Hydrogen projects to boost Oman’s non-oil economy: Fitch Ratings

Hydrogen projects to boost Oman’s non-oil economy: Fitch Ratings

Muscat – Oman’s ambitious targets to expand local green hydrogen production could support the country’s key credit metrics, such as GDP, fiscal revenue, and the balance of payments, over the long term amid the global energy transition, Fitch Ratings said. The sultanate’s government aims to raise green hydrogen production to at least 1mn metric tonnes […]Muscat – Oman’s ambitious targets to expand local green hydrogen production could support the country’s key credit metrics, such as GDP, fiscal revenue, and the balance of payments, over the long term amid the global energy transition, Fitch Ratings said.

The sultanate’s government aims to raise green hydrogen production to at least 1mn metric tonnes per year by 2030, rising to at least 3.25mn metric tonnes by 2040 and 7.5mn metric tonnes by 2050.

‘Local state-owned enterprise (SOE) Hydrogen Oman (Hydrom) signed six investment agreements, worth over $38bn, with partners in 2023. However, we believe the hydrogen strategy will not involve large-scale SOE investments or associated sovereign contingent liabilities. Hydrom will only provide prepared plots, and another SOE, OQ Alternative Energy, will only take relatively modest minority stakes in selected projects,’ Fitch noted.

According to Fitch, the main impact of Oman’s green hydrogen development plan in the near