Recently, the team of Professor Sun Baojiang, chief scientist of the National Natural Science Foundation of China, published the cutting-edge technology research results entitled Review on Natural Hydrogen Wells Safety in Nature Communications. The first author and corresponding author of the paper is Professor Sun Baojiang. This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China.

As a renewable hydrogen produced by complex geological processes, natural hydrogen is considered to be an important pillar in the future energy landscape due to its lower production cost and huge reserves. Worldwide, many countries or organizations such as the United States, the European Union, and Australia have listed underground natural hydrogen exploration and development as a key frontier research project in the past two years. However, due to the low density, low viscosity, and special biological and chemical reaction properties, the safety of the wellbore in natural hydrogen exploration and development will be challenging.

In view of the problems of oil/casing damage, cement/seal failure and excessive accumulation of annular pressure (Fig. 1), this paper reveals the risk mechanisms of wellbore safety problems caused by hydrogen embrittlement, microbial corrosion, hydrogen-cement reaction and hydrogen-induced rubber degradation, and gives coping strategies to solve wellbore safety problems, and points out that the hydrogen corrosion mechanism, cement failure mechanism, failure mechanism of non-metallic sealing materials and annular pressure accumulation mechanism of wellbore materials under the influence of multiple factors will be the hot spots of future research. Combined with the recent research progress, some suggestions on specific research directions and research methods are proposed.

According to the reviewers of the paper, The paper solves the key problem of wellbore safety in the development of natural hydrogen, which is the key work of the transition to clean energy. The article is very engaging because it addresses the safety concerns of very cutting-edge natural hydrogen development. Underground natural hydrogen is a potential clean energy source, and the authors explore the wellbore safety challenges faced during its extraction, and the ideas, arguments, and discussions in the paper are brilliant and fresh.

Professor Sun Baojiang's team has long been committed to the research and engineering practice of oil and gas well engineering technology, especially in the field of wellbore pressure control and disaster prevention and control technology in deepwater and deep drilling and completion, and has presided over 16 national major key projects such as the National 973 Program Project, the National Natural Science Foundation of China Basic Science Center and key projects, and won 11 scientific and technological awards at or above the provincial and ministerial level, such as the second prize of the National Technological Invention Award, the second prize of the National Science and Technology Progress Award, and the first prize of Shandong Science and Technology Progress Award. The relevant achievements have played an important role in major national projects such as China's first 10,000-meter exploration well Shendi Taco 1, the first self-operated deep-water gas field Shenhai No. 1, and the sea gas hydrate trial production project.

Link to paper：https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-55773-y