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L&T wins feed contract for Oman green steel project

30 June 2026

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Singapore-based Meranti Green Steel has awarded Indian contractor Larsen & Toubro (L&T) the front-end engineering and design (feed) work for its project to develop a major green iron production facility in the Indian Ocean coastal city of Duqm in Oman.

The feed work will be carried out by L&T’s Minerals and Metals business, .

Located within the Special Economic Zone at Duqm (Sezad) in the sultanate’s Al-Wusta Governorate, Meranti’s planned green iron complex will have the capacity to produce 2.5 million tonnes a year (t/y) of hot briquetted iron (HBI).

The Singaporean firm received a conditional allocation of natural gas feedstock for the proposed facility from Oman’s state-owned Integrated Gas Company last July. To be produced using natural gas and a portion of green hydrogen, Meranti’s green HBI will provide steelmakers with a transportable, low-CO₂ iron unit suitable for electric arc furnace steelmaking.

Separately, Meranti recently appointed Italian firm Bedeschi to supply the material-handling systems for the HBI plant in Sezad. “Their work will shape how iron ore pellets move into the plant and how green HBI moves out towards the port,” .

As it progresses towards final investment decision (FID) on the project – now expected in Q3 this year – Ruaya Rajab Al-Kathiri Law Firm (RAK) as local legal counsel and Norton Rose Fulbright as international legal counsel.

The RAK team is led by partners Rajabalkathiri and Ruaya Al-Kathiri, while the team at Norton Rose Fulbright is led by partner Andrew Digges.

Meanwhile, New York-based Marsh Risk has secured the role of insurance adviser and broker for the Meranti green HBI project.

“Together with Marsh Risk, we are developing the project’s insurance programme across both the construction and operational phases, including risk reviews of project agreements, engagement with lenders, EPC and O&M contractors, and insurance and reinsurance market assessments,” .

Offtake agreements

Meranti Green Steel has secured full offtake coverage for the first module of its green HBI production, covering the full planned Module 1 capacity of 2.5 million t/y. Volumes are allocated across four partners, including 1 million t/y to Thyssenkrupp Materials Trading and 250,000 t/y to Interfer Edelstahl & Interfer Austria.

The remaining volumes will be supplied to Glencore and to Meranti’s new steel plant in Rayong, Thailand, to support the ramp-up of its green hot-rolled coil production.

The offtake agreements also include the allocation of additional volumes among the four offtakers for a potential second HBI module in Oman, subject to certain conditions being met.

Distribution among offtakers is structured as follows: Thyssenkrupp Materials Trading will focus on Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands; Interfer Edelstahl & Interfer Austria will focus on Italy and Austria; and Glencore will focus on other markets.

“These long-term offtake arrangements underpin the commercial viability of Meranti’s green HBI project in Oman and support further progress toward the FID. The offtake agreements include key commercial terms including pricing frameworks, product specifications, and delivery start and duration,” Meranti said in an earlier statement.

“Oman’s competitive energy costs, access to renewable power, local raw material processing and supportive regulatory framework enable scalable, cost-competitive low-carbon iron production,” the company added.

“By supplying green HBI through a diversified offtake structure that includes global traders, MGS ensures broad market access to low-CO₂ iron units, also for smaller electric arc furnace [based] producers. Meranti’s approach supports decarbonisation across both integrated and electric arc furnace steelmaking routes, while maintaining supply reliability, flexibility and cost efficiency,” it said.

ALSO READ: India’s Jindal Steel to build $390m facility in Oman

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Indrajit Sen

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