DNV Backs Blue Ammonia FPSO Concept from BW Offshore and McDermott

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