Norway’s BW Offshore has offloaded a veteran floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel as it plots a move into ammonia production.
The 277,000-dwt BW Opportunity (built 1989) has gone to an unnamed buyer for $125m, with delivery expected by the end of March.
BW Offshore is now exploring a five-year contract with the new owner to oversee engineering, commissioning, operations and maintenance services for the FPSO.
The ship was originally the AP Moller-Maersk VLCC Maersk Navarin. The last recorded sale was by Greece’s Dynacom Tankers to Norway’s Prosafe for $42m as a conversion project in 2006.
BW’s hugely lucrative deal leaves the Oslo-listed BW Group company with nine FPSOs.
The company also said on Friday that it is exploring an “industrial-scale” concept for a floating production unit to produce green ammonia.
This project has secured approval in principle from Norwegian classification society DNV.
BW can now begin the basic design phase.
The “NH3 FPSO” concept is being developed in tandem with Netherlands-based energy company SwitchH2.
The idea is to convert an existing VLCC or build a new ship.
Feeding ammonia carriers
The unit will receive power primarily from a wind farm to produce hydrogen by electrolysis of seawater and nitrogen through the use of an air separation unit.
This will be used to produce ammonia gas, which will be condensed into a liquid for storage in the FPSO.
Cargoes will then be loaded onto ammonia carriers.
A permanent mooring is envisaged, but the FPSO will be able to be relocated.
Fredrik Savio, project development chief at BW Offshore, said: “We leverage our offshore experience to support and expedite the energy transition by engineering next-generation floating production solutions.”
