Hydrom signs $20 bn deals for hydrogen in Oman, eyes 500,000 MTPA for ammonia, steel and export

Omani hydrogen company Hydrom has signed agreements to develop green hydrogen projects requiring an investment of $20 billion, according to news from the Gulf nation's state news agency.

Three memoranda of understanding were signed, with BP Oman, Amnah consortium and the Green Energy Oman alliance, the report said.

Together, the projects are expected to generate 500,000 metric tons of green hydrogen a year from more than 12 gigawatts (GW) of renewable energy capacity. 

Oman's announcement comes as countries in the Middle East ramp up investments in renewables as they seek to transition from fossil-fuel-funded economies. Last month, Saudi Arabia's NEOM Green Hydrogen achieved financial closure on an $8.4 billion green hydrogen facility that will produce 600 metric tons per day of carbon-free hydrogen in the form of green ammonia, by integrating up to 4GW of solar and wind energy.

The same month, UAE's Masdar signed an agreement with Airbus to support the development and growth of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), green hydrogen and direct air capture technologies. 

Hydrom itself aims to operate at least six hydrogen projects by 2030, producing at least 1 million metric tons per annum of green hydrogen, at an expected investment of about $30 billion.    

According to news reports, the BP Oman project will produce 150,000 metric tons of green hydrogen a year for production of ammonia and export. The site will have 3.5 GW of installed renewables capacity.

The project bagged by the Green Energy Oman Alliance (a consortium of OQ, Oman's integrated energy company, Oman Shell, energy investor EnerTech of Kuwait, green hydrogen specialist InterContinental Energy and Golden Wellspring Wealth) could produce up to 150,000 metric tons per annum of green hydrogen and its derivatives from 4 GW of installed renewables capacity.

The Amnah consortium, a multinational grouping of Danish renewable energy investor Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, solar and wind energy focused Blue Power Partners, and Al Khadra, a subsidiary of Oman's Hind Bahwan Group, bagged the biggest project of the three.

The consortium will generate 200,000 metric tons per annum of green hydrogen from 4.5 GW of installed renewable energy capacity. The green hydrogen from the Amnah consortium will be supplied for planned green steel plants located in the special economic zone at the Port of Duqm on Oman's Arabian Sea coastline.

The consortium believes their project will be groundbreaking. Karsten Plauborg, Partner at Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, told the Oman Observer newspaper, "It's an absolutely massive project – nothing has been built on this scale in renewable energy anywhere before. That also means you have to be really humble towards the task ahead. We cannot leave any stone unturned; we will have to be really diligent here."