Oman awards two Duqm green hydrogen projects, opens data center auction round

Oman has awarded two integrated green hydrogen projects in Duqm with a combined planned output of about 121,000 tonnes of green hydrogen a year by 2032, closing the third auction round run by Hydrogen Oman, known as Hydrom. The awards were announced at COP31 in Antalya, Türkiye.

The two schemes disclosed roughly 2.61 GW of combined renewable generation capacity and will occupy at least 200 square kilometers of land in Duqm. Hydrom did not disclose the investment value of either project.

Green ammonium nitrate enters the portfolio

The first award went to a consortium of Oman's Petrogas E&P and Italy's Bio3Energy Srl. Its project brings green ammonium nitrate into the country's hydrogen portfolio, a compound used in fertilizer and mining.

The plant targets about 625,000 tonnes of green ammonium nitrate annually by 2032 and would consume about 50,000 tonnes of green hydrogen a year. It is backed by 1.16 GW of renewable capacity on a 100-square-kilometer site in Duqm. The agreement reserves a further proposed 100 square kilometers for future expansion.

Selling ammonium nitrate rather than pure hydrogen gives the consortium a product that fertilizer producers and mining operators already buy, which places the project in an established industrial supply chain from its first year of output.

Kingsuk Sen, chief executive officer of Petrogas Group, said the consortium aims to create long-term value in Oman while supporting the country's energy-transition goals.

Second consortium plans ammonia for export

PLN Indonesia Power Renewables of Indonesia, Alawi Enterprises of Oman and HBA Offshore International PTE of Singapore won the second project. Their plan is an integrated green hydrogen and ammonia facility on a 100-square-kilometer site, targeting about 400,000 tonnes of green ammonia annually for export by 2032. The plant is designed around about 1.45 GW of solar capacity and 1 GW of electrolyzer capacity. Hydrom did not separately state a green hydrogen volume for this project.

Hendry Asdayoka Putra, president director of PT PLN Indonesia Power Renewables, said Duqm's renewable resources, port and industrial infrastructure underpin the project. The consortium also plans to support Omani workforce skills, local suppliers and new industries in Duqm.

Of the 121,000-tonne combined annual target, the first project accounts for about 50,000 tonnes.

Auction terms rewritten for round three

Hydrom redesigned the third round in response to global market changes and feedback from investors. The changes touched land, timing, fees and tax.

• Developers could choose their project footprint inside a land block of up to 300 square kilometers, with a 100-square-kilometer minimum.
• The bid preparation period was extended to nine months.
• Land lease fees were cut by 90 percent during the development phase, with additional relief possible during front-end engineering and design.
• The package included reduced base royalties in the early production years.
• Corporate tax exemptions of up to 10 years were offered.

Those terms show up in the winning bids. Each project sits on a 100-square-kilometer site, the floor set by the round, and the Petrogas consortium has reserved an adjoining 100 square kilometers in case it expands.

Abdulaziz Said Al Shidhani, managing director of Hydrom, said international hydrogen markets will be driven by demand and commercial competitiveness, not production targets alone.

Fourth round turns to data centers

Hydrom has launched a fourth auction round focused partly on building domestic demand. It is called the Green-Powered Data Centre Hydrogen Auction and targets projects in Dhofar that tie renewable power and green hydrogen production to the electricity needs of data centers. Those facilities would act as anchor offtakers for the projects' power. Expressions of interest are open until February 2027.

The round is coordinated with Oman's Ministry of Transport, Communications and Information Technology. Dr. Seema Al Kaabi, director general for sector stimulations and future skills at the ministry, said Oman aims to use its international connectivity under the Oman Digital Triangle to host more AI and cloud-computing infrastructure.

Reliable power and long-term electricity costs are increasingly important to data center investors as AI workloads raise energy demand.

Pairing electrolysis with compute load answers a problem that has slowed hydrogen projects elsewhere: who buys the output. A data center signs for electricity, and the hydrogen follows.

Earlier rounds and the 2030 goal

The Ministry of Energy and Minerals said earlier in 2026 that investment linked to Oman's first two hydrogen auction rounds exceeded $44 billion. Those two rounds carry planned renewable capacity of 26.6 GW.

Oman targets about 1 million tonnes of green hydrogen annually by 2030. The round three projects target production in 2032, two years behind that goal, so the country's near-term volumes will depend on the first two rounds delivering on schedule rather than on the two projects awarded this week.