New Advisory Board to oversee Oman’s hydrogen infra development

MUSCAT, JUNE 3

Hydrom, the independent orchestrator and master-planner of Oman’s green hydrogen industry, has announced the formation of an advisory body comprising representatives of all key stakeholders investing in this new sector. Its remit is to support the sound and cost-competitive development of common utilities infrastructure critical to the successful implementation of mega-scale green hydrogen projects due to come up in Oman over the coming years and decades.

The establishment of the advisory body was announced by Eng Salim bin Nasser al Aufi, Minister of Energy and Minerals, during the signing of landmarks agreements on Thursday for the award of land blocks for the development of a trio of green hydrogen projects.

The Advisory Board will oversee the development of common utilities infrastructure, orchestrated by Hydrom in coordination with the lead developers of green hydrogen projects, national utility operators and international developers of green hydrogen infrastructure.

These common utilities will include, among other components, pipelines for the transportation of ultrapure desalinated water for electricity, potable water and wastewater, and potential hydrogen gas, in addition to electrical networks, specialised storage capacity for hydrogen, ammonia and methanol, and so on.

To support this initiative, an MoU was signed between Hydrom and OQ Gas Networks (OQGN), the exclusive operator and owner of Oman's natural gas transportation system. The MOU was signed by Dr Firas al Abduwani, Acting Managing Director of Hydrom and Eng Mansoor Ali al Abdali, Managing Director of OQGN. It aims to establish collaboration between the various stakeholders involved in the field of green hydrogen pipelines development.

“We are delighted to have signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Hydrom for the development of green hydrogen common use infrastructure. This will allow the acceleration and enhancement of efforts to develop Oman’s green hydrogen infrastructure for transportation, transmission and storage,” said OQGN in a statement.

Significantly, representatives from the winning consortiums that have secured land blocks for green hydrogen projects will also be invited to be part of the Advisory Board – a move designed to give “assurance” to international investors, said Al Aufi.

Speaking at the event on Thursday, Al Aufi welcomed the idea – first proposed by investors – for an advisory body with representatives from the Ministry, Hydrom, OQ Gas Networks and the wider industry. Future developers of the green hydrogen industry will also be invited to join in as well to help support the development of common utilities infrastructure that serves everyone’s interests, he added.