Samsung C&T Group signed a Hydrogen and BioFuel Business Partnership with S-Oil to produce green Hydrogen together in Saudi Arabia and transit back to South Korea, as reported by the Korea Economic Daily on September 17. Under their agreement, S-Oil promised to offer the oil refining and petrochemical facilities from its parent company, Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Saudi Aramco) in support of this joint hydrogen production. Both companies also planned to expand their partnership to develop hydrogen fuel cells and the technology related to efficient hydrogen storage and transition. This further cooperation might contain other projects, including building hydrogen charging facilities at S-Oil’s 2,000 gas stations across South Korea, producing and transporting green ammonia, and extracting Hydrogen from ammonia for practical use.

Currently, with the increasing demand for clean energy sources to cope with climate change, South Korea aims at leading the global green transition by developing Hydrogen as an alternative. The reason for hydrogen becoming a potential optimal solution to clean energy is that it only leaves water vapor and warm air after its combustion. In 2019, South Korea announced its Hydrogen Economy Roadmap, which outlined its target of 2.9m hydrogen-powered vehicles and reaching a capacity of 15 gigawatts (GW) generated by the hydrogen fuel cells. Companies in South Korea also play important roles in supporting the domestic energy strategy. For instance, Samsung C&T joined hand with other 14 companies to invest KRW43.4tr (USD37.3bn) in Korea’s Hydrogen development by 2030. S-Oil invested KRW8.2bn (USD7.2m) in a Hydrogen fuel cell producer to drive sustainable development.

Sources:

https://www.kedglobal.com/newsView/ked202109170008

https://www.iea.org/policies/6566-korea-Hydrogen-economy-roadmap-2040

https://securebooks.in/2021/09/13/samsung-hyundai-and-other-chaebols-join-forces-on-37-billion-korean-hydrogen-pact/ https://www.kedglobal.com/newsView/ked202103080008?lang=

http://news.samsungcnt.com/Hydrogen-clean-energy-solution/