Evraz and Gazprom to cooperate developing hydrogen technologies

Evraz (a leading Russian steelmaker) and Gazprom Neft (the third-largest oil producer in Russia and a subsidiary of Gazprom) have agreed to cooperate on developing technologies to produce, transport, store, and use hydrogen as well as reduce CO2 emissions.

Under the agreement, Gazprom Neft will share its expertise in CO2 disposal given its involvement in Serbia’s NIS (a joint venture of Gazprom Neft and the Republic of Serbia) since 2015. The Serbian project implemented the collection and purification of high-CO2 natural gas at a number of deposits, with the extracted CO2 pumped back into around 2,500 meters deep developed reservoirs.

Evraz sees hydrogen as a high-potential green energy source. It will assess the feasibility of capturing CO2 for disposal or utilisation purposes. In addition, it aims to switch its steelmaking facilities from hydrocarbons to methane-hydrogen fuels to reduce emissions.

Aleksey Ivanov, Senior VP, Commerce and Business Development of Evraz, said, “Reducing GHG emissions is one of the priorities Evraz sets in its environmental strategy.

He further added, “I am positive that CO2 entrapment, disposal and utilisation technologies, as well as the use of hydrogen as energy source, have a huge potential for our coal and steelmaking assets.”

“We routinely dispose of CO2 by pumping it back into oil and gas reservoirs as part of our operations; we have accumulated significant experience of such projects and we are ready to share this expertise with our partners and the market at large.”

Vadim Yakovlev, Deputy Chairman of the Management Board of Gazprom Neft, said, “According to the available expert opinions, pumping CO2 back into reservoirs is indispensable for delivering on the global CO2 emissions reduction targets.”

Mr Yakovlev further added, “We want to pool our competencies with steelmakers to develop green industrial technologies.”