Saudi Aramco has purchased a 50 percent stake in a low-carbon hydrogen production plant in Jubail, a city on the Gulf, owned by a unit of the Saudi Arabia-based company Air Products Qudra (APQ).
The stake buyout will enable Blue Hydrogen Industrial Gases Company (BHIG), a wholly owned subsidiary of APQ, to provide blue hydrogen to Jubail Industrial City, Aramco said.
No financial details were given.
So-called “blue” hydrogen is made when natural gas is split into hydrogen and carbon dioxide (CO2). The energy source is the hydrogen and the by-product is the CO2, which is then captured and stored.
APQ is a joint venture between the US-based Air Products and Saudi Arabia’s Qudra Energy.
Aramco’s Jubail hub aims to capture and store nine million tons of CO2 per year by 2027, according to its website
The investment in BHIG by Aramco is likely to contribute to the development of a hydrogen network in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province, said Aramco’s vice-president of strategy and corporate development, Ashraf Al Ghazzawi.
Al Ghazzawi said the deal would help Aramco capitalise on emerging domestic and global opportunities to reduce carbon emissions, support growth and diversify its energy portfolio.
In November 2024 Wesam Alghamdi, CEO of Neom Green Hydrogen Company told AGBI that the Neom green hydrogen project was 60 percent complete and on track for full-time operation by the end of 2026.
In June 2024 the Saudi minister of investment, Khalid Al Falih, said the government was preparing to announce a line-up of hydrogen projects to be managed by PIF as part of its broader transition strategy.
According to Deloitte’s 2023 global green hydrogen outlook, the clean hydrogen market is likely to grow from $160 billion in 2022 to $640 billion in 2030.
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