Korea Gas, one of the world’s major exporters of liquefied natural gas, hopes to gain from its existing business while it transitions to a hydrogen-focused future.
In an interview, Lee Jae Hoon, a general manager of the company’s hydrogen business development team, stated, “We’ll entirely turn our LNG-driven activities into hydrogen by 2050 in accordance with South Korea’s carbon neutrality aim.”
“By utilizing our current gas infrastructure, technology, and expertise, we have benefits.”
As it does with LNG, the state-run gas distributor, also known as Kogas, aims to start importing green hydrogen in 2027 and plans to invest in zero-emissions fuel in countries like Australia and the Middle East.
BP stated this week that it will move on with projects with two of the UAE’s largest energy providers, joining Kogas in advancing the case for hydrogen.
While the gas is touted as having the potential to reduce emissions from carbon-intensive industrial processes such as steelmaking, the market is still in its early stages.
There has also been discussion over existing energy suppliers’ intentions to create hydrogen using fossil fuels and carbon capture rather than techniques that simply require renewable power and water.
Mr. Hoon stated on the margins of the 2022 World Gas Conference in Daegu that Kogas planned to complete demonstration projects to mix 20% hydrogen into the current gas network across South Korea by 2026 and would strive to maintain raising the amount.
According to Kogas, the idea would need more than a million tonnes of hydrogen and would cut South Korea’s greenhouse gas emissions by 7.5 million tonnes.
According to a government filing, South Korea’s national emissions were 727.6 million tonnes in 2018.
Although Kogas intends to produce some green hydrogen locally using zero-emissions power, the country is limited by a shortage of usable land for solar and wind projects.
Mr. Hoon said the importer is in talks with local shipbuilders about developing liquid hydrogen boats and is also working on storage tank technology.
