The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region has the high-grade iron ore supply, existing DRI capacity, green hydrogen potential and renewable energy resources necessary for producing green steel, according to a report from the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA).
Recently, a number of global steelmakers and iron ore producers have announced projects in the MENA region that are focused on producing high-grade iron ore, DR-grade pellets, low-carbon DRI and green hydrogen. The IEEFA stated that the MENA region could become the next green steel development hub if it uses some green hydrogen from proposed new projects.
At the 27th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP27), Egypt signed eight agreements to develop green hydrogen. One of the largest was an agreement with Australian iron ore miner Fortescue Metals Group’s subsidiary Fortescue Future Industries to build 7.6 GW of renewable energy capacity, which has the potential to produce 330 kilo-tonnes of green hydrogen annually, as SteelOrbis previously reported.
The United Arab Emirates-based Emirates Steel Arkan is working on producing DRI in Abu Dhabi in collaboration with two Japanese companies - ITOCHU and JFE Steel. Meanwhile, Brazilian miner Vale will construct an iron ore pelletizing plant, which will have an annual capacity of 4 million mt in Saudi Arabia.
In North Africa, ArcelorMittal will assess the possibility of developing a pelletization and DRI plant in Mauritania. In addition, energy giant BP signed a memorandum of understanding with Mauritania during COP27 to evaluate green hydrogen production potential in that country.
Oman-based steelmaker Jindal Shadeed Iron & Steel will invest more than $3 billion to build a green steel plant in the country which will use renewable energy in its manufacturing operations and have an annual production capacity of five million mt of high-quality steel products, as SteelOrbis previously reported.