Oct. 2 (OE) BW Offshore’s blue ammonia floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) concept, jointly developed with McDermott, has received Approval in Principle (AiP) from DNV, advancing the proposed offshore low-carbon ammonia production solution towards further design development.
The AiP provides an independent, risk-based assessment of the concept at an early stage and establishes a basis for further design development, certification and classification.
Unveiled in February, the FPSO concept is designed to process up to 3 million cubic meters of natural gas per day and produce more than 1 million tonnes of ammonia annually.
The unit would convert natural gas supplied from offshore fields into hydrogen and then ammonia, while carbon capture technology is designed to capture and compress up to 99% of the CO2 generated during production. The captured CO2 could then be exported for geological sequestration or other approved uses.
The concept has an estimated carbon intensity of around 0.5 tonnes of CO2 per tonne of ammonia, with options to further reduce emissions from onboard power generation systems.
Locating the production facility near offshore gas resources and CO2 storage sites is intended to reduce reliance on the land, permitting and infrastructure required for large onshore facilities. Liquefied ammonia would be stored in refrigerated tanks in the FPSO hull and offloaded directly to gas carriers, avoiding the need for pipeline or port infrastructure.
BW Offshore and McDermott are targeting offshore gas resources constrained by existing infrastructure, with the concept designed to provide another route for monetising such resources as demand for lower-carbon fuels grows in sectors including shipping and power generation.
Following the DNV approval, BW Offshore plans to work with oil and gas developers and other partners to progress the concept towards potential project execution.
“This marks an important milestone in the development of our floating low-carbon ammonia solution and supports our ambition to become a leading provider of offshore low-carbon energy production solutions.
“Demand for low-carbon fuels is increasing, driven by decarbonization efforts in sectors such as shipping and power generation. Offshore blue ammonia production can help meet this demand by pairing infrastructure-constrained gas resources with efficient production and export logistics, creating a secure and competitive long-term ammonia supply while unlocking value from offshore gas resources,” BW Offshore said.
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