BP eyes European, Japanese markets with Perth green hydrogen project

afr.com:

Global energy giant BP is optimistic it can export green hydrogen to Europe and Japan by the end of the decade from a repurposed, 70-year-old oil refinery south of Perth.

Having completed a study into the feasibility of developing alarge-scale energy hub in Kwinana, the company is now eyeing the production of green hydrogen for domestic use by 2026 and potentially exporting the fuel before 2030.

BP hydrogen business development director Justin Nash with WA Energy Minister Bill Johnston at the company’s Kwinana facility.  Stef King

Hundreds of workers are now dismantling the sprawling BP oil refinery in Kwinana as the company redevelops the facility to produce green hydrogen as well as biofuels, including sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).

Massive tanks spread across the facility that for decades stored oil and petrol are being repurposed to carry biofuels produced from vegetable oils, including renewable diesel for mining vehicles, by 2026.

BP hydrogen business development director Justin Nash said the company’s initial priority was servicing the local market, the WA green hydrogen project was already garnering interest from Europe and Japan.

“The 100 megawatts would be clearly used here for domestic purposes, but once we can scale into the multiple hundreds of megawatts that gets us into the sort of the minimum sort of size required to have export quantities, and that could be before the end of 2030s,” he said.

“The approaches we’ve had from the EU are generally just around energy security.”

Other local and international consumers include companies involved in mineral processing, fertiliser and chemical production.

BP’s Justin Nash with WA Energy Minister Bill Johnston.  Stef King

“One of the great things about this