A consortium led by PoSCO has won a $6.7 billion contract to produce green hydrogen energy in Amanduqum. The green hydrogen project will be the largest in the world. South Korean steelmaker Posco holds a 28 per cent majority stake in the consortium's joint venture.
In March 2022, PoSCO said Oman was one of the countries it was considering for hydrogen investment, with officials from the country meeting PoSCO in early 2023. Samsung Engineering will manage the engineering, procurement and production phases of the project. The consortium includes French energy group Engie SA, four South Korean state-owned power companies and Thailand's state-owned PTT Exploration and Production listed company, which will promote the production and sale of green hydrogen.
Omani authorities, including the country's energy minister, are due to sign an agreement with the consortium on June 21. Negotiations between the consortium partners on the project are ongoing. The deal is PoSCO's latest move to invest in green hydrogen production. This month, the company began operating a new plant to produce hydrogen-based green steel, the Pohang Steel Plant. Scheduled for completion in 2026, the plant will produce 300,000 tons of hydrogen-based steel per year for a variety of uses, including heavy industry.
Posco Steel will be the first steel plant in the world to use a fluidized bed reduction reactor in production. HyREX technology uses hydrogen to reduce iron directly, which is then melted in an electric furnace to create carbon-free steel.
This is because unlike conventional furnaces, fluidized bed reactors separate the reduction and melting processes. This allows PoSCO to reduce steel with hydrogen, emitting water vapor instead of carbon dioxide before the melting process takes place separately. Similarly, the production process is more efficient because HyRex can use mined ore without PoSCO having to pellete it.
