ASX-listed energy play Pure Hydrogen says it is making progress with partners to secure solutions to switch out diesel for clean burning hydrogen as heavy transport looms as a key market for the emerging green energy technology.

Pure Hydrogen (ASX:PH2) has made the early move into the hydrogen space to capitalise on what could be a US$12 trillion a year industry by the middle of the 21st century if analysts like Goldman Sachs are to be believed.

One of its key focuses has been heavy transport, where emissions-intensive diesel vehicles have proven difficult to electrify at the same rate as passenger EVs.

Pure said it has been working throughout the June quarter to develop solutions for conversion to fixed price hydrogen at a lower cost than imported diesel for the transportation industry, submitting a number of proposals to well-known companies with transport fleets.

It is not the only front on which PH2 has been progressing its hydrogen strategy.

It is also:

  • Aiming to lock in agreements with potential end users or partnerships after signing a hydrogen refuelling MoU with HYZON Motors in January 2021.
  • Securing four east coast port Hydrogen Hubs in a JV with Liberty Hydrogen, with proposals submitted to authorities across the Queensland, New South Wales and Victorian hubs.
  • Securing JVs with hydrogen manufacturing and distribution specialists to build pilot plants at the Hubs.

Pure is also working to develop a waste-to-hydrogen facility which could be deployed portably and housed in 40ft shipping containers at hubs around Australia.

The company says a similar system under development for natural gas-to-hydrogen uses a plasma pyrolysis process which decomposes natural gas methane into hydrogen and solid carbon products.

If the electricity used comes from renewables there are effectively no greenhouse gases produced in the hydrogen manufacturing process, Pure noted, and the methane processing modules could also produce synthetic graphite, graphene flakes or carbon nanotubes to take advantage of the company’s 11.1 Tcf of methane resources in Queensland and Botswana.

 

Early breakout for Venus-1 well

Early work is under way to attempt to prove commercial gas flows at Pure Hydrogen’s Venus-1 Well in Queensland’s Surat Basin, with an early breakout of 84,000cfsd announced on June 3.

The test has so far confirmed the high gas saturation of the target coal seams at Venus-1, which has independently certified contingent gas resources of 130 petajoules.

The Venus-1 flow test is set to run until the end of August. The 100% owned project is located on 154km2 of the Walloon coal seam gas fairway and is located close to existing gas pipelines.

“The program is still in its early stages but the results are highly encouraging,” Pure managing director Scott Brown said earlier this month.

“We can see a clear pathway here to commercial gas flows and the certification of material gas reserves of Project Venus. Gas prices on the east coast are on the march with prices rising dramatically in the last few months.”

Meanwhile, Pure’s partners have intersected coals in line with pre-drilling estimates at the Serowe coal-bed-methane project in Botswana.

Serowe 2 and 3 are the first two of six wells to be spudded as part of the testing program at the project, which has a prospective gas resource of 2.38Tcf.

Current drilling will enable the JV to deliver a contingent resource, an essential step towards the commercialisation of the project.

The 450m deep Serowe 2 well intersected 9m of coal in line with pre-drilling expectations with the current Serowe 3 well being drilled to 500m. The third appraisal well, Serowe 4, will be spudded in approximately two months.

 

BotsGas deal sets up Pure Hydrogen as African gas and hydrogen leader

Pure Hydrogen has recently reduced its stake in the Serowe project from 51% to 30% to take a 19.99 per cent stake in partner Botala Energy’s BotsGas float.

The deal will see Pure free-carried on Serowe until December 2023 and up to a spend of $6.1 million.

Pure Hydrogen and BotsGas have also outlined plans to establish a major renewable hydrogen hub in the stable southern African nation.

The hub, one of the largest proposed in Africa, would have 50MW of power generation as the country moves ahead with plans to become energy independent from the region’s largest economy South Africa.

Pure has $10.1 million on hand and with the free-carried nature of its investment in Botswana is well-placed to fund ongoing works on its Venus project and Australian hydrogen initiatives.

This article was developed in collaboration with Pure Hydrogen, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.

This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.

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