The Philippines spent decades as one of Southeast Asia’s most vulnerable energy consumers. It imported almost all its oil.
That reliance exposed the country to painful price spikes and global crises.
Now, a US startup thinks the cure sits directly beneath the nation’s feet. Rare underground conditions beneath its volcanic islands could hold massive amounts of natural hydrogen.
She has a talent for turning complex ideas into sharp, memorable insights that stay with readers long after they’ve finished reading.
It is a clean fuel source few knew existed until recently.
A country running on borrowed energy
Energy anxiety is a daily reality for the Philippines. The nation previously imported 98% of its oil, with most traveling from the Middle East through the Strait of Hormuz.
When a war involving the US, Israel, and Iran shut that shipping lane, shockwaves hit instantly. The government declared an emergency. It ordered a four-day workweek and tripled solar panel imports from China.
The panic even reopened a legendary debate. Officials reconsidered restarting the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant, which sat unused since 1986.
When a nation considers reviving a dusty, decades-old nuclear plant, its power problem is severe.
What is natural hydrogen, and why does it matter?
Most hydrogen is made artificially. Green hydrogen uses electricity to split water. Blue hydrogen strips gas from methane and traps the carbon. Both demand huge industrial setups and tons of power.
Natural hydrogen—also known as white or geologic hydrogen—is different. Nature makes it underground. It flows on its own once tapped.
Koloma CEO Pete Johnson says extracting it takes under 3 megawatt-hours per ton. Factories making green hydrogen need around 55 megawatt-hours per ton. That difference is massive.
Harvesting it is surprisingly simple. “If you drill a hole into that pressurized reservoir, the gas is going to flow by itself,” Johnson noted. “It’s just like poking a hole in a balloon.”
It leaves the surrounding rock intact. The real trick is finding pockets big enough to be worth drilling.
Why the Philippines is geologically exceptional
Very few places on Earth have the right rocks for natural hydrogen. The Philippines sits on an absolute goldmine.
The archipelago rests right where three tectonic plates crush together. That creates vast beds of young, iron-rich rock. When water hits that iron, chemical reactions constantly pump out free hydrogen underground.
“The Philippines is like the poster child of that,” Johnson said. “The geology is very, very good.”
The Philippine government actively helps the search. Officials track surface gas leaks, creating maps that help drillers pinpoint the gas.
Koloma’s expanding footprint on Luzon
Koloma recently signed its third major deal in the country. The contract gives them exclusive rights to explore 817 square miles in western Zambales Province on Luzon.
Combined with earlier deals, Koloma controls over 1,600 square miles of exploration grounds.
The startup holds a major secret weapon: a hidden geological database built by its founders over 20 years. It lets them spot high-value targets before spending millions on test wells.
No law forces Koloma to keep the gas in the Philippines. Yet Johnson admits local delivery makes the most sense.
Hydrogen is notoriously hard to ship overseas. Since Manila and major factory hubs sit nearby, local businesses will likely buy almost everything they pump.
From the ground to the grid: What comes next
If the wells strike big, the business potential explodes. Koloma could sell raw gas directly to local power plants. Or they could turn it into clean fertilizer and green jet fuel for export.
The local rocks offer a secondary hidden power. That same iron-rich ground can permanently lock away captured carbon dioxide, adding a massive bonus for the environment.
Asian neighbors share this clean-energy dream. Japan set a national hydrogen plan in 2017, and China made hydrogen central to its economic goals.
Yet the Philippines holds a unique advantage. It doesn’t need to build costly factories to create hydrogen. The fuel is already sitting beneath the island rocks, trapped and waiting.
And here is the twist that makes this discovery so massive.
For a century, drillers searched these islands for fossil fuels and found almost nothing. They kept walking away from strange gas leaks because the gas wouldn’t burn like natural methane.
Those “useless” leaks weren’t empty air at all. They were pure, bubbling white hydrogen—a massive reservoir of clean energy hiding in plain sight the entire time.
Staff Writer
Kelly is an experienced writer with 15 years of experience exploring the big stories that shape our world, from tech breakthroughs and space exploration to climate, energy, and the fascinating quirks of science. She has a talent for turning complex ideas into sharp, memorable insights that stay with readers long after they’ve finished reading.
