The First Molecule

By mid-2027, Oman is set to ship its first commercial green hydrogen. The world is watching how, not just whether.

For five years, green hydrogen has been an industry of announcements. Hundreds of projects have been declared around the world, glossy renders published, agreements signed at summits. Very few have poured concrete, and fewer still have produced a single tonne of fuel. By mid-2027, Oman expects to be one of the exceptions.

The idea itself is simple. Run clean electricity from the sun or wind through water, and the water splits into hydrogen and oxygen. That hydrogen can then power factories, make fertiliser, or fuel ships, and the only thing it leaves behind is water again. No smoke, no carbon. It is the cleanest fuel we know how to make, and the best answer for heavy industries that batteries are too weak to run. The chemistry was never the problem. The problem was money, land, permits, and patience.

This is where Duqm, of Al Wusta Governorate, enters the story. The ACME Group plant there is on track to start production in the initial months of 2027, the first commercial-scale green hydrogen venture in the country. The site will turn sunlight and wind into green hydrogen before it is converted into green ammonia to make it easier to ship. Phase one will produce 100,000 tonnes of green ammonia a year, with the first shipments committed to European buyers. Subsequent phases, expected in 2030 and 2033, would bring the project’s total output to 900,000 tonnes of green ammonia a year, with the full site eventually drawing on multiple gigawatts of solar and wind capacity.

The interesting question is why Oman got here while richer, windier, sunnier places stalled. The answer is not geography. Plenty of countries have empty desert and fierce sun. The answer is how Oman organised itself. The government created Hydrom, a body that does not build anything. Instead, it surveys the land, divides it into clearly defined blocks, and auctions those blocks to international companies with the rules spelled out in advance. A consortium led by Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP), together with Blue Power Partners and Al Khadra (part of the Hind Bahwan Group), won its block this way. BP, along with OQ Alternative Energy and DEME are developing the HYPORT Duqm venture I Al Wusta Governorate. . Every developer knows exactly what it is bidding for, what it owes, and when.

Other nations have noticed. Namibia and Chile, dry countries chasing the same prize from very different starting points, are now studied alongside Oman as tests of how to do this well. Delegations examine the Omani auction model the way they once examined Norwegian oil funds.

The IEA projects Oman will become the sixth-largest exporter of hydrogen globally, and the largest in the Middle East, by 2030.

(The author is a student at the British School Muscat and writes about energy and technology)