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Sharjah National Oil Corporation (SNOC) has stepped up its net zero journey by commissioning Sharjah’s first utility-scale solar power plant, expanding gas production capacity and launching early-stage studies into natural hydrogen, according to the state-owned company’s CEO.
Speaking at a virtual event on Thursday, Khamis Al Mazrouei said the 60 megawatts (MW) SANA solar power plant, inaugurated in June 2025, marked a major milestone in the company’s decarbonisation journey.
“It reduces our Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 20 percent, so it makes us 20 percent ahead on our net zero target,” he said in an interview at Gulf Intelligence's Global Energy Outlook Forum 2026.
SNOC is targeting net-zero by 2032, covering its Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions, according to a December 2023 Zawya Projects report.
Hedebah strengthens energy security
In November 2025, SNOC announced that it has successfully completed the second appraisal well in its onshore Hedebah Gas Field, discovered in 2024. Hedebah represents Sharjah’s fifth onshore gas and condensate field and the second major discovery in the past five years after Mahani in 2020.
Appraisal drilling is under way in Hedebah 03 well, said Al Mazrouei, noting that the addition of the new gas field to SNOC’s production stream has bolstered Sharjah’s and the UAE’s energy security.
Hedebah-01 was fast-tracked into production within just ten months, contributing to Sharjah’s energy supply.
The SNOC CEO said the company has successfully diversified Sharjah’s gas supply for power generation.
“We have production from our fields, production from the [underground] gas storage [in the Moveyeid field], which serves as a strategic field, and a 10-year supply contract with ADNOC for 10 years. With SANA, we have also introduced renewable energy into Sharjah’s energy mix.”
Exploring natural hydrogen
SNOC is also assessing the potential use of natural (white) hydrogen for power generation and industrial applications under a memorandum of understanding signed with Siemens Energy and Decahydron in November last year.
Encouraged by the results from a joint study with Decahydron at an existing exploration well in Sharjah to assess the Emirate’s natural hydrogen potential, SNOC had announced in November last year that it will undertake further drilling in 2026 to obtain detailed resource data and measured flow rates.
“Energy demand in the Northern Emirates and the wider UAE market is very strong, so we need every energy source - gas, solar, hydrogen,” said Al Mazrouei, while highlighting that Sharjah is the UAE’s top industrial hub, accounting for around 35 percent of the country’s industrial activity.
Gas demand to remain strong
The SNOC CEO said natural gas will continue to serve as the baseload fuel to meet the growing energy demand in the Northern Emirates region, driven by urbanisation and industralisation. The region’s gas pipeline network is being developed to meet the demand growth and support ADNOC’s goal of making the UAE self-sufficient in gas.
“We have existing gas pipelines from Dolphin, ADNOC, EtihadWE, and DUSUP. A new direct gas pipeline is under construction from ADNOC’s onshore sites to Sharjah, which will put the Northern Emirates in a position of supply abundance.”
Al Mazrouei emphaised during the interview that SNOC will continue to maintain a balanced product portfolio comprising sales gas, condensates, and LPG. He added that the company is developing its LPG trading capabilities and infrastructure as it has turned into an importer to fulfill the local needs in the Northern Emirates.
(Writing by Anoop Menon; Editing by SA Kader)
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