Product catalogue
Hydrogen in Australian natural gas
Natural or native molecular hydrogen (H2) can be a major component in natural gas, and yet its role in the global energy sector’s usage as a clean energy carrier is not normally considered. Here, we update the scarce reporting of hydrogen in Australian natural gas with new compositional and isotopic analyses of H2 undertaken at Geoscience Australia. The dataset involves ~1000 natural gas samples from 470 wells in both sedimentary and non-sedimentary basins with reservoir rock age ranging from the Neoarchean to Cenozoic. Pathways to H2 formation can involve either organic matter intermediates and its association with biogenic natural gas or chemical synthesis and its presence in abiogenic natural gas. The latter reaction pathway generally leads to H2-rich (>10 mol% H2) gas in non-sedimentary rocks. Abiogenic H2 petroleum systems are described within concepts of source-migration-reservoir-seal but exploration approaches are different to biogenic natural gas. Rates of abiogenic H2 generation are governed by the availability of specific rock types and different mineral catalysts, and through chemical reactions and radiolysis of accessible water. Hydrogen can be differently trapped compared to hydrocarbon gases; for example, pore space can be created in fractured basement during abiogenic reactions, and clay minerals and evaporites can act as effective adsorbents, traps and seals. Underground storage of H2 within evaporites (specifically halite) and in depleted petroleum reservoirs will also have a role to play in the commercial exploitation of H2. Estimated H2 production rates from water radiolysis in mafic-ultramafic and granitic rocks and serpentinisation of ultramafic-mafic rocks gives a H2 inferred resource potential between ~1.6 to ~58 MMm3 y-1 for onshore Australia down to a depth of 1 km. The prediction and subsequent identification of subsurface H2 that can be exploited remains enigmatic and awaits robust exploration guidelines and targeted drilling for proof of concept.
Appeared in The APPEA Journal 61(1) 163-191, 2 July 2021
Simple
Identification info
- Date (Validity Begins)
- 2020-12-08
- Date (Publication)
- 2021-07-15T05:54:04
- Citation identifier
- Geoscience Australia Persistent Identifier/https://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/144550
Identifier
- Codespace
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Digital Object Identifier
- Cited responsible party
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Role Organisation / Individual Name Details Author Boreham, C.J.
Author Edwards, D.
MEG Internal Contact Author Czado, K.
External Contact Author Rollet, N.
MEG Internal Contact Author Wang, L.
MEG Internal Contact Author VanDerWielen, S.
MEG Internal Contact Author Champion, D.
MEG Internal Contact Author Blewett, R.
External Contact Author Feitz, A.
MEG Internal Contact Author Henson, P.
MEG Internal Contact
- Issue identification
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APPEA Publications
- Purpose
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APPEA 2021 full paper
- Status
- Completed
- Point of contact
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Role Organisation / Individual Name Details Publisher Journal of the Australian Petroleum Production & Exploration Association (APPEA)
External Contact Point of contact Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)
Voice Point of contact Boreham, C.
MEG Internal Contact Resource provider Minerals, Energy and Groundwater Division
External Contact
- Spatial representation type
Spatial resolution
- Level of detail
-
Wells with hydrogen gas data
- Topic category
-
- Geoscientific information
Extent
Temporal extent
- Time period
- 2020-12-08 2021-06-30
Extent
))
- Maintenance and update frequency
- As needed
Resource format
- Title
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Product data repository: Various Formats
- Website
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Data Store directory containing the digital product files
Data Store directory containing one or more files, possibly in a variety of formats, accessible to Geoscience Australia staff only for internal purposes
- theme.ANZRC Fields of Research.rdf
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EARTH SCIENCES
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- Discipline
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Hydrogen
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- Discipline
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natural gas
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- Discipline
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resource potential
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- Keywords
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Published_External
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Resource constraints
- Title
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Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence
- Alternate title
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CC-BY
- Edition
-
4.0
- Access constraints
- License
- Use constraints
- License
Resource constraints
- Title
-
Australian Government Security ClassificationSystem
- Edition date
- 2018-11-01T00:00:00
- Classification
- Unclassified
- Language
- English
- Character encoding
- UTF8
Distribution Information
- Distributor contact
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Role Organisation / Individual Name Details Distributor Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)
Voice
- OnLine resource
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Link to The APPEA Journal paper
Link to The APPEA Journal paper
- Distribution format
-
Metadata constraints
- Title
-
Australian Government Security Classification System
- Edition date
- 2018-11-01T00:00:00
- Classification
- Unclassified
Metadata
- Metadata identifier
-
urn:uuid/f2f3de8b-f50f-4dfd-b918-0cafd979c4ee
- Title
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GeoNetwork UUID
- Language
- English
- Character encoding
- UTF8
- Contact
-
Role Organisation / Individual Name Details Point of contact Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)
Voice Point of contact Boreham, C.
MEG Internal Contact
Type of resource
- Resource scope
- Document
- Name
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GA publication: External publication
Alternative metadata reference
- Title
-
Geoscience Australia - short identifier for metadata record with
uuid
- Citation identifier
- eCatId/144550
- Date info (Creation)
- 2019-04-08T01:55:29
- Date info (Revision)
- 2019-04-08T01:55:29
Metadata standard
- Title
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AU/NZS ISO 19115-1:2014
Metadata standard
- Title
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ISO 19115-1:2014
Metadata standard
- Title
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ISO 19115-3
- Title
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Geoscience Australia Community Metadata Profile of ISO 19115-1:2014
- Edition
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Version 2.0, September 2018
- Citation identifier
- https://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/122551