Sinopec unveils accelerated hydrogen strategy

China's Sinopec revealed its plans for medium and long-term hydrogen delivery September 2, aiming to forge a China-wide hydrogen energy backbone and open up access for Chinese industries.

Under the strategy, Sinopec expects to form China's "first" at-scale hydrogen provider capable of funding hydrogen refuelling stations, as well as green hydrogen pilots and other carbon reduction projects.

By 2025, Sinopec aims to have delivered around 120,000 metric tons/yr in hydrogen refuelling capacity. State-managed investment funds will be leveraged to bankroll future Sinopec hydrogen projects, but Sinopec also plans to team up with other businesses in China's hydrogen innovation ecosystem.

China is already the world's biggest hydrogen producer with estimated 33mn mt/yr output, the majority produced from fossil fuels. Under a strategy paper published in March, Beijing plans to produce 100,000 - 200,000 mt/yr from renewable hydrogen sources by 2025, aiming to slash annual carbon emissions that same year by 1-2mn metric tons on current levels.

The news comes days after Sinopec launched China's largest carbon capture utilisation and storage facility bringing on stream some 10.68mn mt/yr of storage over the next 15 years. Sinopec announced the launch August 29. The CCUS system captures CO2 from hydrogen produced at Sinopec's Qilu refinery, before storing it close to the nearby Shengli oilfield and injecting some volumes to boost Shengli's crude output.