Italy’s Engie and Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund will explore opportunities that contribute to enhancing the energy transition within the objectives of the Saudi Vision 2030.

Source: TheNationalNews

The two parties have signed a preliminary agreement to jointly develop green hydrogen projects in the Arab world’s biggest economy.

Contribute to driving the energy transition in the kingdom and achieving its aspirations and goals in the green hydrogen sector. Our partnership with PIF will contribute to laying robust foundations for the green hydrogen industry, enabling the kingdom to be one of the top exporters of green hydrogen worldwide.

Frederic Claux, managing director for Flexible Generation and Retail, Amea at Engie

The initial agreement, signed by Mr Claux and Yazeed Al Humied, Deputy Governor and head of Mena Investments at the PIF, is in line with the kingdom’s efforts to diversify its economy under Riyadh's Vision 2030 transformation agenda.

Saudi Arabia, Opec’s top oil producer, like its hydrocarbon-rich peers in the six-member economic bloc of the GCC, is looking to strengthen its global competitiveness in producing and supplying hydrogen and its derivatives.

Earlier this month, the UAE took a major step in this decarbonising its economy as it updated the UAE Energy Strategy 2050 and launched the National Hydrogen Strategy.

Leading and reliable producer and supplier of low-carbon hydrogen by 2031.

Suhail Al Mazrouei, Minister of Energy and Infrastructure

The UAE plans to produce 1.4 million metric tonnes of hydrogen annually by 2031 and increase production to 15 million metric tonnes per year by 2050. It is establishing two hydrogen oases by 2031, each producing clean electricity. The UAE will increase the number of oases to five by 2050, Mr Al Mazrouei said.

In June Oman's Hydrom signed agreements worth $10 billion to develop two new green hydrogen projects with a Posco-Engie consortium and the Hyport Duqm consortium.

The contracts are expected to yield a total production capacity of 250 kilotonnes per annum from more than 6.5 gigawatts of installed renewable energy capacity at the sites, state news agency ONA reported last month.