Saudi Arabia lines up new green hydrogen partners

Japanese and French tie-ups highlight momentum behind the Kingdom’s plans

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s state visit to Saudi Arabia in mid-July yielded a pledge to cooperate on hydrogen development, a week after the Kingdom signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with France to the same effect. Such promises have become almost routine when either Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the de facto ruler, or his influential energy minister, Abdulaziz bin Salman, meet international counterparts. It is reflective of the centrality of the nascent sector to Riyadh’s economic diversification plan, but in the case of both Tokyo and Paris—as well as Seoul, with which international cooperation is most-advanced—the rhetoric is giving rise to more-concrete agreements