An Integrated Approach to Reducing Risk and Uncertainty in the Early Stages of Native Hydrogen Exploration

Summary Native hydrogen (H₂) occurs naturally within the Earth’s subsurface and is produced from various geological sources and processes. The native H2 system is poorly constrained resulting in a very high exploration risk. Integrating a bottom-up and top-down approach to early exploration efforts of the native H₂ industry can aid in advancing understanding of the overall system. The bottom-up approach has allowed improved understanding of potential source rocks and generation mechanisms. The top-down approach has helped link evidence for H2 at the surface with potentially active H2 systems at depth. While risk and uncertainty remain high, this integrated approach has highlighted focus areas for future work including defining effective reservoir and seal character, transport, and migration. Additionally, understanding the roles of multi-physics, petrophysics, rock-physics and seismic inversion will also help to reduce risk and uncertainty in any native H2 exploratory program.