Oman has handed out its first two projects under its hydrogen bid round, to consortia involving DEME and Engie.
Hydrom is overseeing the process. It awarded two areas in Duqm this week, in the first round. In the second round, it will hand over another three blocks in the Dhofar area, aiming to achieve this by the second quarter of 2024.
Oman has a target of reaching 1 million tonnes per year of green hydrogen production by 2030.
Korea focused
Engie and Posco reported they had won one of the concessions. Their project aims to produce 200,000 tpy of green hydrogen. They will export this to Korea as 1.2 million tonnes per year of green ammonia.
Other partners include Samsung Engineering, Korea East-West Power (EWP), Korea Southern Power Co. (KOSPO) and PTTEP’s FutureTech Energy Ventures Company.
The area covers 340 square km in Duqm. The downstream equipment will be sited in the Port of Duqm.
The plan involves up to 5 GW of new wind and solar capacity, backed up by a battery energy storage system. The project will export the hydrogen to the port, where it will be exported as ammonia.
Engie said the feedstock would go to South Korea, starting in the second half of 2030. It will take seven years to develop and build the project and then it will operate for 40 years. It will begin construction in 2027.
“This venture will benefit from Engie’s industrial expertise. By developing renewable energies, renewable hydrogen and flexible assets such as batteries, this project is perfectly in line with the Group’s strategy to accelerate the transition to carbon neutrality,” said Sébastien Arbola, executive vice president in charge of Engie’s Flex Gen & Retail activities.
“It will contribute to several of our 2030 ambitions: reaching 4 GW of hydrogen capacity and 10 GW of batteries,” he said.
Hyport
The second award went to DEME and OQ, for the Hyport Duqm project. DEME said the first phase would produce 330,000 tpy of green ammonia, rising to 650,000 tpy in the second phase.
Driving this production would be 1.3 GW of wind and solar energy in the first phase. It will rise to more than 2.7 GW.
Najla Zuhair Al-Jamali, CEO of Alternative Energy at OQ, welcomed the deal. The works will be located in the Special Economic Zone, “a global centre to produce green hydrogen, which combines renewable energy, manufacturing, downstream and logistics activities with a focus on decarbonisation efforts and electricity production”.
DEME managing director Martin D’Uva said the project had been three years in the making.
“We are thrilled to accelerate our transformative journey towards a green hydrogen-powered future and to support Oman in achieving its ambitious green energy targets, while strengthening DEME’s long-term presence in Oman. The project will harness the immense potential of hydrogen as a clean and versatile energy carrier, leveraging Oman’s strategic location and abundant renewable resources to establish a robust green hydrogen ecosystem.”
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