Skip to content Skip to Search
Skip navigation

Oman sets up support unit for green-hydrogen developers

By Pramod Kumar
Oman's green-hydrogen delivery support unit will be announced by the government this week Oman government
Oman's green-hydrogen delivery support unit will be announced by the government this week

Oman will set up a high-powered “delivery support unit” shortly to ease the logistical hurdles that global investors may face on their large-scale green hydrogen projects.

The support unit is proposed to be announced by the government as early as this week, Oman Daily Observer reported, citing Mohsin Al Hadhrami, under-secretary of the Ministry of Energy and Minerals.

“Its primary remit is to anticipate and address all hurdles – construction, logistics and labour-related – to facilitate the timely and efficient completion of the projects,” he stated.

At least six mega-scale hydrogen projects will be developed at an estimated cost of $38 billion in the Al Wusta and Dhofar governorates.

The six ventures will have an aggregate green hydrogen output of 1 million tonnes annually by 2030.

In June Salim bin Nasser Al Aufi, minister of energy and minerals, signed $20 billion of contracts with partners including BP, Shell and the newly formed Hydrogen Oman (Hydrom) to produce 500,000 tonnes of green hydrogen each year. 

By 2040, green hydrogen exports are projected to be worth 80 percent of Oman’s current exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG), according to the International Energy Agency. It may be worth twice as much as the sultanate’s current overseas LNG sales a decade later.

The hydrogen rainbow

  • Green hydrogen is produced on a carbon-neutral basis through water electrolysis. 
  • Turquoise hydrogen is created when natural gas is broken down into hydrogen and solid carbon with the help of methane pyrolysis.
  • Blue hydrogen is generated from the steam reduction of natural gas. 
  • Grey hydrogen is obtained by steam reforming fossil fuels such as natural gas or coal. 
  • Sometimes other colours are ascribed to hydrogen, based on how it is produced. For red, pink and violet hydrogen, the electrolysers are driven by nuclear power. 
  • Yellow hydrogen is hydrogen produced from a mixture of renewable energies and fossil fuels. 
  • White hydrogen is a waste product of other chemical processes, while the use of coal as a fuel produces brown hydrogen.

Latest articles

PIF's Starbucks shareholdings were cut almost by half from 6.3 million shares to 3.8 million

PIF slashes Starbucks stake as it cuts US stocks by $15bn

Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) has slashed its US equity holdings by 42 percent to $20.6 billion, including its stake in Starbucks, the global coffee chain that has suffered calls for a boycott as a result of the Gaza conflict. The latest US government data highlights funding challenges facing the Saudi giga-projects.  The filing […]

Tunisia olives

Soaring olive oil exports help Tunisia balance books

Tunisia’s soaring olive oil exports have almost doubled to close to $1 billion in just five months, helping it claw back its current account deficit.   However the increased revenues merely “paint over the cracks” and the country is still probably heading towards a sovereign default, according to an economic expert. Tunisia’s current account deficit narrowed […]

Iraqi prime minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani attends licensing rounds for 29 oil and gas exploration blocks at the oil ministry's headquarters in Baghdad

Falling oil prices deepen Iraq’s fiscal imbalances, says IMF

Iraq’s fiscal imbalances have worsened due to significant fiscal expansion and lower oil prices, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). “The ongoing fiscal expansion is expected to boost growth in 2024 at the expense of a further deterioration of fiscal and external accounts and Iraq’s vulnerability to oil price fluctuations,” the Washington-based fund said in […]

Saudi aluminium producer Talco is offering 12 million shares

Aluminium producer Talco announces Saudi IPO

Aluminium producer Al Taiseer Group Talco Industrial Company (Talco) is the latest entity to reveal initial public offering (IPO) plans in Saudi Arabia. The Riyadh-based company, which was set up in 2009, is offering 12 million shares, a 30 percent stake, on the Saudi Exchange (Tadawul) at a nominal value of SAR10 ($2.67) per share. […]