Britain Put $42 Billion Into Oman. Now It Is Moving From Oil to Green Hydrogen.

Ask most people which country has invested the most in Oman and they will probably guess China, the United States, or a Gulf neighbor. The answer is Britain, and by a margin that surprises even close observers of this economy.

One Country, Half the Money

By the fourth quarter of 2025, NCSI recorded total FDI stock of RO 31.381 billion in the Sultanate. Britain held RO 16.42 billion of that, or 52.3% of the entire figure. No other country is close.

The reasons trace back decades. Shell, headquartered and listed in London, has been a cornerstone partner in Petroleum Development Oman since the 1930s. PDO produces the majority of Oman's oil output and a significant share of its gas. BP, also UK-listed, operates the Khazzan tight-gas field in the Omani interior, one of the largest gas developments in the country. Between those two anchors alone, Britain effectively underwrites a substantial portion of Oman's hydrocarbon sector.

Oil and gas accounts for 80.9% of all FDI stock in Oman, or RO 25.4 billion, according to NCSI. The UK's share sits disproportionately within that energy pool. Manufacturing is the second-largest FDI sector at RO 2.67 billion, a distant second. Real estate, transport, and electricity together make up most of the remainder.

From Oil Rigs to Hydrogen Fields

Something is beginning to change in where British capital is landing, and it matters.

In 2024, Hydrogen Oman (Hydrom), the state authority managing green hydrogen development, awarded its first round of major concession areas to international developers. Five of the eight concessions involved UK-connected investors, according to data cited by Muscat Daily. That concentration is not accidental. Several UK-listed energy firms have been early movers in green hydrogen globally, and they are now placing some of their largest outside-Europe bets on Oman.

Green hydrogen is one of Oman's central bets under Vision 2040: turning the country's vast sun exposure and open land into exportable clean fuel for European and Asian industrial customers. The projects require solar farms, electrolysis plants, and ammonia export infrastructure, all built on Omani soil. ACME Group's green hydrogen project at Duqm, part of the broader RO 2.9 billion investment tranche signed at the Duqm Special Economic Zone in June 2026, carries estimated downstream works of RO 1.6 billion alone.

If UK energy capital follows the same pattern it set in oil and gas, this new bet could anchor Britain's position as Oman's dominant foreign investor well into the 2030s, with fundamentally different implications for Omani workers and communities.

How the Delivery Machine Works

Three bodies shape how foreign investment turns into physical reality in Oman. Hydrom controls the hydrogen concession process, issuing tenders, setting technical requirements, and managing relationships with international developers. The Oman Investment Authority (OIA), through its Future Fund Oman arm, co-invests alongside private players to bridge financing gaps and draw partners into non-oil sectors. The Ministry of Finance oversees and publishes the full FDI stock through NCSI quarterly reporting.

In June 2026, Future Fund Oman signed agreements covering 105 new projects worth RO 583 million combined. Around RO 182 million of that is expected to come from foreign investors. The portfolio spans solar manufacturing, medical technologies, tourism, and innovation. Flagship projects include the Orion Solar facility at Sohar Port, targeting the Middle East's first integrated solar module plant at six gigawatts annual capacity, and Station 11, an innovation hub connecting Omani startups with international venture capital. These projects sit directly inside the private sector and international investment priorities at the heart of Vision 2040.

How Oman Compares to the Gulf

FDI comparisons in the Gulf require context. The UAE attracted roughly $45.6 billion in fresh inflows in 2024 alone. Saudi Arabia brought in around $31.7 billion the same year. Oman's inflows for all of 2025 came to RO 2.36 billion, approximately $6.1 billion, down from roughly $9.2 billion in 2024, partly reflecting lower oil prices and a slower year for large energy deal closings.

Oman is not replicating Dubai's model of maximum capital attraction at any cost. Its FDI stock has grown 17% over five years, steadily and in sectors the Sultanate has actively chosen, not through volume competition with Abu Dhabi or Riyadh. The Ministry of Finance cited that five-year trajectory as evidence that Oman has become a more predictable and policy-consistent destination for long-duration investment.

Why This Matters for Ordinary Omanis

If you are a young Omani thinking about your career over the next ten years, the nationality of the foreign investor matters less than what that investor is building. A Shell oil facility and a Hydrom hydrogen concession are both classified as foreign direct investment. But they need very different Omani workers. One requires petroleum engineers and heavy-equipment operators. The other requires electrical engineers, process chemists, and technicians trained in clean-energy systems.

Britain's pivot from oil to hydrogen in Oman is therefore also a signal about what education and training will translate into real jobs in the years ahead. The Sultanate has positioned hydrogen as a cornerstone export industry for the post-oil era. The country that first built Oman's oil infrastructure is now at the front of the queue to build its clean-energy replacement. That is not only a financial story. It is a jobs story for the next generation.

For more on what the latest wave of foreign deals is actually constructing on the ground, see the earlier piece on the RO 2.9 billion Duqm investment tranche and what it gets built.