Award imminent for Oman’s first green hydrogen block via auction

Award imminent for Oman’s first green hydrogen block via auction

MUSCAT: The Sultanate of Oman is just days away from announcing the winner of its first green hydrogen block offered to international developers in a competitive auction process overseen by Hydrom, the country’s independent orchestrator for this emerging sector.

The revelation came in a keynote address by Eng Salim bin Nasser al Aufi , Oman’s Minister of Energy and Minerals, at the World Hydrogen Summit, which concluded in the Dutch port city of Rotterdam on Thursday.

Media reports quoted Al Aufi as saying that the maiden award will be announced “in the next few days”, with a second award likely in June.

The land blocks, each covering an area of around 320 sq kilometres and located in Duqm in Al Wusta Governorate, were offered for development as part of Round 1 of Phase A of Hydrom’s multi-year auction programme.

Bids were due in by March 15, 2023.

The winning consortiums are expected to develop integrated projects covering the full green hydrogen value chain, encompassing solar and wind farms (upstream), production of green hydrogen through electrolysis (midstream) and a green energy end-product comprising either hydrogen, ammonia or derivative for domestic consumption or export.

Separately, Hydrom had signed term sheets with a number of developers of green hydrogen