June 02, 2025 [H2 View]- China oil and gas major Sinopec has unveiled a $690m venture capital fund to support early-stage hydrogen investments and technologies.

The fund will be managed by Sinopec Private Equity Fund Management, a wholly owned subsidiary of Sinopec Capital.

The announcement provides further evidence of China’s pre-eminent position in hydrogen and follows $321m of funding from the Chinese finance ministry for regional hydrogen fuel cell vehicle demonstration projects, taking overall funding to $700m in the last three years.

Sinopec recently inaugurated the second phase of its Guangzhou Petrochemical Hydrogen Fuel Cell Supply Center, raising hydrogen production capacity to 15 tonnes daily.

The Chinese company’s flagship project, Kuqa, in the remote Xinjiang province, aims to reach 20,000 Mt/yr capacity by the end of this year, powered by 260MW of electrolysers.

The China Hydrogen Alliance projects China’s hydrogen demand will reach 35 million tonnes by 2030, to deliver at least 5% of the country’s energy supply.

China is likely to be the largest single market for hydrogen by 2050, with demand for green hydrogen reaching 200 million tonnes, according to the global trade body the Hydrogen Council.

It should meet most of its demand through competitive domestic production, much of which may be transported over long distances via pipelines. The economic powerhouse has 94 hydrogen production plants according to gasworld intelligence.