SK E&S plans major push into hydrogen, green LNG

South Korea’s SK E&S, a unit of SK Group, plans to produce 280,000 metric tons (mt)/year of blue hydrogen and 10mn mt/yr of green LNG by 2025, it said on September 1. The company also plans to produce 30,000 mt/yr of liquid hydrogen and 7 GW of renewable energy.

All this expansion will increase the value of the company five-fold to 35 trillion won ($30.2bn), CEO Choo Hyung-wook said. It will use carbon capture, storage and utilisation (CCUS) technology in its “end-to-end carbonless solution” to remove CO2 in the whole process of LNG and hydrogen production. The company had outlined its hydrogen plans in March this year. 

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“The company will lead the future global energy ecosystem by building a differentiated green portfolio in its four core business areas,” Choo said.

SK E&S said it is aiming to become into a major global LNG provider in South Korea that will supply 6mn mt/yr LNG by 2023 and 10mn mt/yr by 2025. It plans to supply 1.3mn mt/yr of carbon neutral LNG based on CCUS to South Korea by 2025. 

In addition to clean hydrogen production, SK E&S plans to build hydrogen fuelling stations as well as hydrogen fuel cell power plants. The company plans to promote the use of hydrogen in the mobility sector including hydrogen-fuelled vehicles and drones. The aim is to build about 100 hydrogen fuelling stations across the country by 2025, it said.

SK E&S will cooperate with US-based hydrogen company Plug Power to explore markets in Asia including China and Vietnam. Earlier this year, SK E&S bought about 10% of shares of Plug Power, becoming the largest shareholder.

SK E&S has also partnered with Huadien, one of the Chinese three largest state-owned power companies, to expand its hydrogen business in China and has been in discussion with the Vietnamese government for cooperation in hydrogen business.