MISC and China Offshore’s ammonia FPSO design wins ABS’ blessing

December 15, 2025, by Melisa Cavcic

Two players, MISC and China Offshore Engineering & Technology Company (China Offshore), have secured an approval in principle (AiP) from the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) for their concept of an ammonia floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) unit.

Illustrative image of ammonia FPSO; Source: MISC

The AiP for the ammonia FPSO design was received from the American Bureau of Shipping on December 2, 2025, in Shanghai, China. This floater solution is said to adapt proven onshore production technology for offshore operations, transforming unutilized hydrocarbon gas from nearby offshore facilities into high-value blue ammonia, which is stored onboard at cryogenic conditions.

This initiative is jointly developed by MISC and China Offshore, which work in close collaboration with ammonia technology licensors, Kellogg Brown & Root (KBR) and LNT Marine, for the ammonia cargo containment design (LNT A-BOX System). ABS is appointed by the consortium to provide independent review and validate the project’s technical feasibility and safety.

Zahid Osman, President and Group CEO of MISC, commented: “The Ammonia FPSO concept is aligned with MISC’s commitment to #deliveringProgress and accelerating the pathway to deliver more energy with less emissions.

“This new concept is a result of strategic collaboration that drives impactful change that is needed in our industry. By adapting a proven onshore technology for offshore use, we are not just creating a new concept, we are supporting the offshore industry to achieve its lower carbon ambitions.”

This standalone facility is perceived to provide a viable pathway for upstream developers to monetize gas that would otherwise be re-injected, strategically shortening the ammonia supply chain and improving its well-to-gate carbon emission profile.

Miguel Hernandez, ABS’ Senior Vice President, Global Offshore, highlighted: “ABS is proud to share our deep insight into the safety challenges of ammonia, along with our extensive technical expertise on complex floating production facilities.”

The unit will receive feed gas from a nearby host facility, such as an oil-producing FPSO. Once storage is near capacity, the liquid ammonia can be directly exported to liquid ammonia carriers (LAC) in tandem. The topside plant is designed to utilize a robust, modular design, capable of processing varying feed gas specifications to produce clean ammonia with 99.8% purity.

The project is currently in the preliminary front-end engineering design (pre-FEED) phase, which includes a thorough assessment of capital and operating expenditures (CAPEX & OPEX), and is scheduled for completion in Q1 2026. The unit is designed for an annual production capacity of 1 million tonnes of liquid ammonia.

The AiP for the ammonia FPSO concept comes shortly after ABS gave an approval in principle to Deltamarin and China Merchants Heavy Industry (CMHI) for a new FPSO hull design.