Construction work on a green hydrogen production facility, backed by a multinational consortium jointly led by global low-carbon energy developer ENGIE and Korean steel conglomerate POSCO, is planned to commence at the Port of Duqm in Oman’s Al Wusta Governorate in early 2027.

A senior executive of ENGIE was quoted by local media as saying that the consortium intends to invest around $7 billion in the overall green hydrogen project, encompassing renewable power generation and electrolyser systems for hydrogen production at the upstream end, and green ammonia production facilities at the downstream end.

Stephan Gobert, Senior Vice President of Hydrogen at ENGIE Asia, Middle East and Africa, told the local daily, Al Roya, that the first shipment of green ammonia is slated for export to Korea during the first half of 2030.

“The green hydrogen production project at the Port of Duqm (Oman) represents an important step in ENGIE's endeavours to achieve Net Zero carbon emissions by 2045, and reflects ENGIE's goal of producing 80 GW of global renewable energy and 4 GW of hydrogen capacity by 2030,” Gobert added in a post over the weekend.

Stephan Gobert, Senior Vice President of Hydrogen at ENGIE Asia, Middle East and Africa

Last June, the consortium signed agreements with Hydrom, the orchestrator and master planner of Oman's green hydrogen industry, for the development of the mega-scale clean energy project on a 320 km2 land block in Duqm. Other partners in the consortium include Samsung Engineering, Korea East-West Power Co (EWP), Korea Southern Power Co (KOSPO), and FutureTech Energy Ventures Company Ltd (a subsidiary of PTTEP).

Gobert said in the interview that the project will be implemented over a 7-year development and construction phase, followed by a 40-year operational phase. He also underlined its role in contributing to Oman’s energy transition goals in alignment with the country’s 2040 Vision and Net Zero ambitions.

Plans outlined by the ENGIE-POSCO led consortium for its Oman project envision investments in huge arrays of solar and wind farms of a total installed capacity of 5 gigawatts (GW), supported by battery energy storage capacity (BESS). At the upstream end, electrolysers will produce around 200 kilotonnes of green hydrogen per annum.

This hydrogen will be piped downstream to a 1.2 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) capacity green ammonia plant, with the entire output earmarked for export to POSCO’s steel production facilities in South Korea.