May 19, 2021 05:05 UTC
  • Oman says to propose production of hydrogen with Iran

Oman plans to discuss production of blue hydrogen with Iran as part of an offshore pipeline project to pump Iranian gas to the sultanate through the Sea of Oman, Omani Oil and Gas Minister Mohammed al-Rumhy has said.

According to Press TV, the $1.2 billion pipeline plan is currently on hold due to US sanctions, but Oman is encouraged by the marathon talks going on in Vienna to bring back the United States to a 2015 nuclear deal which had lifted the sanctions on Iran.

"I am optimistic that, if not the later part of this year, maybe soon we will be talking about bringing life to that project again," Rumhy said of the Iran-Oman pipeline, in an interview with S&P Global Platts.

The revival of the project could also bring their LNG plan back to life, while Oman is further laying out for production of hydrogen which is generated from natural gas, but uses carbon capture technology to curb up to 90% of the resulting emissions.

"There are many opportunities to make good use of that project from Oman's point of view," Rumhy said.

"We could do LNG very fast. Today, it is feasible to use gas to produce blue hydrogen. That is something we would discuss with the Iranians," said Rumhy. "This would open up a new opportunity for the Iranians to get their hands on hydrogen as well. We can do things like that together."

Ruhmy said Oman would look to utilize some of Iranian gas for industry to increase its LNG and petrochemical production capacity, and also potentially delve into the hydrogen space.

Over the last 24 months, the sultanate has been conducting debottlenecking operations at its Oman LNG facility, which will allow exports to expand by about 2 billion cubic meters a year, Platts said.

The separate LNG deal, signed in 2007, foresees building a facility in Oman to process Iranian gas and export it to global markets. Oman has undertaken to pay the entire cost of the pipeline and the related infrastructure, according to Iran's Minister of Petroleum Bijan Zanganeh.

ME

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