Registrations opened on Sunday, October 23, 2022 for international developers interested in bidding for a number of blocks offered up by the Omani government for the establishment of green hydrogen projects in the Sultanate of Oman.

As many as two blocks in Duqm (Al Wusta Governorate) and four blocks in Salalah (Dhofar Governorate) are up for grabs in Phase A of the government’s strategy to attract international investment in a future green hydrogen industry. Covering a total area of 1,900 sq kilometres, they represent just a fraction of the estimated 50,000 sq kilometres of acreage earmarked for green hydrogen projects around the Sultanate.

An overview of this tendering strategy was presented by Dr Firas al Abduwani , Acting Managing Director of HYDROM, the new state-owned hydrogen-centric company that will oversee the delivery of Oman’s green hydrogen strategy.

Speaking at the unveiling of Oman’s Net Zero’s pathway, and the launch of HYDROM on Sunday, Dr Abduwani said the six blocks on offer in Phase A of the tendering plan will help meet the country’s green hydrogen production target of 1 million tonnes per annum by 2030. Future developments are envisioned in blocks delineated in other parts of the country, including Al Dhahirah (8,200 sq km), Al Dakhiliyah (5,180 sq km), Sur (2,450 sq km), Al Wusta / Duqm (15,930 sq km), Al Jazir (25,700 sq km) and Dhofar (7,910 sq km).

Of the six blocks on offer in Phase A, two of them – located in Duqm – have been opened up for registration in the first round of the tendering programme, said Dr Al Abduwani. A Request for Qualifications (RfQ) for these blocks (each of around 320 sq km) will be issued to interested developers on November 2, 2022, with an award set to be finalised by April 2023. A second round, covering the remaining four blocks of Phase A, will kick off immediately thereafter, with awards expected to be announced before the end of 2023, he noted.

Importantly, successful bidders will be given the prerogative to choose which type of end-product their investment will ultimately produce. “We're keeping it very flexible,” said Dr Al Abduwani. “We're allowing the developers themselves to choose the end product, whether they want it to be hydrogen itself and transport it in a liquefied manner or with a liquid organic carrier. That's up to them! Whether they want to move with ammonia or methanol - that is also open to them if they want to bring some of the hard-to-abate sectors and industries and bring them as part of the solutions.” Responsibility for the offtake of the end-product will also be the responsibility of the developer, he noted.

Crucially, with multiple developers expected to invest in Oman’s green energy space, HYDROM plans to tender out the common infrastructure separately. The official explained: “There are multiple reasons for that. One, we've heard that the national champion, OQ Alternative Energy, will be the back-in rights partner for the primary scope. So there's a different contractual regime that will happen for the main package. Infrastructure, on the other hand, is something that we foresee to have 100 per cent back-in rights for the Omani state owned enterprises that will come in.

So whether we talk about overhead lines or hydrogen pipelines or water pipelines, ultimately all this will have the optionality of being owned by the nation. So for that reason, the infrastructure is separated out into a separate package. The developers who will be bidding for the main package, are also more than welcome to bid into the infrastructure package to have the collective, end-to-end opportunity to deploy their projects,” he added.

 

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