Russia joins global hydrogen race with planned exports to Asia

Russian energy giant Gazprom is planning to start hydrogen exports to China, South Korea and Japan, the company’s First Deputy Oleg Aksyutin wrote in his column in the latest issue of business and science magazine Energy Policy.

According to the senior manager, the shipments of hydrogen could be supplied to Asia by rail, road and water.

“Production of hydrogen in the Russian Far East […] with subsequent export of it to such consumers as Japan, South Korea and China, is of particular interest,” Aksyutin wrote.

He added that the procedures for transporting the raw material to Asia requires an appropriate legal framework concerning taxation and customs regulation, as well as the development of logistics infrastructure.

“In the short-term, Russia and its Asian partners should develop cooperation on exchange of technologies for hydrogen transportation, and for fixation, storage and usage of carbon dioxide,” Aksyutin said, stressing that, on the medium- and long-term horizon, export supplies of hydrogen are possible if there’s commercial demand among potential importers.

Last year, the government included hydrogen energy in Russia’s energy strategy. According to the document, the country is planning to export 200,000 tons of hydrogen by 2024, and to increase supplies to two million tons by 2035.

Exports of Russian hydrogen to Japan are currently under the control of Russian state-run corporation Rosatom. In September 2019, Rusatom Overseas, the company’s subsidiary, and Japan’s Agency for Natural Resources and Energy, signed an agreement to export hydrogen from Russia to Japan.

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