BP to acquire 49% stake in Hyport Duqm
31 July 2024
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UK-headquartered energy giant BP will acquire a 49% stake in Hyport Coordination Company (Hyport Duqm), one of Oman’s first green hydrogen development companies.
BP said in its first-half 2024 financial report that it signed an agreement on 13 June with Oman’s state-backed energy company OQ and Belgium’s Dredging, Environmental & Marine Engineering (Deme) to acquire “a 49% stake and operatorship in the Hyport green hydrogen project in Duqm, Oman”.
The stake purchase is subject to customary regulatory approvals.
It is unclear how the deal with the Deme-led consortium will affect BP’s two planned legacy hydrogen projects in Duqm and Dhohar, which were announced last year.
Having reached the pre-front-end engineering and design (feed) stage, Hyport Duqm is at the most advanced stage of development compared with the rest of the planned multibillion-dollar integrated green hydrogen and ammonia production facility projects in Oman.
In September last year, it invited companies to bid for a contract to provide project management consultancy services for its planned green hydrogen project in Duqm.
The scope of work includes design review and project management during the feed stage, as well as procurement technical support.
In June last year, the consortium signed a second land reservation agreement for a green hydrogen and ammonia production plant with the Public Authority for Special Economic Zones and Free Zones (Opaz) in Duqm.
The project will include a solar and wind park with a total installed capacity of about 1.3GW, a dedicated, high-voltage green electricity transmission line, and a utility-scale electrolysis and ammonia conversion plant.
Hydrogen will be produced from desalinated water and converted into green ammonia, which will be stored and shipped from the Port of Duqm to target export markets.
This entails a green hydrogen and green ammonia production facility with a 500MW electrolysis capacity on a site of 793,000 square metres.
The project’s first phase aims to produce around 57,000 tonnes a year of green hydrogen by 2029.
The renewable energy farms will be located in the Special Economic Zone at Duqm’s (Sezad) renewable energy area, where a site of 150 square kilometres has been allocated.
Hyport signed its first land reservation agreement with Opaz in 2021 for the green hydrogen and ammonia production facility it plans to set up in Sezad.
The agreement preceded the project’s early engineering work and site data collection.
In July 2021, MEED reported that the joint venture had signed a cooperation agreement with German energy firm Uniper to provide engineering services and negotiate an exclusive offtake agreement for the green ammonia produced at the planned facility.
Related read: Awards buoy Oman’s green hydrogen strategy
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Levant states wrestle regional pressures
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Analysis editorThe Levant countries of Jordan, Lebanon and Syria are all in various degrees of distress, and collectively represent the Israel-Palestine-adjacent geography most severely impacted by that conflict, including in the latest phase initiated by Israel’s attack on Iran. In all three cases, however, recent developments have provided tentative hope for the improvement of their political and economic situations in 2025.
In the case of Lebanon, still reeling from Israel’s invasion and occupation of the country’s southern territories in retaliation for Hezbollah’s missile attacks on northern Israeli cities, the hope has come in the form of the country’s first elected president since 2022, and a new prime minister.
The task before both leaders is to stabilise a deeply fragile political and economic situation while avoiding further degradation to Lebanon’s weakened state capacity. If the country can ride through present circumstances to the upcoming parliamentary elections in May 2026, the possibility could also emerge for a more comprehensive shake-up of its stagnant politics.
In civil war-wracked Syria, the toppling of the Bashar Al-Assad government in December and the swift takeover by forces loyal to Ahmed Al-Sharaa have heralded a political transition – even if it is not the secular one that Syria’s population might have once hoped for.
The new president has already made progress in reaching agreements for the rollback of EU and US sanctions and an influx of foreign investment that his predecessor could only have dreamt of securing. This opens the door to a future of economic recovery for the country.
The reopening and reconstruction of the Syrian economy also has the potential to benefit the entire region, by rebooting trade and providing growth opportunities.
For Jordan, the recent conflict in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories has hit tourism hard, while also pitching the country’s anti-Israel street against its US-allied government. Washington’s threats to cut aid and to raise tariffs on Jordan have added to the political strain on the country, and this has only been staved off by in-person overtures by King Abdullah II to the US government.
The outbreak of hostilities between Israel and Iran has only worsened the economic climate for Jordan, with both Israeli jets and Iranian munitions frequenting Jordanian airspace and providing a constant reminder of how close the country is to being dragged into regional unrest. Yet Jordan has avoided conflict to date, and the country’s GDP growth is expected to rise modestly in 2025 as an increase in exports and projects activity stimulates the economy, despite the wider regional headwinds.
The overall picture for this region is therefore one of tentative recovery from recent shocks, ripe with potential for a better path forward as the Levant rebuilds and works together to overcome the challenges that have so long afflicted the region.
MEED’s July 2025 report on the Levant includes:
> COMMENT: Levant states wrestle regional pressures
JORDAN
> ECONOMY: Jordan economy nears inflection point
> GAS: Jordan pushes ahead with gas plans
> POWER & WATER: Record-breaking year for Jordan’s water sector
> CONSTRUCTION: PPP schemes to drive Jordan construction
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> ECONOMY: Lebanon’s outlook remains fraughtSYRIA
> RECONSTRUCTION: Who will fund Syria’s $1tn rebuild?To see previous issues of MEED Business Review, please click herehttps://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/14122966/main.gif -
Jordan’s economy holds pace, for now
1 July 2025
MEED’s July 2025 report on the Levant includes:
> COMMENT: Levant states wrestle regional pressures
JORDAN
> ECONOMY: Jordan economy nears inflection point
> GAS: Jordan pushes ahead with gas plans
> POWER & WATER: Record-breaking year for Jordan’s water sector
> CONSTRUCTION: PPP schemes to drive Jordan construction
> DATABANK: Jordan’s economy holds pace, for nowLEBANON
> ECONOMY: Lebanon’s outlook remains fraughtSYRIA
> RECONSTRUCTION: Who will fund Syria’s $1tn rebuild?To see previous issues of MEED Business Review, please click herehttps://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/14177596/main.gif -
NCP seeks firms for Mecca mixed-use development PPP
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Saudi Arabia’s National Centre for Privatisation & PPP (NCP), in collaboration with the Holy Makkah Municipality and the Ministry of Municipalities & Housing, has issued an expression of interest (EoI) and request for qualification notice for the development of a mixed-use project along Prince Sultan Bin Abdulaziz Road in Mecca.
The EoI notice was issued on 26 June, with a submission deadline of 27 July.
The development includes a shopping mall, a 200-bed long-term care facility and a 100-bed multi-speciality hospital.
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This announcement follows the launch of the EoI notice for the development of the King Fahd suburb boulevard project in Dammam.
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According to MEED Projects data, in 2023, the value of PPP concession contracts hit an all-time high of $28.2bn, equivalent to more than 23% of the total value of all project contracts awarded that year. Although that figure fell to 18.3% last year, it was still far higher than the historical average in the kingdom.
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Iraq downstream contract completed
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Turkiye’s Tekfen has completed a contract as part of the Basra refinery upgrade project, according to industry sources.
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Iraq’s state-owned South Refineries Company (SRC) sent Japan-based JGC a notice of the main contract award for the Basra refinery upgrade project’s FCC package in August 2020.
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The project site is located about 12 kilometres east of Iraq’s southern city of Basra.
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June 2025: Data drives regional projects
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Includes: Top 10 Global Contractors | Brent Spot Price | Construction output
To see previous issues of MEED Business Review, please click herehttps://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/14171168/main.gif