據油氣新聞6月16日消息稱，澳大利亞已經成為世界上最大的液化天然氣(LNG)出口國，澳大利亞的超冷凍燃料生產商正在考慮轉變他們的行業，成為全球氫氣的領導者。

　　周二，澳大利亞石油生產和勘探協會(APPEA)會議的主題會議上充斥著行業如何能夠、并且應該迎接氣候變化的挑戰，并轉向無碳排放的能源生產。

　　最強烈的呼吁來自澳大利亞第二大石油和天然氣生產商桑托斯公司的董事長兼APPEA會長Kevin Gallagher，他在會上表示，除非該行業實現碳減排，否則將無法繼續開發其資源。

　　他在會議上表示:“通過碳捕獲和存儲等技術，以及利用天然氣生產氫氣，實現脫碳至關重要。”

　　Gallagher的呼吁并不是第一次將氫燃料轉換為澳大利亞資源行業排放的解決方案，作為全球最大的煉鋼用焦煤出口國和發電廠用動力煤第二大出口國，鑒于其液化天然氣的主導地位和地位，澳大利亞是主要的碳生產國。

　　這次的不同之處在于，這個行業正在利用其最大的事件來談論根本的改變，并有效地認識到，如果不擁抱一個脫碳的未來，它將會消亡。

　　也許液化天然氣行業已經看到了煤炭所發生的變化，并決定在不可挽回地走上同樣的道路之前采取行動。

　　如果你十年前去亞洲參加一個煤炭會議，你會發現這個行業對自己的未來充滿信心，認為自己的產品比替代能源更便宜、更可靠，而且氣候變化真的只是一場騙局。

　　快進到今天，燃煤發電受到威脅，也許除了印度等國內儲量巨大的國家，新礦項目正努力獲得批準和資金，亞洲各國正在取消其燃煤建設計劃，轉而支持目前由電力存儲支持的更便宜的可再生能源。

　　澳大利亞的液化天然氣行業面臨著與煤炭行業相同的壓力，即難以獲得資本和銀行融資，股東對氣候變化政策的反對，以及在碳限制的未來長期淘汰的威脅。

　　因此，我們有了轉向氫燃料的想法。氫燃料燃燒時不會產生排放，但在生產過程中會產生大量排放，這取決于生產方式。

　　生產氫氣的最環保方式是使用完全由可再生能源產生的電力為能源密集型產業的生產過程提供動力，一些液化天然氣生產商，如澳大利亞最大的石油和天然氣公司伍德賽德，正在計劃這樣的項目，包括在塔斯馬尼亞島的一個項目，該項目主要使用水力發電。

　　曹海斌 摘譯自油氣新聞

　　原文如下：

　　Australia’s LNG industry sees a somewhat green hydrogen future

　　Having scaled the peak of becoming the world’s top exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG), Australia’s producers of the super-chilled fuel are contemplating switching their industry around to become the global leader in hydrogen.

　　The keynote sessions at the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association’s (APPEA) conference on Tuesday were full of how the industry can, and should, embrace the challenges of climate change and move to producing the energy that can be free of carbon emissions.

　　The strongest call came from Kevin Gallagher, APPEA’s chairman and chief executive of Australia’s second-biggest oil and gas producer Santos STO.AX, who told the event that unless the industry de-carbonised, it would not be able to continue to develop its resources.

　　“Decarbonisation, through technologies like carbon capture and storage, and hydrogen production using natural gas, is critical,” he told the conference.

　　Gallagher’s call isn’t the first time switching to hydrogen has been touted as a solution to the emissions created by Australia’s resources industry, which is a major carbon producer given its leading LNG role and its status as the world’s biggest exporter of coking coal used to make steel, and second-biggest in thermal coal used in power plants.

　　What’s different this time is the industry is using its biggest event to talk about fundamental change, and to effectively recognise that it will die out if it doesn’t embrace a decarbonised future.

　　Perhaps the LNG industry has seen what is happening to coal, and decided to act before it goes irretrievably down the same path.

　　If you went to a coal conference in Asia a decade ago you would have found an industry confident in its future, with the attitude that its product was cheaper than alternatives, reliable and that climate change was really just hocus pocus.

　　Fast forward to today and coal-fired generation is under threat, apart perhaps from in countries with vast domestic reserves such as India, new mines are struggling to get approvals and funding, and countries across Asia are cancelling their coal-fired building plans in favour of now cheaper renewables backed by power storage.

　　Australia’s LNG industry faces much of the same pressure that was brought to bear on coal, namely difficulties in accessing capital and bank financing, shareholder revolts over climate change policies and the threat of longer-term obsolescence in a carbon-constrained future.

　　Hence the idea of switching to hydrogen, a fuel that doesn’t produce emissions when burnt, but can produce substantial emissions in being produced, depending how it is done.

　　The greenest way to produce hydrogen to is power the energy-intensive production process using electricity generated entirely from renewable sources, and some LNG producers, such as Australia’s biggest oil and gas company Woodside WPL.AX are planning such ventures, including a project in the island state of Tasmania, which predominantly uses hydropower to generate electricity.