Abstract

The global pursuit for sustainable and clean energy sources has intensified in recent years, increasing interest in exploring natural hydrogen. This paper aims to review the probable prospects of natural hydrogen in India, focusing on hard rocks, oil and gas fields, hot water springs, and basement rocks. The screening criteria for identifying potential sites for natural hydrogen in India include datasets from various geological, geochemical, and geophysical assessments. Exploration efforts in India are still nascent, and there is limited available literature on the quantitative data of hydrogen gas from oil and gas wells. Further, preliminary studies suggest that drilling through fractured basaltic rocks holds the potential for encountering natural hydrogen. Apart from oil and gas fields, hard rocks, particularly those associated with mafic, ultramafic, iron rich-rock formations, hold promise for natural hydrogen occurrences.