South Korea’s major refiner Hyundai Oilbank Co. has teamed up with the world’s leading hydrogen supplier Air Products & Chemicals Inc. to achieve its goal of generating 100,000 tons of blue hydrogen by 2025.

Hyundai Oilbank announced Tuesday it has signed a memorandum of understanding with U.S. hydrogen giant Air Products & Chemicals to use the latter’s technology to produce hydrogen energy.

Air Products & Chemicals based in Pennsylvania, the U.S. is the world’s leading industrial gas company that supplies hydrogen and other gases with proprietary production technologies, factory operation knowhow and technical edge in storage and transport.

The Korean refiner, under the partnership with Air Products & Chemicals, plans to use its superior hydrogen technology to produce hydrogen from its crude oil byproducts and natural gas for cars and power plants.

Hyundai Oilbank earlier set a goal to produce 100,000 tons of blue hydrogen by 2025 under its eco-friendly business strategy for future growth.

Blue hydrogen refers to hydrogen produced from fossil fuels (natural gas), with carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology scooping up the resulting CO2.

“The company aims to reduce its reliance on refining business to 40 percent of the total revenue by 2030 from current 85 percent,” said Kang Dal-ho, CEO of Hyundai Oilbank. “We’ll become a leading green energy platform that earns nearly 70 percent of operating profit from the blue hydrogen, white bio, and eco-friendly chemicals and materials businesses.”

By Won Ho-sup and Lee Ha-yeon

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