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Oman Ibri 3 solar IPP reaches financial close

16 January 2026

Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (Masdar) and its consortium partners have achieved financial close on the Ibri 3 solar independent power project (IPP) in Oman.

The project is the sultanate’s first utility-scale solar photovoltaic plant integrated with battery energy storage.

In a statement, Masdar said financing has been secured from Natixis Corporate & Investment Banking and First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB). The facilities will cover a substantial portion of the project’s total cost of about $300m.

The Ibri 3 project will comprise a 500MW solar photovoltaic plant and a 100MWh battery energy storage system. It is being developed for Nama Power & Water Procurement (Nama PWP).

The consortium developing the project includes Masdar, Korea Midland Power, and local firms Al-Khadra Partners and OQ Alternative Energy.

The firms signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) with Nama PWP on 22 September, in a ceremony attended by Salim Bin Nasser Al-Aufi, energy and minerals minister.

China Power Engineering Consulting Group (CPECC) signed the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract for the project in November.

Once operational, the plant is expected to generate enough electricity to power around 33,000 homes. It will also avoid approximately 505,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions each year.

The plant will be built in the wilayat of Ibri in Al-Dhahirah Governorate. It will be located on a 10 million-square-metre site next to the 500MW Ibri 2 solar IPP, which was inaugurated in January 2022.

The project supports Oman Vision 2040, which includes a target to generate 30% of electricity from renewable sources by 2030.

Commercial operations are scheduled for the first quarter of 2027.

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Mark Dowdall

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    To increase the Shah gas plant’s output to a potential 1.45 billion cf/d, Adnoc Sour Gas undertook the Optimum Shah Gas Expansion (OGSE) project in 2021. Italian contractor Saipem was awarded a $510m contract in June of that year to execute EPC works on the project. The OGSE project is now in the commissioning stage.

    Adnoc Sour Gas expects to raise the asset’s production potential to 1.85 billion cf/d through the Shah gas plant expansion project.

    Shah gas plant CO2 recovery

    Last year, Adnoc Sour Gas undertook a project to capture and transport CO2 emissions from the facility’s operations.

    The project aimed to recover, dehydrate, compress and transport CO2 from the Shah gas plant’s operations to the Bab onshore oil field for enhanced oil recovery (EOR).

    However, Adnoc Sour Gas suspended the Shah gas plant CO2 recovery project, with sources expecting it could be revived this year.

    The Shah gas plant CO2 recovery project is expected to deliver up to 1.37 billion cf/d of CO2 with a 95.5 mole percentage. The CO2 recovery facilities are to be designed for a target availability of 95%, with less than 400 parts per million by volume hydrogen sulphide and less than 20 pounds of water per million cubic feet a day.

    The recovered CO2 will be supplied through an approximately 125-kilometre pipeline to the Bab field for re-injection into the wells at 210-barg pressure for EOR purposes.

    Adnoc Sour Gas has stipulated the use of Shell’s Cansolv CO2 capture licensed technology by the EPC contractor for the project.

    Adnoc Sour Gas production

    Adnoc Sour Gas, in which Adnoc Group holds the majority 60% stake and US energy company Occidental Petroleum (Oxy) holds the other 40%, currently produces 1.28 billion cf/d of gas and 4.2 million tonnes a year of sulphur from the Shah onshore sour gas field.

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    About 17,000 tonnes of granulated sulphur produced by Adnoc Sour Gas from the Shah and Habshan fields are transported by Etihad Rail to Adnoc’s Ruwais terminal every day. From there, it is exported to markets worldwide for use in fertiliser manufacturing.

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    Indrajit Sen