The Uncertain Bright Future

of Underground
Hydrogen Storage

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TRENT JACOBS, JPT Senior Technology Editor

T
he most obvious obstacles to a big Bulk storage on the surface is considered by
ramp‑up in global hydrogen production many experts to be simply out of the question.
are well known. They include technological That means large hydrogen projects will need a
breakthroughs to bring down production subsurface component, and some think depleted
costs along with new sources of demand from oil and gas fields—with an emphasis on the latter—
the power and transportation sectors. may fit the bill. Saline aquifers are being eyed for
Less obvious is that a small army of reservoir the role too.
engineers, geologists, and other subsurface But as this all suggests, no one has ever
experts will be needed to understand where and attempted to use these formations for hydrogen
how tomorrow’s hydrogen hubs will store their storage. Just four shallow salt formations, three
clean-burning fuel. salt domes in Texas and one salt field in the UK,

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A comparison of modeled gas saturations of CO2 (left) and hydrogen (right) at the end of injection. The work
underlines the likelihood of hydrogen spreading within porous media. Source: Energies 2022/The University of Texas
at Austin.

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 FEATURE | Hydrogen Storage

represent the totality of the world’s hydrogen Topping the list is hydrogen’s strong propensity
underground storage (HUS) capacity. to migrate inside a reservoir (laterally and
Research is underway to expand HUS in salt vertically) along with the potential for troublesome
formations but that will not solve for the fact chemical and biological reactions.
that they are not a geologic option for many Hydrogen may also be clean burning but it
locations where big industrial players are hoping offers only about a third of the energy density as
to produce hydrogen. This includes most of methane, which means it needs roughly three
Europe and most of the US outside of its Gulf times the storage volume to deliver the same
Coast states. energy output to a gas-fired power plant.
By contrast, deeper sedimentary structures of Among those working to bring clarity to such

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various flavors are in no short supply but lack any issues is Mojdeh Delshad, a reservoir engineer and
material field experience that might help jumpstart professor at The University of Texas at Austin. Her
the de-risking of storing several Bcf of hydrogen. latest research involved using commercial reservoir
The upstream industry’s extensive experience simulators to model what would happen if selected
in operating what are the closest analogues— gas fields and saline aquifers in the US used for
natural gas storage and carbon capture and CCS or natural gas storage were instead used to
storage (CCS)—will help that process but there store hydrogen.
are new challenges when it comes to injecting the “We wanted to know about the challenges
universe’s smallest molecule into porous media. of hydrogen, which because of its properties—

Experts consider any golden age of hydrogen production to be highly dependent on scaling up the use of salt
formations or depleted gas fields as storage systems. Source: TNO, Netherlands.

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A diagram showing the tendency of hydrogen to migrate to the top of a structure, known as gravity override, and
the need for cushion gas to support flowing pressures on the surface. Source: US Department of Energy/Subsurface
Hydrogen Assessment, Storage, and Technology Acceleration program.

very low density, very low viscosity—is going to In explaining his cautious view on HUS outside
move in the reservoir much more quickly than of salt formations, he said the US industry holds
CO2 and methane. And that’s exactly what we many decades “of experience in storing high
found, which means we’re going to have to do volumes of natural gas all across the country,
something differently with hydrogen storage in injecting it, and withdrawing it at higher rates,
order to capture and produce what is injected,” maintaining those facilities. But when it comes
said Delshad. to hydrogen, it’s all theoretical.”
This highlights the risk that a developer’s Plenty of hurdles for sure. But none are
injected product may simply migrate out of deemed deal breakers.
their well’s production zone and become lost Eugene Holubnyak, director of hydrogen
somewhere in the distant corners of a reservoir or energy research at the University of Wyoming
even in another formation. Leaky wells are another and program chairperson of SPE’s Hydrogen
vector as are abandoned wellbores in a depleted Technical Section, acknowledged “there are
field scenario. more unknowns than knowns” with HUS. He
These are some of the reasons why remains optimistic that the technical obstacles
Zachary Evans noted that operating a HUS project are surmountable.
in reservoir rock will be “orders of magnitude “We figured out a lot of things for other areas
more complex than natural gas storage.” [of subsurface storage], and so I am pretty sure
Evans is a former engineering consultant for we will figure it out here too,” he said.
hydrogen storage projects and also serves as What Holubnyak likes to point out is that even
administrative chairperson of SPE’s Hydrogen as the subsurface complexities are eventually
Technical Section. addressed, it will be another thing to connect

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 FEATURE | Hydrogen Storage

all the economic dots to make a HUS project and sometimes they end up generating surplus
financially sound over the long term. electricity when there’s low demand.”
He cited a number of natural gas storage It’s that extra power that can be routed to
projects around the US that have acquired pore the electrolyzers and the subsequent hydrogen
space and received all the necessary regulatory pumped into the subsurface for later use at a
approvals but that have yet to inject a single cubic power plant during peak demand.
foot of gas. Such injection/production cycles would be
“In certain cases, it’s the technical issues, that seasonal in nature but could last for months at
is the complexity of the project, but in other cases a time, which is one reason Mishra sees a need
the market is not there, so there is not enough for the planning and modeling skills held by

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demand,” to make the project work, he said. reservoir engineers.
By contrast, growth in “blue” hydrogen
The Green Driver production, which combines the steam methane
Demand for hydrogen hit 94 Mt in 2021, which reforming process (used to make >95% of all
marked a 5% year-over-year increase, according to hydrogen today) with CCS, will likely just offset the
figures from the International Energy Agency (IEA). use of the non-blue or “grey” hydrogen that lacks
But in order to stay on track with net-zero goals, the CCS component. This is according to Mishra,
the IEA believes annual demand needs to almost who sees blue hydrogen’s demand from refineries
double from 2021 levels to about 180 Mt by 2030. and industrial sites as creating minimal need for
It’s far from guaranteed that such an ambitious HUS, especially when compared with the pore
target can be met over the next decade, but as space needed for the CCS components.
big industrial players do their part, many will Mishra also expects the developers of future
opt for so-called “green” hydrogen projects that hydrogen hubs will not be looking to run long
rely on wind or solar power to run hydrogen- pipelines and will instead focus on localized
producing electrolyzers. geologic targets.
Srikanta Mishra, the technical director of “So, as you look ahead, it’s going to be a
geo‑energy modeling and analytics for the source-sink matching issue,” he said. “If you have
nonprofit Battelle Memorial Institute, recently a hydrogen project in Houston for example, then
coauthored SPE 210372 which speaks to how you think about whether there are any salt domes
reservoir engineering will be key to fine tuning the nearby. If not, other potentials might include a
injection and production strategies of CCS and depleted gas field.”
HUS projects.
No one can say how many reservoir engineers Making a Case for Depleted Fields
and other petrotechnicals might end up being Delshad recently presented SPE 210351 which
needed to run the HUS side of the clean energy outlines some of the considerations of storing
injection business. But Mishra said if there is a hydrogen in depleted gas fields vs. saline aquifers.
“significant bump up” in green hydrogen projects, While both appear to be suitable formation types
then they are likely to provide the first job openings for hydrogen storage, the research professor
for those with relevant expertise. believes natural gas reservoirs will end up being
“I think the storage requirements are primarily the first to draw commercial interest.
with respect to green hydrogen because the “Why? Because you know that you can produce
renewable power sources are intermittent in gas from these reservoirs and the seal integrity
nature,” he explained. “When the sun shines, is there,” she explained, adding that a gas field
when the wind blows, they generate power might also offer existing infrastructure that could

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 FEATURE | Hydrogen Storage

Initial

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15 Years

Aquifer Depleted Gas Reservoir Depleted Oil Reservoir

Model results comparing the gas saturation of three cases over different periods show how hydrogen is likely to
move through high-permiability channels found in gas reservoirs more profoundly compared with the other cases.
Source: SPE 210351.

be repurposed for hydrogen. However, this is The problem is that one well doesn’t appear
far from assured given the corrosive nature of to allow enough water to be pumped out to create
hydrogen which demands high-spec pipelines and new pore space for optimal hydrogen capacity. “So,
other equipment. I looked at natural gas storage projects again and
But assuming a gas field is selected for found that some of them use additional producer
hydrogen storage, Delshad said it will require an wells,” which draw out both water and gas,
extra effort to ensure both containment and she added.
optimal recovery. In one respect, the idea is that while the
Delshad noted that she began her modeling number needed may vary, the producer wells will
efforts using a simple strategy involving only a cut off the escape paths for migrating hydrogen
single well for both the injection and production and either sending it back to the center of a
of hydrogen. This version of huff ’n’ puff is fairly field for reinjection or further downstream to
standard in the world of natural gas storage, a power plant.
but Delshad said the models quickly showed the “In every case we modeled, these producer
strategy to be uneconomic across the board. wells helped reduce the cushion gas volume

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 FEATURE | Hydrogen Storage

while improving the capacity, production, and about whether a sealing trap that’s good for natural
confinement,” explained Delshad. gas will be equivalently good for hydrogen,” he said.
The cushion gas mentioned is key to the Evans admits that his views on HUS in reservoirs
HUS concept in both depleted reservoirs and may come off as pessimistic but he said he’s not
aquifers since it will be what’s used to maintain rooting against the concept.
high-enough pressures to produce hydrogen “I’m just very pragmatic when it comes to
on demand. the application,” he said. “Right now there are a
In cases where no other gas is used, such in lot of unanswered questions that researchers
those where pure hydrogen is desired, some of the are still tackling and that, ultimately, will have to
injected product will serve as a cushion gas and be answered by reality when a long-term pilot

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be deemed “unrecoverable” for the duration of is initiated.”
the project. In the event another gas can be used, While the prior point on seal integrity could be
such as methane, it may mix with the produced equally applied to unexplored aquifers, experts
hydrogen and require additional separation are nonetheless looking at them too since they hold
systems on the surface. a couple of key advantages over depleted fields.
What project runners will aim for is the minimal The first is that these saltwater-bearing
amount of cushion gas required to hit desired rocks generally have no existing wellbores that
withdrawal rates, or the working gas volume. could represent leak paths. Beyond that, saline
In terms of comparisons, Delshad’s research aquifers may offer bigger overall capacities than
suggests gas reservoirs offer the biggest bang depleted fields.
for the buck in terms of balancing this cushion Mishra argues this is reason enough for
to working gas ratio over either aquifers or some project runners to consider aquifers since
spent oil fields. The tradeoff is a more profound “in a depleted field all you can do is replace
spreading of hydrogen through a gas reservoir’s the hydrocarbons that have been produced
high permiability matrix, hence the potential need and fill up the pore space back to the original
for a strategic ring of producer wells. reservoir pressure.”
Exceeding that threshold, known as the
The Case Against Depleted Fields fracture gradient, means risking the creation
While gas reservoirs provide a familiar operating of new leak paths for fugitive hydrogen.
arena for many subsurface engineers, that
happens to be one of the downsides. On Bad Reactions
One of the concerns raised with depleted fields Aside from migration, some portion of hydrogen
is that by definition they have existing wellbores, might also be lost within the rock matrix itself or if
each one representing a potential pathway to it reacts with what’s still inside the reservoir.
the surface. This is the same reason some CCS Veins of sulfur in the rock or particles inside
developers are avoiding depleted fields altogether residual fluids, could upon contact with hydrogen,
in favor of aquifers. generate toxic hydrogen sulfide gas. Short of
Going a step further, Evans, who champions a major leak, this is one of the least desirable
the nearly impermeable salt dome formations outcomes of any storage project. Short-term risks
for HUS, questioned whether natural gas storage include hydrogen losses while long-term risks may
should even be considered a good analogue for involve formation integrity, e.g., caprock integrity.
HUS in porous media. Microbial communities known to exist in reservoirs
“I can’t stress just how small the hydrogen may also feast on some small share of the
molecule is and so you’re really going to be worried injected hydrogen.

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 FEATURE | Hydrogen Storage

Holubnyak is currently working with various and embrittlement of steel and other materials
stakeholders on obtaining US federal funding for such as the cement used for zonal isolation.
a series of integrated hydrogen hubs spanning “Hydrogen will eat pipe,” said Evans, adding
Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming. “that’s a known quantity, not a theoretical concern.”
He said the reactivity issue does raise the bar He acknowledged that while products rated for
for project developers when it comes to site hydrogen-handling exist, there remains more to
characterization but said they won’t exactly learn about their long-term durability.
have to reinvent the wheel. Most of the learnings on material integrity in
“If [HUS] is anything like CCS, and in a lot of this regard come from the refining industry which
respects it is, then you will have to dig for a lot counts as both the world’s largest producer and

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more reservoir information and prove the storage consumer of hydrogen.
concept to the regulatory agency,” he said. “We But as Evans highlighted, “The one thing the
will probably need to gather new information from refining industry doesn’t have is several thousand
new wells, and so all of this comes at an additional feet of downhole casing that’s in a hydrogen-rich
cost. It is expensive, but it’s doable.” environment for 100% of its life.” JPT
While bad reactions to hydrogen are
considered to be a bigger risk than when dealing FOR FURTHER READING
with CO2, and much more so than with methane,
Mishra argues that the potential for serious SPE 210372 Adapting Petroleum Reservoir
problems are “extremely site-specific” and will be Engineering Principles to Carbon
mitigated through proper reservoir study. Capture & Sequestration (CCS) and
That said, he does think that the issue pretty Hydrogen Underground Storage (HUS)
much rules out the use of depleted oil reservoirs Projects: Opportunities and Challenges
for hydrogen storage since they are likely to have by Srikanta Mishra, Battelle Memorial Institute,
more substances prone to a negative reaction than and Akhil Datta‑Gupta, Texas A&M University.
either a gas reservoir or an aquifer. Energies 2022, Hydrogen Storage Assessment
The other potential is that certain microbes in Depleted Oil Reservoir and Saline Aquifer
present in the formation will consume the by Mojdeh Delshad, Yelnur Umurzakov,
hydrogen and could in fact promote biological Kamy Sepehrnoori, Peter Eichhub,
activity as more hydrogen is pumped downhole. and Bruno Ramon Batista Fernandes,
More research is needed to understand the The University of Texas at Austin.
true scope of this challenge, but Mishra said what’s SPE 210351 Pros and Cons of Saline Aquifers
known today suggests losses due to biological Against Depleted Hydrocarbon Reservoirs for
activity would be relatively minor. One industry Hydrogen Energy Storage by Mojdeh Delshad,
shortcoming he does see necessary to address is Muhammad Alhotan, Bruno Ramon Batista
that while the processes behind biological reactions Fernandes, Yelnur Umurzakov, and Kamy
are well defined, “they’re not fully understood to Sepehrnoori, The University of Texas at Austin.
a point where we can model them with a great How To Leverage E&P Expertise for the New
degree of certainty.” Energy Economy by Srikanta Mishra, Battelle
What may end up being the most important Memorial Institute, and Akhil Datta‑Gupta,
of all hydrogen’s possible reactions is corrosion Texas A&M University, JPT, April 2023.

30 JPT | April 2023