Riyadh’s twin-hued hydrogen drive gains momentum

Green continues to outpace blue as the Kingdom shifts from planning to execution

Saudi Arabia reached milestones for both green and blue hydrogen as 2022 came to a close, with the first commercial shipment of blue ammonia to a South Korean customer and financing agreements signed for the multi-gigawatt Neom green hydrogen plant. Like its chief economic rival the UAE, Saudi Arabia recognised early on in its hydrogen journey the potential to tap longstanding energy supply relationships with South Korea and Japan based on crude oil exports for future hydrogen trade. Government-owned oil company Saudi Aramco beat its Emirati counterpart to deliver its first 40t test cargo of blue ammonia to Japan in September 2020, and in December 2022, the Saudi and Japanese governments sig