Oman is to set up a Net Zero Centre to monitor the implementation of projects and provide technical support as it strives to meet its goal of zero neutrality by 2050.
The Sultanate, which benefits from abundant solar and wind resources, is actively targeting hydrogen, ammonia and low-carbon development and exports, with more than 50,000sq km currently allocated to green hydrogen production.
The Centre will help in adopting and transferring the latest international practices and technologies while supporting scientific research, innovation, and developing national capabilities. Eight projects have been awarded to date, which are expected to produce 1,380 ktpa of green hydrogen.
It will also oversee the registration and approval of requests for carbon certificate trading at the domestic level, ensuring alignment with international carbon credit frameworks, and maintain and update a comprehensive inventory of carbon emissions from various sources.
H.E. Eng. Salim Nasser Al Aufi, Minister of Energy and Minerals, said the facility will contribute to the use of energy efficiency and support relevant entities to reach zero neutrality by 2050.
Hydrom, the Sultanate’s green hydrogen orchestrator, announced signing two new green hydrogen projects in Dhofar worth $11bn last summer.
The signings follow the completion of Hydrom’s second round of auctions bringing the total hydrogen production in Oman to 1.38 million tonnes per year (mtpa) by 2030.
Source: Hydrom
The first agreement was signed with a consortium consisting of Electricité de France S.A. and its subsidiary EDF Renewables (EDF Group), Electric Power Development Co. (J-POWER) and YamnaCo (Yamna). The second was signed with Actis, a global investor in sustainable infrastructure, and Fortescue, a global integrated green energy, metals and technology company.
Oman has also signed a deal to develop what is believed to be the world’s first commercial-scale liquid hydrogen corridor between the Sultanate and the Netherlands.
Five strategic green hydrogen objectives have been identified: to ensure energy security for Oman and global demand; diversify the local economy and onshore the supply chain; decarbonise the country; create a green hydrogen sector with a competitive levelised cost of hydrogen for export; and support innovation.
Plans on the drawing board include developing a fully integrated hydrogen infrastructure with blocks of manufacturing and assembly of renewable energy products, steel plants and derivative synthesis facilities, supported by substations, desalination plant and export terminals. Infraco was launched last December to drive each infrastructure set up.
The short term focus is on developing wind turbines, iron ore pellets, solar PV, and electrolyser assembly, and in the medium term, efuels, electrolyser manufacturing and green steel. Over the border, the UAE recently piloted green steel production, in a project involving Masdar and EMSTEEL.
LNG is another key focus for the energy-focused eastern Gulf state.
Through a joint company called Marsa Liquefied Natural Gas (Marsa), TotalEnergies and OQ Alternative Energy (OQ) launched a new project that features a liquefaction plant with a capacity of 1 Mt/y located in the Port of Sohar.
The project includes 150m cubic feet of natural gas per day, coming from the venture’s 33.19% stake in the Mabrouk North-East field on onshore Block 10, which will provide feedstock for the plant.
The Marsa LNG project will be 100% electrically driven and supplied with solar power from a dedicated 300 MWp (megawatt peak) PV solar plant to be built on-site.
