Inpex has taken a final investment decision for Japan’s first demonstration project that will produce clean hydrogen and ammonia in association with carbon capture utilisation and storage (CCUS).
Natural gas from Inpex’s Minami-Nagaoka field will be transported to the depleted Higashi-Kashiwazaki field in Hirai via an existing pipeline and used to produce hydrogen and ammonia at a new plant that will be built in the area. Some 700 tons of blue hydrogen will be produced every year, reported Inpex.
A portion of this hydrogen will be used to produce blue ammonia and the remaining hydrogen will be used for power generation. The carbon dioxide (CO2) generated during the production of hydrogen and ammonia will be injected into a subsurface gas reservoir as a part of a CCUS initiative.
“This will be Japan’s first demonstration project integrating blue hydrogen and ammonia production and usage, and one of the few in the world that have taken FID on the construction of an actual production plant, where most of the blue hydrogen and ammonia production projects currently remain in the conceptual or planning stages. It is also an important project from the perspective of Japan’s energy security as it will produce clean energy from domestically sourced gas,” noted Inpex.
State-owned Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corp (JOGMEC), recently renamed Japan Organisation for Metals and Energy Security, is also a partner and will provide equity investment to back the production and storage of hydrogen and ammonia.
Inpex said it seeks to develop hydrogen and CCUS businesses, which represent two of the five net zero businesses outlined in the company’s INPEX Vision @2022 announced on February 9, 2022. The company plans to commercialise three or more projects by around 2030 and aims to produce and supply 100 thousand tons or more of hydrogen/ammonia per year targeting an annual CO2 injection volume of 2.5 million tons or more in around 2030.
