Much of the media focus surrounding the hydrogen sector centres on blue and green hydrogen production. And rightly so. Both offer scalable, lower-carbon pathways that can support the energy transition at industrial levels.
However, another clean energy option is lying right below our feet: natural hydrogen. The buzz around white (or gold) hydrogen – to give natural hydrogen its place on the hydrogen colour spectrum – has been growing in recent years. Scientists have discovered that naturally occurring hydrogen is more widespread than previously thought, leading some to believe that it could offer a cheap, clean energy source.
A 2024 study by the US Geological Survey (USGS) suggests that there could be between 1 billion and 10 trillion t of hydrogen in the Earth’s subsurface – trapped under rocks with low permeability. Best guesses estimate that there is likely to be around 5.6 trillion t. And while most of this hydrogen is likely to be “in accumulations that are too deep, too far offshore, or too small to be economically recoverable”, according to the study’s authors, Geoffrey Ellis and Sarah Gelman, if just 2% of this geologic hydrogen was recoverable, it could meet projected global hydrogen demand for approximately 200 years. Indeed, Ellis and Gelman believe that it would contain approximately twice as much energy as is stored in all of the proven natural gas reserves on Earth.1
What’s more, white hydrogen is likely to have a significant cost benefit over its colourful cousins. According to Rystad Energy, Canada-based producer Hydroma Inc. extracts white hydrogen at an estimated cost of just US$0.5/kg in Mali (more on that project later), while projects in Spain and Australia are aiming for a cost of approximately US$1/kg.2
All of this has sparked a bit of a gold (hydrogen) rush, with at least 60 companies publicly announcing that they are exploring for natural hydrogen, and exploratory efforts underway in a number of countries including the US and Australia. In France, scientists have uncovered a massive 46 million t reserve of hydrogen beneath the soil of Folschviller, worth an estimated US$92 billion.
However, all of this excitement must be met with a sense of caution. At present, no commercially viable wells have been discovered. In fact, the only place on Earth that currently uses white hydrogen is the small village of Bourakebougou in Western Mali, at a project operated by Hydroma Inc. Here, natural hydrogen was accidentally discovered back in 1987 after an unfortunate worker lit a cigarette while digging a water well, and it is now used to produce electricity for the village. Uncertainty still hangs over the role that natural hydrogen will play in the energy transition, with questions surrounding how much hydrogen can realistically be recovered from the ground, and whether natural hydrogen is a genuinely renewable resource at scale.
But if a commercially viable hydrogen well is discovered in the coming years, then we could be on the brink of a new age of energy exploration.
For a deeper dive into the potential of the natural hydrogen sector, turn to pages 15 and 19 of this issue for detailed articles from Thor Energy PLC and H2Au.
- FARAND, C., ‘The precious ‘white gold’ fuel buried in the Earth’, BBC, (24 July 2025), https://www.bbc.co.uk/future/article/20250723-the-worlds-race-to-drill-for-natural-white-hydrogen
- ‘The white gold rush and the pursuit of natural hydrogen’, Rystad Energy, (13 March 2024), https://www.rystadenergy.com/news/white-gold-rush-pursuit-natural-hydrogen
