Muscat: The Sultanate of Oman is taking bold steps to accelerate the growth of its green hydrogen sector.
Following the signings of three agreements awarding the first green hydrogen projects and the signing of commercial term sheets within Phase A Round 1 public auction process earlier this month, Hydrogen Oman SPC (Hydrom), a subsidiary of Energy Development Oman (EDO), will sign a number of new agreements on June 21. The agreements will be signed during a special event at Crowne Plaza OCEC, Madinat Al Irfan, to announce the winners.
Earlier this month, Hydrom signed three agreements awarding the first green hydrogen blocks in Oman. The total investments in the three projects signed with the consortia of Amnah, Green Energy Oman (GEO) and BP Oman, respectively, are expected to exceed $20 billion. These contracts are expected to yield a total production capacity of half a million tonnes of green hydrogen per annum from around 12 GW of installed renewable energy capacity at the three sites spanning a total area of 960 km2.
The signing of these agreements comes as part of Oman’s ongoing initiatives to foster the development of its hydrogen sector. The Sultanate’s ambitious plans aim to generate more than a million tons of green hydrogen by 2030 and almost 8 million tonnes by 2050 using 30 per cent of the already permitted space with $140 billion cumulative investments by 2050 required in Oman’s Green H2 Economy. These efforts are aimed at achieving the strategic goals of Oman Vision 2040 of building a diversified, sustainable and green economy, as well as achieving the country’s target of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.
To spearhead the country’s ambitious green hydrogen strategy, the government established Hydrogen Oman SPC (Hydrom), a fully owned independent subsidiary of Energy Development Oman. Regulated by the Ministry of Energy and Minerals (MEM), Hydrom serves as the overall orchestrator and master planner of Oman’s green hydrogen sector.
Its mandate includes identifying government-owned land areas, structuring large-scale green hydrogen projects, managing the allocation process to developers, and facilitating the development of shared infrastructure and connected ecosystem industries and hubs.