Thursday 19 / September / 2024
Muscat: Hydrom, the Sultanate of Oman's green hydrogen orchestrator, organised a green hydrogen ecosystem readiness workshop.
The workshop brought together key players from the energy, logistics and services sectors.
Eng. Salim Nasser Al Aufi, Minister of Energy and Minerals, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Hydrom, underscored the tangible progress in developing the green hydrogen sector in the Sultanate of Oman.
Eight projects were signed in April, he added, with a total investment cost of USD 49 billion. The projects aim to prouct 1.38 million tonnes of green hydrogen, thus affirming Oman’s commitment to a transformation to a sustainable and promising future.
The Minister pointed out that to date, Hydrom has awarded plots of land totalling over 2,300 sqkm from a potential 50,000 sqkm that has been allocated for green hydrogen production. Awarded largely to energy consortiums comprising companies from Asia, Europe, Australia, and the Middle East, the contracts total more than $49 billion in investment commitments, highlighting significant investor confidence in Oman’s capacity to deliver.
The high-level workshop saw government officials and senior stakeholders come together to present strategic development plans and discuss challenges, solutions and plans of action for achieving 2030 production targets and Oman Vision 2040 targets.
Set to become one of the largest exporters of low-carbon hydrogen in the region, Oman has laid out ambitious plans to develop the energy sector and shift to a hydrogen-centric economy for the future.
In his turn, Abdulaziz Al Shidhani, Managing Director of Hydrom said, “Our commitment to building a resilient and profitable energy sector for Oman extends to optimising the full potential of the hydrogen value chain to bring employment, growth and institutional capacity across the board. We have moved quickly and efficiently since launching in October 2022 and we are not slowing down in our operations. Today’s workshop showed that the industry leaders are equally steadfast in their dedication to deliver affordable, secure and sustainable energy for a prosperous Omani economy.”
The tactical workshop provided an in-depth review of four key business streams essential for advancing Oman’s green hydrogen industry including contracting and service providers, national talent and human capital management, licensing, and logistics.
In the first stream, participants assessed the capabilities of local engineering contractors, service providers, and construction companies, outlining plans to enhance their capacities while exploring potential international affiliations and partnerships. For human capital management, the workshop aimed to lay out a roadmap for collaboration to build a workforce trained to meet the sector's needs. Attendees reviewed current workforce regulations related to expatriate capabilities to ensure Oman can attract and retain the right talent, while also identifying and addressing knowledge and training gaps within the local talent pool.
Digitalisation was a cornerstone of the licensing discussion, as participants explored ways to streamline processes and enhance efficiency while in the logistics stream, the focus was on expanding ports, facilities, services, and infrastructure to support and enable green hydrogen players in the sector.
