It was an eventful year for hydrogen investments in MENA: From Oman’s setup of its state-owned Hydrogen Oman Company (Hydrom) and outlining a strategy to invest USD 140 bn in green hydrogen by 2050, to Egypt signing agreements totalling USD 83 bn for the development of nine green hydrogen projects in the country, to QatarEnergy declaring it would build the world’s biggest blue ammonia plant, hydrogen created a whole lot of buzz in 2022.

Egypt is leading MENA in terms of value of green hydrogen projects in the pipeline: The government has signed some 16 agreements with private firms to explore green hydrogen and green ammonia projects — including nine framework agreements signed during COP27 with a number of companies to construct several green hydrogen and ammonia facilities in the Suez Canal Economic Zone. These nine facilities would, if implemented, cost a combined USD 83 bn and would collectively produce up to 7.6 mn tons of green ammonia and 2.7 mn tons of hydrogen a year when fully operational.

But Oman outlined a strong plan for green hydrogen production: The country’s strategy for the energy source includes an increase in investment in green hydrogen to USD 140 bn by 2050 including investment in 300 mn solar panels, 10k wind turbines, 5.2k electrolyzers, and hydrogen storage, transport, and desalination. Oman is targeting annual production of 1-1.25 mn metric tons of green hydrogen by 2030, rising to 3.25-3.75 mn metric tons by 2040, and 7.5-8.5 mn metric tons by 2050.

Oman sealed agreements amounting to USD 48.9 bn already — putting it second only to Egypt in MENA in terms of the value of signed project agreements, according to MEED project tracker data released in October. Most notably, Saudi’s Acwa Power and US-based Air Products teamed up with government-owned OQ Alternative Energy back in May on a “multi-bn USD” green hydrogen project in Oman’s Salalah Freezone.

Saudi Arabia also had a big green hydrogen year: KSA’s Neom Hydrogen company signed facility agreements with Saudi and international banks, and submitted a letter of intent to the Saudi Industrial Development Fund (SIDF) to secure the operating capital for Neom’s USD 5 bn green hydrogen project just this week (as we note in Green Hydrogen, above). The plant promises to be the world’s largest utility-scale green hydrogen facility, producing 1.2 mn tons of green ammonia annually. KSA’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) also inked an agreement last month worth some USD 6.5 bn with Korea Electric Power Corp (Kepco) and four other South Korean firms to build a hydrogen and ammonia plant with a yearly generational capacity of 1.2 mn tons.

Let’s not forget KSA’s blue ammonia: Saudi Aramco and Sabic Agri-Nutrients shipped the world’s first commercial load containing 25k tons of blue ammonia to South Korea last month, and Saudi mining company Maaden is also expected to export a similar shipment of blue ammonia to the East Asian country by the end of the year.

And its expansion on hydrogen capacity abroad: KSA’s Acwa Power has been investing heavily in a southeast Asian expansion and will establish a USD 7 bn green hydrogen and derivatives production project in Thailand, targeting the production of 225k tons of green hydrogen annually.

The Emirates also wants to become a major exporter: The country sent its first low-carbon ammonia shipment to Europe back in September, and has its sights set on exporting 25% of global low-carbon hydrogen export markets and has seven projects in the pipeline. UAE’s Adnoc is currently developing a low-carbon ammonia plant that will produce 1 mn tons per year at its industrial services and logistics hub in the Ruwais Industrial Complex.

Qatar is also going big on hydrogen production: QatarEnergy’s renewables arm signed agreements yesterday to build the world’s largest blue ammonia plant, with a USD 1 bn price tag.

Last but not least, Morocco: The country received EUR 38 mn from Germany to finance its first green hydrogen plant and the private sector is interested in the country’s potential as well, with Indian conglomerate Adani Group eyeing investments in renewables projects with a 10 GW capacity to supply green ammonia to Europe. Morocco’s Gaia Energy will use Israeli H2Pro’s electrolyzer tech to accelerate its green hydrogen generational capacity for export to Europe.

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