MUSCAT: South Korea based global green energy corporation LUPRO Inc has signed agreements with Omani firm Bait Muscat for Development and Investment to support the establishment of a major green ammonia project at Duqm SEZ in the Oman’s southeast.
Under the agreements signed in Seoul recently, the LUPRO-Oman joint venture commits to supplying LUPRO Inc with 5 million tonnes of green ammonia under a long-term sales contract valued at $4.5 billion.
High-level executives from LUPRO and Bait Muscat for Development and Investment attended the agreement signing in Seoul last month. Bait Muscat for Development and Investment was represented by Dr Mohammed bin Hamed al Rumhy, Chairman (who retired in 2022 as Oman’s Minister of Energy and Minerals). Also in attendance was Oman's Ambassador to the Republic of Korea, Zakariya bin Hamad al Saadi.
“The project will be implemented in Al Duqm area as part of efforts to enhance international cooperation and support Oman's endeavours in developing clean and sustainable energy,” said the Foreign Ministry in a news post on its website on Monday.
Seoul-headquartered LUPRO Inc has interests across the hydrogen-based green energy value chain, encompassing green hydrogen and green ammonia manufacturing, fuel cell power generation, and hydrogen convergence projects. It has announced joint ventures with firms in Thailand, India, United Arab Emirates and Japan, among other countries, to help create global-scale green energy resources.
In an earlier post, LUPRO stated that its LUPRO-Oman joint venture aims to produce 1 million tonnes of green hydrogen ammonia a year at Al Duqm, utilising green electricity from a 2GW renewable energy complex.
“We plan to expand the supply of hydrogen energy resources, which is an essential resource for responding to the climate crisis facing the world and achieving carbon neutrality, to domestic as well as Asian and global markets, said Kim Se-ho, CEO of LUPRO.
In an interview with South Korea’s OBS TV, LUPRO CEO noted that construction work on the green ammonia project in Al Duqm would commence in 2025. “The Omani government is promoting the green energy business as a national strategic business, and in particular, for the green hydrogen and green ammonia business, it has created the infrastructure in the Special Economic Zone at Duqm and provided tax exemptions for decades,” he stated.
In the initial phases, the project will centre on the development of a 200 MW green ammonia plant, which will produce around 500,000 tonnes per year, he said, adding that LUPRO has a 65 per cent stake in the JV.
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