Energy services group Petrofac (LON:PFC) has won its first new energy-focused project in Russia, securing a three-year consultancy framework agreement for the early engineering phases of the first wind-to-hydrogen development on Sakhalin Island.
The design services agreement, awarded by H4 Energy, under the management of H2Transition Capital (H2TC), includes an initial screening study that began in January.
During the study, Petrofac will explore options for using predominantly wind energy to produce green hydrogen and other energy vectors at a site on the south-western tip of Sakhalin Island on Russia’s eastern coast.
Initial work will evaluate hydrogen production technology, hydrogen carriers such as liquid hydrogen and ammonia, export options, turbine sizing, electrical systems, and hazards analysis, Petrofac said.
Starting at 100MW, engineers will also look at options for scaling up the facility to a total of 3GW installed capacity in future phases, including costs and potential execution phases.
The finished facility will target production of 17,000 tonnes of hydrogen per year.
Petrofac said work would be undertaken from its offices in Woking, UK, with support from its team in Sakhalin.
The services company has been present in Sakhalin since 2006, when it opened the Sakhalin Technical Training Centre, providing training to operators and contractors in oil and gas projects. It expanded its presence in 2017 through a contract with Sakhalin Energy to deliver the engineering, procurement, and construction for an onshore processing facility.
Last October, it signed a strategic deal with Gazprom’s Institute of Oil and Gas Technology Initiatives (INTI), which will see the two collaborate on industry standardisation and sustainable development.
London-listed Petrofac employs more than 9,000 people worldwide, designing and maintaining oil and gas and renewables infrastructure.
Petrofac’s New Energy Services vice president Jonathan Carpenter said: “We’re pleased to start study work for this project, the first green hydrogen development on Sakhalin and the first new energy project for Petrofac in Russia.
“The island offers excellent land availability, coastal proximity, and location adjacent to the Eastern Asian Market (only 40km sea crossing to Japan), and we look forward to working with H2TC to deliver its 3GW target.”
Artem Matyushok, founding partner of H2TC, added: “This project is the first of many in our plans to address the tremendous demand for hydrogen that exists now and will continue to grow.”
Plans to build green hydrogen capacity here were first announced by Sakhalin Governor Valery Limarenko during the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, who said the island would aim to be exporting the commodity by 2025 and reach an annual output of 100,000 tonnes by 2030.
“The production of ‘green’ hydrogen is promising for the region. Hydrogen production of up to 30,000 tonnes per year is planned to be reached in 2025. The commissioning of the second and third plants with production of additional 70,000 tons of hydrogen per year is planned by 2030,” Mr Limarenko told news agency TASS in September.
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