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France’s Engie and South Korea’s POSCO expects to commence construction on a 1.2 million tonnes per annum green ammonia project in Oman in 2027.
On Wednesday, the consortium led by the two companies was named the winner of land block (Z1-02) offered by Hydrom, which is spearheading Oman’s green hydrogen drive.
Other partners in the consortium include Samsung Engineering (which will be the EPC contractor), Korea East-West Power Co. (EWP), Korea Southern Power Co. (KOSPO), and FutureTech Energy Ventures Company, a subsidiary of PTTEP.
The companies said in a joint press statement that the consortium will carry out the feasibility and technical studies to finalise the total capital expenditure requirement for the project.
Spanning 340 square kilometres, the concession block is located in Duqm, with downstream elements to be established at the Port of Duqm.
The contract will last for 47 years, split into a seven-year development and construction phase followed by a 40-year operational period, which will be rolled out within a month of the contract signing, the joint statement said.
It said the land block will include a total renewable energy capacity of nearly 5 gigawatts (GW), which comprises wind and solar power, in addition to battery energy storage (BESS) and a hydrogen plant that will produce 200 kilotons per annum (ktpa) of green hydrogen.
A pipeline will then transport the hydrogen to the Special Economic Zone at Duqm, where it will be converted into approximately 1.2 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) of green ammonia for export.
A Reuters report on Wednesday noted that a final investment decision (FID) is expected by 2027. It quoted an Engie official saying that the ammonia would be used to decarbonise South Korean steel production by being burned as fuel.
The press statement said the commercial operation date is expected by 2030, and the first shipment of green ammonia to South Korea is planned for the second half of 2030.
(Writing by P Deol; Editing by Anoop Menon)
