Oslo-listed Hoegh LNG has detailed its ambition for a shift into ammonia and hydrogen shipping.
The floating storage and regasification unit company said on Thursday it has received an unspecified grant from Innovation Norway to partially fund ongoing work on developing floating solutions for carbon-free fuels.
Speaking on a conference call with analysts, chief executive Sveinung Stohle said the move should not come as a surprise.
"We are a gas company, we know how to handle anything in gaseous form," he added.
Hoegh LNG, which joined the Getting to Zero coalition last year, had previously announced a tie-up with Maritime CleanTech to use technical and cryogenic expertise to explore and develop new business opportunities, such as infrastructure.
Now Stohle has put more meat on the bones of this work.
He said there are opportunities to use existing vessels to store ammonia in tanks and then turn this into hydrogen.
This will then be injected into "the regasified gas stream from the FSRUs" and from there into pipeline systems, the CEO added.
Existing projects being studied
"This is our number one focus and is being looked at for some projects already in operation," Stohle said.
The next aim will be to build new infrastructure "specifically tailored for ammonia to hydrogen", the boss added.
"This is what we are using the grant for, and own internal resources. There are a few early-phase projects we are looking at with a couple of companies to move ammonia from a base where it has been produced using completely renewable energy to be consumed in the existing energy markets," Stohle said.
"That is a little bit further down the line."
He believes there are "interesting opportunities with a potential good return".
Different systems required
Ammonia is a different gas to LNG with a much higher temperature, but tank-wise there should be no problems, Stohle explained.
"But it's a toxic gas so you need some different systems and different pumps," he added.
The company's technical teams believe no major modifications will be needed to existing ships for ammonia storage, but there are no final details yet.
The CEO said Hoegh LNG is working with a classification society, tank designer GTT and shipyards on the project.
