Oman sets up support unit for green-hydrogen developers

Oman government

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.

• Oman could become world leader in geologic hydrogen
• Oman plans green-hydrogen corridor to Europe
• UAE’s Masdar to develop green hydrogen in Spain

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.