Hydrom issues 40 plus RFQs for Omani green hydrogen projects
Hydrogen Oman Company (Hydrom) has issued requests for qualifications (RFQ) to more than 40 companies who have expressed an interest in the recently announced blocks for green hydrogen projects in the Sultanate.
Oman’s Ministry of Energy and Minerals (MEM) started offering blocks for green hydrogen projects in November 2022, via Hydrom. The first round opened on November 6 with two blocks on offer in Duqm to develop green hydrogen projects.
The round had attracted the exact targeted players in Western and Northern Europe, South-east Asia, India, and the US, Dr Firas Al Abdwani, Acting Managing Director at Hydrom, said.
He stated that the company has begun inviting bidders to submit their proposals while continuing to send RFQs to any future interested parties. He added that the projects will be awarded by the end of Q1 2023, while four more blocks will be offered by the end of the same quarter and would expect to be awarded by the end of 2023.
Building a Green Hydrogen Economy
Hydrom was set up earlier in 2022 as a new national energy company dedicated to the pursuit of green hydrogen projects in the Sultanate. The entity is a wholly owned subsidiary of Energy Development Oman, the state-owned holding company set up by Royal Decree in December 2020 to represent the government’s stake in Petroleum Development Oman, as well as champion the Sultanate’s energy transition.
The establishment of a national hydrogen-focused company follows directives from His Majesty Sultan Haitham bin Tarik, which called for effective institutional and regulatory foundations to be laid to support the growth of a future green hydrogen economy in Oman.
As such, Hydrom is a central and independent entity orchestrating the national interest in green hydrogen. Its main mandate is to master plan the sector, delineating government owned land areas, structuring associated large-scale green hydrogen projects, managing the process for their allocation to developers and overseeing their execution as well as facilitating the development of common infrastructure, connected ecosystem industries and hubs.
