Abstract

The drive towards net-zero emissions as per the Paris 2015 agreement has resulted in significant efforts to develop known and new sustainable energy resources. In order to change the current energy system, alternative resources need to replace wood, coal, oil and gas. One of the recent new findings in the Geo-Energy sector is natural hydrogen which can be found in many places around the globe as seeps. It has made spectacular news in many media over the past few months, like recently from the Albanian chromite mine of Bulqizë.

Reasons for the lack of interest in hydrogen exploration so far were multi-fold, like nobody considered natural hydrogen as a viable option, hydrogen cannot be detected easily, gas chromatographs used H₂ as carrier gas, other energy resources were available in large quantities and at low cost and more. However, many indications point towards a major clean energy resource of the future considering that in the last few years some 300 seeps have been reported. One of the most famous ones is the eternal fires of Chimaera in Turkey, know to burn since more than 2500 years. In the meantime, the first hydrogen exploration companies have formed and even a first long-term production test is ongoing.

Natural (white) hydrogen was until now not considered in the energy transition. If further developments turn out to be successful, this may result in another unexpected game changer in the energy sector similar to coal replacing peat in 1880. However, the question remains, what such a potential new energy opportunity could look like as part of the future energy mix. This talk will highlight the current status and potential ways forward on this new energy resource.

Bio

Jürgen is currently university lecturer in the Master Program Geo-Energy at the Friedrich-Alexander Universität in Erlangen, Germany. He holds a PhD in geology & paleontology which he has done in collaboration with Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, CA. Jürgen is a member of the prestigious scholarship organisation ‘Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes’ and has published many scientific papers and books on a range of geoscience topics. In 1991 he joined Shell and had various assignments in Rijswijk, The Hague, Abu Dhabi, Damascus and Assen where he was Chief Geologist of NAM. During his stays at the Shell Technology Centers in Rijswijk and Amsterdam, he initiated the Open Subsurface Data Universe^TM project in 2011 which is now the largest digital technology development project in the energy industries globally. He is Past-President of the German Geological Society (DGGV) and currently one of its’ board members. After retirement from Shell in December 2022, his main focus is on sustainable subsurface solutions in the energy transition like Natural Hydrogen Exploration, Geothermal Exploration and Development and their synergies with net zero brine mining of Lithium and Helium production.