Natural Hydrogen Exploration
Monday 5 June 2023 | Room Stolz 1
Convenors
- Gabor Tari (OMV Upstream)
- Reinhard Sachsenhofer (Montanuniversitaet Leoben)
- Gonzalo Zamora Valcarce (Repsol)
Description
There are several types of plays for natural hydrogen exploration which appear to be very similar to those the oil and gas industry is used to. These include cases where there is a functioning trap, due to effective top seals. Examples can be found in pre-salt traps where hydrogen has been documented as part of existing hydrocarbon accumulations (examples: Dnieper-Donets Basin, Ukraine, and Amadeus Basin, Australia). Another somewhat unusual trapping has been documented in the first hydrogen field discovery in Mali where the top seal is provided by a set of dolerite sills. In these cases, one expects finite hydrogen resources in place and the critical question becomes the recharge rate for commercial production.
Another group of natural hydrogen targets revolve around mega-seeps (fairy circles, e.g. East European Craton) and smaller, fault-controlled seepages to the surface (e.g. French Pyrenees). These plays have no traps, no seals and, therefore, they do not find a proper analogue in oil and gas exploration workflows. Yet, because these seeps correspond to ongoing charge in a dynamic, truly renewable system, if they represent a steady-state process, one could expect infinite resources via a low-flux hydrogen “farming” process. For commercial hydrogen production in this case, therefore, a totally new technological approach will be required, not existing in the hydrocarbon industry at all.
This workshop is intended to capture the state-of-the-art for hydrogen exploration discussing various case studies, including methodologies applied and technologies involved. Since gold hydrogen exploration is really in its infancy worldwide, this workshop aims to promote collective thinking about the possible ways forward.
Participant Profile
- Geo-energy company geoscientists engaged green energy solutions
- Academic researchers
- Low-carbon business developers
- Governmental regulatory and legislative experts
Workshop Programme
| Time | Activity |
|---|---|
| 09:00 | Workshop Introduction |
| 09:10 | Hydrogen – the race to a cheap and clean energy source – C. Ballentine (Oxford University) |
| HYDROGEN SYSTEM | |
| 09:30 | Blend gas and natural hydrogen: a dynamic model of hydrogen accumulation – A. Prinzhofer (GEO4U) |
| 09:50 | Seepage of natural hydrogen: geochemical uncertainties and the need for a holistic approach – G. Etiope (Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Rome) |
| 10:10 | Molecular hydrogen from organic sources in geological systems – B. Horsfield (Geos4) |
| 10:30 | Coffee Break |
| 11:00 | A review of the state of knowledge and major remaining uncertainties for caprock leakage in hydrogen-brine systems – A. Martín Monge (REPSOL) |
| 11:20 | Challenges of mud gas logging in natural H2 exploration – D. Strapoc (SLB) |
| 11:40 | Gold Hydrogen – A Novel Source of Clean, Natural Hydrogen – A. Dinges (Cemvita) |
| 12:00 | Discussions and Lunch Break |
| HYDROGEN: EXPLORATION APPROACH | |
| 13:20 | Could the Banded Iron Formations be the major H2 source in Archean and neo-Proterozoic areas? – I. Moretti (Pau University) |
| 13:40 | Funding natural Hydrogen and Helium plays the role of Helium as a co-product – P. Levin (BEAM) |
| 14:00 | Hydrogen Exploration; risk assessment – G. Zamora (REPSOL) |
| 14:20 | The Natural Hydrogen System – how success can be achieved through the system and play approach – O. Jackson (H2Au) |
| 14:40 | Coffee Break |
| 14:50 | Natural Hydrogen Frontier Exploration workflow: example from the Iberian Peninsula – J. Flinch (Elsevier) |
| 15:10 | Natural Hydrogen, the Australian way – F. Glass (2H Resources) |
| 15:30 | Hydrogen ongoing exploration and potential of an accreted terrain, example of the onshore Sinu area, Northern Colombia – J. Flinch (Elsevier) |
| 15:50 | Concluding Remarks |
| 16:00 | End of the Workshop |
