Saudis eyeing 25% of the German hydrogen market

As it diversifies its energy mix and strives to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050, the UAE has hired German firms to establish the nation’s national hydrogen strategy.

To establish its hydrogen strategy, the Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure (MoEI) partnered with the applied research organization Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft and struck a deal with the German engineering and advising firm GHD.

According to Minister of Energy and Infrastructure Suhail Al Mazrouei, “We remain focused on our aim of capturing 25% of the most significant hydrogen market.”

“Our goal is to have the UAE take the lead as a global expert on hydrogen’s role in the energy transition.”

The deal was reached during a two-day Gulf tour that also included Qatar, during which German Chancellor Olaf Scholz paid visits to the UAE and Saudi Arabia. After losing Russian energy supplies as a result of a standoff between Europe and Moscow over its conflict in Ukraine, he aims to reach an agreement on new energy cooperation with Gulf states.

The visit of Mr. Scholz coincides with Germany’s efforts to lessen its dependency on Russian energy imports and diversify its energy sources.

About 40% of Europe’s natural gas was provided by Russia prior to the Ukraine War. The majority (55%) of the gas used in Germany was imported from Russia. About 27% of Europe’s largest economy’s energy mix is made up of natural gas.

The United Arab Emirates and other nations in the Middle East and North Africa are working on plans to add hydrogen to their energy mix and use the clean fuel for various industrial uses.

According to Mr. Al Mazrouei earlier this year, the UAE has set a target of capturing 25% of the global low-carbon hydrogen market by 2030 and is in talks to sell it to a number of nations. Global demand for clean fuel is rising as governments work to reduce pollution.

According to Sharif Al Olama, Undersecretary of the MoEI, “Hydrogen might be a decarbonization option that gives many market potential across power, transportation and mobility, and the industrial sectors.”

The nations want to work together on initiatives in the upstream (shared green fuel generation), midstream (transportation), and downstream (industrial technologies) phases.