
the
extraction
process,
and
transportation
and
distribution
challenges
mean
geologic
hydrogen
is
not
likely
to
be
found
where
it
is
needed
most.

“Considering
findings
to
date,
what
we
know
about
geologic
hydrogen
systems,
and
the
fact
that
favourable
settings
appear
rare,
the
odds
of
finding
geologic
hydrogen
that
can
be
extracted
at
the
scale
of
large
natural
gas
developments
looks
relatively
slim,”
the
coalition
said
on
March
14.