Alberta. hydrogen plan due next month

By MEDICINE HAT NEWS on October 14, 2021.

https://www.medicinehatnews.com@MedicineHatNews

Alberta Energy will release its “Hydrogen Roadmap” in November, according to officials in the office of the associate minister of electricity and natural gas.

The news follows last week’s announcement that Dow Chemicals will build a net-zero carbon ethylene complex in Fort Saskatchewan that will convert the off-gas into hydrogen for use as a fuel for transportation, heating and power production.

An Alberta roadmap would follow a federal strategy announced last fall and focus on large projects and related infrastructure in the province.

This summer the City of Medicine Hat announced it was a founding member, along with local petrochemical producers, in a hydrogen hub strategy group to promote the sector in southeast Alberta.

CF reaches U.K. gas deal

CF Industries has secured a carbon off-take agreement through January to keep a fertilizer plant in the United Kingdom operating amid record high natural gas pricing, the global producer with operations in Medicine Hat announced this week.

The Billigham Complex in northern England was temporarily shut down in September after natural gas prices rose five fold since the spring.

Company officials say the action by the U.K. and suppliers led to the agreement.

“We look forward to working with them in the future as they develop a longer term solution to CO2 supply and to support sustainable and competitive U.K. ammonia and fertilizer production,” stated the company’s president and CEO Tony Will.

A similar plant in Chester, U.K. will remain closed for the time being.

Helium north of Brooks

Imperial Helium says it has completed an appraisal of a well in southeast Alberta and will build a prototype plant this year to purify the production of the inert gas used in manufacturing and high tech applications.

The company entered the relatively new sector this year with a listing on the TSX Venture stock exchange. It said earlier this month a well in the Steveville area, near the Red Deer River, southeast of Drumheller, reported concentration of about 0.5% helium.

On Wednesday the Calgary-based explorer said it had reached a final agreement to construct a $400,000 refinery unit that will be completed by the end of 2021.

Officials say the plant will “accelerate the path to monetizing the Steveville Asset,” and provide test samples in early 2022.