Deepwater frontiers calling: Yinson Production’s FPSO hull design with low-carbon kit wins DNV’s blessing

September 18, 2025, by Melisa Cavcic

Malaysia’s Yinson Production, a subsidiary of Kuala Lumpur-based energy infrastructure and technology company Yinson, has unveiled a purpose-built floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) hull design, which has secured main scantling approval (MSA) from DNV, a Norwegian classification society.

Meridian purpose-built FPSO hull design; Courtesy of Yinson Production

This purpose-built FPSO hull design, equipped with a low-carbon toolset, enables the Malaysian giant to eye South America and West Africa as destinations where it can secure its next phase of growth in deepwater oil and gas projects.

While disclosing the MSA milestone from DNV for its next-generation purpose-built FPSO hull design, known as Meridian, Yinson Production highlights that the newly approved FPSO hull is designed to perform in challenging offshore environments, merging low-carbon innovation with high-performance adaptability to meet the intensifying demands of deepwater and ultra-deepwater operations.

“With its strategic flexibility and outstanding processing capacity, the design is primed for immediate deployment. This achievement marks a pivotal milestone for Yinson Production, showcasing our first-ever purpose-built hull design and highlighting our versatility and steadfast commitment to driving continuous growth,” emphasized the Malaysian player.

The company claims to be positioned to competitively pursue new-build projects, leveraging the Meridian FPSO hull design, where required, to secure projects in South America and West Africa, expanding its presence in these geographies, which it describes as key markets.

Present for certificate presentation from left to right, DNV: **Suresh Manu Kailasom**, Head of Section; **Yao Ruisen**, Senior Principal Engineer; **Rakesh Mishra**, Regional Offshore Manager; Yinson Production: **Lars Gunnar Vogt**, Chief Technical Officer; **Jahn Atle Hogberg**, Chief Operating Officer; **Syafiq Ibrahim**, Structural Engineer; and **Christopher Lank**, Head of Technology and Systems; Courtesy of Yinson Production

Lars Gunnar Vogt, Yinson Production’s Chief Technical Officer, commented: “Achieving the main scantling approval for our FPSO hull design signifies our technical excellence and forward-thinking approach. We look forward to exploring opportunities and utilising this design for our partners.

“This is more than just a basic design approval; we are ready to lead the next chapter of offshore innovation. While our historical baseline has been and continues to be conversion projects, we now look forward to offering purpose-built solutions to our clients when topside and storage capacity demands exceed that of large conversion projects.”

This approval comes shortly after Yinson Production teamed up with Carbon Circle to set the stage for carbon capture as a service (CCaaS) for industrial emitters in Europe, exploring and delivering carbon capture projects, as part of the Malaysian firm’s broader carbon capture and storage (CCS) solutions.

Yinson Production charting carbon capture course with Norwegian firm

Carbon Capture Usage & Storage

Before striking a deal with Yinson Production, Carbon Circle partnered with Amplus VGE, a joint venture between Amplus Energy and Versatile Group (VG Energy), to develop marginal oil and gas fields in West Africa and help boost carbon capture efforts.