INPEX CORPORATION has opened the INPEX hydrogen park in Kashiwazaki City, Niigata Prefecture, moving its blue hydrogen and ammonia demonstration effort into full operation. The site brings together several existing elements, the blue hydrogen and ammonia plant, the Kashiwazaki Hydrogen Power Plant, and the Hirai Gas Collection Station, into one coordinated facility. INPEX developed the complex to run its broad demonstration program covering hydrogen and ammonia production and their eventual use.
The INPEX hydrogen park also reflects the company’s long-running commitment to Niigata Prefecture through a “local production for local consumption” model. Natural gas from the Minami-Nagaoka Gas Field serves as the main feedstock, and CO₂ created during hydrogen and ammonia production will be directed into the reservoir beneath the Hirai area of the Higashi-Kashiwazaki Gas Field, where gas extraction has already ended. The hydrogen produced through this project will supply electricity generation at the Kashiwazaki Hydrogen Power Plant and be delivered through the grid to users in Niigata Prefecture. A portion of that hydrogen will be synthesized into ammonia for customers located in the same region.
INPEX said the purpose of the INPEX hydrogen park is to strengthen its experience across the full hydrogen and ammonia value chain and build a record of operational know-how that can support its role in these sectors both domestically and internationally. Parts of the hydrogen and ammonia production system, including CO₂ capture, are backed by the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization under its “Fuel Ammonia Utilization and Production Technology’’ program. Work on subsurface CO₂ storage is being advanced with the Japan Organization for Metals and Energy Security through joint research on depleted oil and gas fields in Japan.
The initiative forms a core component of INPEX Vision 2035, released in February 2025, which sets out the company’s plans for a responsible energy transition and names CCS and hydrogen as key growth areas. INPEX noted that commissioning and the introduction of natural gas represent a major step in the project’s rollout. Running from the second half of fiscal 2022 through the end of fiscal 2025, with room for extension, the project includes blue hydrogen and clean electricity production, low-temperature and low-pressure ammonia synthesis, studies on CO₂ storage potential, enhanced gas recovery assessments, and monitoring designed to verify safe CO₂ injection.
