Petrofac looks into green hydrogen development on Russia’s Sakhalin Island

International energy services provider Petrofac has won its first new energy-focused project in Russia for the first wind-to-hydrogen development on Sakhalin Island.

Petrofac signed a three-year consultancy framework agreement that spans the early engineering phases of the green hydrogen project.

H4 Energy, under the management of H2Transition Capital (H2TC), awarded the design services agreement. It includes an initial screening study that started in January. During the study, Petrofac will explore options for using wind energy to produce green hydrogen. This will specifically take place at the site on the southwestern tip of Sakhalin Island.

Initial work will evaluate:

• Hydrogen production technology;
• Hydrogen carriers such as liquid hydrogen and ammonia;
• Export options;
• Turbine sizing;
• Electrical systems
• Hazards analysis.

Starting at 100 megawatts, the team will also look at options for scaling up to 3gigawatts of total installed capacity in future phases.

The facility will target the production of 17,000 metric tonnes of hydrogen per year.

Petrofac’s team will undertake the work in Woking (UK) in addition to support from Petrofac’s team in Sakhalin.

Jonathan Carpenter from Petrofac said: “We’re pleased to start study work for this project, the first green hydrogen development on Sakhalin and the first new energy project for Petrofac in Russia. The island offers excellent land availability, coastal proximity, and location adjacent to the Eastern Asian market.”.

Artem Matyushok, founding partner of H2TC, also commented: “This project is the first of many in our plans to address the tremendous demand for hydrogen that exists now and will continue to grow.”

Petrofac has been present in Sakhalin since 2006 when it opened the Sakhalin Technical Training Centre. It expanded its presence in 2017 through a contract with Sakhalin Energy to deliver the engineering, procurement, and construction for an onshore processing facility.