Oman has granted a piece of land to France-based energy firm Engie for the construction of $7 billion green ammonia plant in the Sultanate. With this, a first step is taken towards constructing the plant to export 1.2 million tons of green fuel to South Korea by the mid-2030s.
The land is allotted following a tender process by Hydrom, Oman’s hydrogen development entity. The project is managed by a consortium that includes steelmaker Posco, Samsung Engineering, several South Korean power companies, and a subsidiary of Thailand’s national oil company PTTEP.
The project comprises 5 gigawatts (GW) of new wind and solar energy, batteries,and electrolyser which will have the capacity to produce 200,000 tons of hydrogen per year. The dedicated hydrogen pipelines will be used to transport the gas to an ammonia production facility near the port of Duqm, as per reports.
Frédéric Claux, who is responsible for managing Engie’s flexible power generation in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East informed that the ammonia produced near Duqm will be shipped to Asia for 40 years, with prime focus on the South Korea which will be the primary buyer to decarbonise steel production.
“Engie has about 100 hydrogen projects globally, but this would be the biggest we participate in so far, and what’s notable is that we already have the off-takers lined up, namely our Korean consortium partners. Oman is an ideal location for the project due to its export-friendly location on the Indian Ocean, its political support for green energy projects, and its abundance of wind resources in addition to solar power,” Claux said.
Earlier this month, Hydrom has signed three agreements to develop green hydrogen projects that would require an investment of $20 billion, with BP Oman, the Amnah consortium, and the Green Energy Oman alliance. The three contracts are expected to yield a total production capacity of 500,000 tonnes of green hydrogen per year for over 12GW of installed renewable energy capacity.
