Russian Government and Gazprom to continue hydrogen energy development

Moscow, October 14 - Neftegaz.RU. At the present time, the Gazprom Group's facilities produce over 350 000 tons of hydrogen by various technologies, which is then used to derive different products from it.

On October 13, Russian Deputy PM, Alexander Novak and Gazprom´s Head of Departmen Oleg Aksyutin signed an Agreement of Intent aimed at advancing the hi-tech area of activity «Development of hydrogen energy & decarbonization of industry and transport on the basis of natural gas» in Russia.

The agreement aims to accelerate the advancement of natural gas-based technologies in the area of hydrogen energy, as well as to create pilot projects.
Gazprom will draw up a roadmap and submit it for approval to the Government.

Hydrogen is one of the most promising energy sources of the future, and a potential alternative to fossil fuels - it is environmentally friendly, and has high energy intensity per kilo, emitting approximately 4 times more energy than gasoline, when burned.

Russia faces the challenge of creating and rapidly developing the new industry and has a number of advantages for the development of hydrogen energy:

• Large reserves of gas and coal and significant potential for its nuclear power stations, wind farms and solar power stations for the production of inexpensive, low-carbon hydrogen
• Underused generating capacity
• Developed oil refining and chemical industries in which steam methane reforming and electrolysis are used
• A developed scientific and technical base
• A favourable geographical position allowing for exports of hydrogen to areas featuring likely centres for its consumption in Europe and in the Asia-Pacific regio

In 2021, Russian Government approved the Concept for the development of hydrogen energy and unveiled a plan to reach a 20% share in the global hydrogen market by 2030.