Marubeni scouts green hydrogen plant with KSA’s PIF: Japanese trading and investment conglomerate Marubeni signed an agreement with Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund the Public Investment Fund (PIF) to jointly conduct a feasibility study for a green hydrogen production facility in KSA, according to a company statement released last week. The location, timeframe, and financials of the project have not been disclosed, but Marubeni noted that it would eye exporting some of the green hydrogen to international markets.

They’re already active in Oman: Marubeni is the largest developer in a consortium working on a USD 1 bn green ammonia SalalaH2 project in Oman. The plant — powered by clean energy projects totalling 4 GW — will have a generational capacity of 1k tons per day and is set to become commercially operational by 1Q 2028.

GCC and MENA have been on Marubeni’s radar for some time: The conglomerate signed an agreement with UAE’s Masdar and Egypt’s Elsewedy Electric to build wind farms generating 700 MW in Egypt at an investment ticket of USD 900 mn in 2018. In 2021, it partnered with the Abu Dhabi National Energy Company (Taqa) to develop a greenfield industrial steam, water and electric cogeneration plant and seawater desalination plant for Saudi Arabian energy giant Aramco. Earlier this year, it announced a partnership agreement with Siemens Energy, TotalEnergies, and the UAE’s Masdar that will see them collaborate on obtaining licenses certifying the feasibility of producing sustainable aviation fuel from methanol gas. More recently, Marubeni recently entered into an agreement with Saudi Arabia’s Ajlan & Bros for Trading and Qatar’s United District Energy International to set up a district cooling joint venture in KSA.

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