I suspect Hydrogen will be the bigger long term opportunity. Clean hydrogen is a key input to make ammonia. The ammonia (Nitrogen) industry is massive - fertilisers, industrial explosives etc. Current hydrogen production methods have CO2 as the by product (not C like Hazer) and is therefore not good for the environment. The hydrogen plants are also only practical at large scale and therefore very expensive - you wouldn't get much change out of half a bil for a new ammonia plant.
So, it's still very early days but a small scale hydrogen plant could be an awesome way of monetising 'stranded' natural gas assets. What do that mean? There are plenty of natural gas fields that are uneconomic not because they don't have gas but because they don't sit near the infrastructure to move it somewhere else (pipelines). But if you can stick a small scale (low capital) plant on the ground and convert the gas to valuable solids and liquids (graphite and ammonia (or fertilizer) then it's easier to store, transport and add value in the local markets. eg Zambia needs plenty of fertiliser. Drop a small Hazer plant on one of the rift valley NG fields and it's a short haul to the customers (they'll need a small AN plant as well though) - I believe this is why Wesfarmers have an interest - it's not the graphite it's what it can do for their Fert and Explosives business......
The risk is in scaling up the tech. If they can do this successfully then it will be an industry disruptor on a huge scale.
HZR Price at posting:
62.0¢ Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held