Hydrogen Oman SPC (Hydrom), an Energy Development Oman SAOC subsidiary, has signed three agreements to grant the first green hydrogen blocks with investments of over $20 billion, Oman News Agency reported.

The agreements are forecast to yield a total production capacity of half a million tonnes of green hydrogen per annum from more than 12 gigawatts (GW )of installed renewable energy capacity at the three sites, each covering an area of 320 square kilometres in the Al Wusta governorate.

The first of two blocks (Z1-01), launched through a public auction last year, was awarded to a consortium of Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, Blue Power Partners and Al Khadra, a subsidiary of Hind Bahwan Group, Oman.

The consortium will generate around 200 KTPA [Kilo Tonnes Per Annum] of green hydrogen from 4.5 GW of installed renewable energy capacity for planned green steel plants located in the Port of Duqm in the Special Economic Zone at Duqm (SEZAD).  

The second project was signed with BP Oman for the development of green hydrogen for ammonia production and export. The anticipated annual production is 150 KTPA of green hydrogen from 3.5 GW of installed renewables capacity in Block Z1-03.

The third project was signed with the consortium of Green Energy Oman (GEO) for the development of green hydrogen and its derivatives. The consortium includes Oman’s integrated Energy Company OQ, Oman Shell, Kuwait’s energy investor EnerTech, InterContinental Energy and Golden Wellspring Wealth for Trading. The project is likely to produce up to 150 KTPA of green hydrogen from 4 GW of installed renewables capacity in Block Z1-04.

Land Usufruct

A head-usufruct agreement was signed by Hydrom with Ministry of Housing and Urban Planning and Ministry of Energy and Minerals, granting land rights to the company for the purposes of renewable energy and clean hydrogen projects.

Oman has allocated over 50,000 square kilometres in the governorates of Al Wusta and Dhofar for green hydrogen projects, which will be provided in stages, Khalfan Said Al Shuaili, Minister of Housing and Urban Planning said.

Building Infrastructure

Additionally, Hydrom formed an advisory board to oversee the development of its common utilities infrastructure in coordination with the developers of green hydrogen projects, state-owned utility operators and international developers of green hydrogen infrastructure.

A memorandum of understanding was signed between Hydrom and OQ Gas Networks, the operator and owner of Oman’s natural gas transportation system for pipeline development.

In addition, Energy Development Oman signed a research and development MoU with Siemens Energy to collaborate in the fields of green hydrogen technology, innovation, and expertise exchange.

(Writing by D Madhura; Editing by Anoop Menon)

(anoop.menon@lseg.com)