Muscat, January 2023:
OQ and Shell International sign a Partnership Agreement for Developing Green Hydrogen in Oman after Acquiring a 35% shareholding interest in Green Energy Oman (GEO) project
An international consortium comprised of OQ, which is the Sultanate of Oman’s global integrated energy company, InterContinental Energy, the leading dedicated green fuels developer, EnerTech, a Kuwaiti state-owned company focused on clean energy investment and development, and Golden Wellspring Wealth for Trading LLC, signed today a joint development and collaboration agreement with Shell to cooperate in further developing the Green Energy Oman (GEO) project.
The project has been under development since 2018 and it is expected to be developed in multiple phases to produce at full capacity, around 1.8 million tonnes of green hydrogen. Shell will join the consortium as the lead Operating Partner after acquiring a 35% equity holding from the Consortium.
This agreement was signed by H.E Engineer Salim Bin Nasser Al-Aufi, Minister of Energy and Minerals, on behalf of the partners, Ms. Najla Bint Zuhair Al-Jamali, CEO of Alternative Energy at OQ and Walid Hadi, Senior Vice President and Country Chair of Shell -Oman.
On this occasion, Najla Bint Zuhair Al-Jamali, CEO of Alternative Energy at OQ, said: "The entry of Shell to this vital project constitutes a qualitative step that will enable the consortium to benefit from their advanced global expertise in this field. This will surely contribute to achieving the desired objectives of the project. Shell is a pioneering company in the alternative energy sector and entertains great technical and practical experience that would directly help in developing all phases of the project.
We are pleased with the progress made by the project during the past few years and look forward to enhancing our cooperation with our partners in this project. We are also delighted with Shell’s admission to the consortium" She added.
Al-Jamali explained that the GEO Project is one of the best specialized projects that seek to provide the necessary green energy sources to meet the increasing global demand on carbon-free fuel.
For his part, Walid Hadi, Senior Vice President Oman and Country Chair, Shell, stated: “By joining the GEO consortium, we are making a further step to progress lower and zero emissions energy projects in Oman. Our entry to the project is a sign of the potential we see for Oman through the energy transition."
InterContinental Energy (ICE) welcomed Shell’s admission to the GEO consortium. Mr. Tony Nieman, Head of Middle East at ICE, said: “Our company is pleased to welcome Shell as the future Operating Partner in Green Energy Oman (GEO). The deep experience and expertise that Shell brings is a major step towards bringing our mega-project to the next phase. ICE has been working in partnership with Oman and our partners since 2018, and today marks an important milestone in realizing the vision for the GEO project to deliver more than 1.8 million tons per annum of green hydrogen to accelerate the energy transition both in Oman and internationally.”
Abdullah Al Mutairi, EnerTech’s CEO, stated “EnerTech has long viewed Oman as a strategic market for development of our clean energy business. We have been an early mover into the green hydrogen space and we see the long-term positive impacts of developing this sector in Oman for the region and globally. Shell’s entry into this consortium is further justification of the importance of this sector to the region and we are excited to continue developing GEO alongside them”.
Since 2019 - the consortium has deployed a series of 140m high meteorological masts across the site collecting valuable solar and wind data. During the past year, a series of key studies have been awarded to progress the project such as the Concept Feasibility study conducted by Worley, the Environment & Social Impact Assessment study conducted by HMR as well as the Energy Yield Assessment conducted by DNV.
The project, which supports the Oman Vision 2040, will further expand Oman’s skills base and technical expertise in renewable energy, provide potential significant in-country value, as well as creating jobs during the project lifecycle.
