Eng. Salim Nasser Al Aufi, Minister of Energy and Minerals, unveiled the Sultanate of Oman’s new climate commitment and its ambitious green hydrogen strategy during a press conference held in Muscat this week [Sunday, October 23].

Under the leadership of His Majesty Sultan Haitham bin Tarik, Oman has committed to reaching Net Zero Emissions by 2050, in line with the Paris Agreement’s objectives of limiting global warming to 1.5-degrees-Celsius compared to pre-industrial levels.

To lead its transition towards a green economy, His Majesty the Sultan gave directions to set up the Oman Sustainability Centre. The centre will be the leading body undertaking the supervision, follow-up plans and programmes of carbon neutrality.

At the press conference, Energy Minister Salim Al Aufi said: “Oman is committed to decarbonise and help the world decarbonise. The pathway to net zero is an opportunity for Oman to create economic value, increase industrial competitiveness and attract investments to help diversify and strengthen the country’s economy.

“Green hydrogen presents itself as a key vector that enables Oman to pursue its decarbonisation, economic and energy security objectives. With the abundant renewable energy resources which Oman is blessed with and with the appropriate structuring of the sector, Oman is positioned as one of the most attractive nations to produce green hydrogen competitively and at large-scale.”

Oman has set an ambitious goal to become one of the largest green hydrogen producers and exporters globally, targeting production of one million tonnes annually by 2030.

Eng. Faiza Al Harthi, the Head of Energy, Environment and Natural Resources Priority Support at Oman Vision 2040 Implementation Follow-up Unit, said: “The vision is to create effective, balanced, and resilient ecosystems to protect and sustain Oman’s natural resources in support of the national economy. This will be done by setting targets, a measurement mechanism and a follow-up methodology for the initiatives and projects helping to achieve net zero emissions.”

Eng. Abdulaziz Al Shidhani, the Director-General of Renewable Energy and Hydrogen said: “Oman aims to become one of (the) world’s leading green hydrogen hubs. Over the last few months, the Ministry of Energy and Minerals has developed an ambitious green hydrogen strategy and defined the structure of the green hydrogen sector. The development of the green hydrogen economy will provide a strategic opportunity for Omani and international companies to participate and collaborate in driving local and global energy security, economic diversification and much-needed climate change mitigation.”

To lead the country’s ambitious green hydrogen strategy, the government has established HYDROM, a fully owned autonomous Energy Development Oman SAOC (EDO) subsidiary.

Regulated by the Ministry of Energy and Minerals, HYDROM’s mandate includes the delineation of Government-owned land areas and the structuring of associated large-scale world-class green hydrogen projects. Its mandate also includes managing the process of allocating land to developers as well as facilitating the development of common infrastructure and connected ecosystem industries and hubs in close collaboration with the Public Authority for Special Economic Zones and Free Zones (OPAZ).

On 6th November 2022, HYDROM will be opening a first public bid round aimed at awarding the first land blocks by 2023 in order to meet the 2030 production target.

Eng. Mazin Al Lamki, the Chief Executive Officer of Energy Development Oman said: “We are delighted to announce the new brand identity of HYDROM, a fully owned autonomous subsidiary of EDO. Working in tandem with the ambitious government plans, HYDROM will leverage the Sultanate of Oman’s location and abundant solar and wind resources to produce green hydrogen and support the government’s drive to reduce the carbon footprint and achieve decarbonisation targets.”

Dr Firas Al Abduwani, the Acting Managing Director of HYDROM, said: “We at HYDROM look forward to working with international partners to build the future of energy. The bid round we announced today is the first of its kind globally. We are convinced it will help accelerate the development of the green hydrogen industry in Oman and globally.”

These new ambitious sustainability initiatives come a few weeks before the COP27 climate change conference in Egypt, in which Oman is set to take part.