Japan’s INPEX has initiated front-end engineering and design (FEED) work for a blue hydrogen production project, utilizing the company’s legacy natural gas fields in Niigata Prefecture as both a feedstock source and depleted reservoir space to support the development of a carbon capture and storage (CCS) business in parallel.
The projects are among five net-zero businesses that INPEX aims to develop by 2050. By 2030, the company expects to bring three of those projects on stream, producing and supplying 100,000 tons or more of hydrogen and ammonia per year.
It also plans by then to inject volumes of at least 2.5 million tons of CO2 into its depleted reservoir stock.
INPEX is Japan’s largest exploration and production company. It operates Australia’s Ichthys LNG project which will also provide feedstock to the new blue hydrogen plant.
In announcing the startup of FEED on 18 December, INPEX reported that it had completed the design concept and feasibility studies for the project.
The planned hydrogen production plant with 100,000 ton/year capacity in Niigata Prefecture will source its raw materials from natural gas produced at the INPEX-operated Minami-Nagaoka Gas Field (Nagaoka City, Niigata Prefecture) together with LNG imports arriving at INPEX’s Naoetsu LNG Terminal (Joetsu City, Niigata Prefecture).
The LNG will be come mainly from the Ichthys LNG in Australia.
INPEX plans to market hydrogen to domestic customers in Niigata Prefecture and neighboring regions for power generation and heating applications with an eye to satisfy 10% of Japan’s domestic energy demand by 2050, the company said.
CO2 generated during the hydrogen production process will be captured and injected (as a CCS initiative) into depleting gas fields in Niigata Prefecture, enabling the hydrogen to be marketed as blue (low-carbon) hydrogen.
INPEX has been engaged in oil and gas exploration and production as well as projects to supply pipeline gas in Niigata Prefecture for more than 60 years. More recently it moved into LNG terminal operations.
