Malaysia's state-owned Petronas and Japanese shipping firm Mitsui OSK Line (Mol) have won approvals to develop liquefied carbon dioxide (CO2) carriers and a floating storage and offloading (FSO) vessel.
Petronas and Mol obtained in-principle approvals (AiPs) in collaboration with Chinese ship designer Shanghai Merchant Ship Design and Research (SDARI) for three different type of liquefied CO2 carriers — a 87,000m³ carrier for long-haul voyages an a 14,000m³ vessel for middle-distance journeys from Norwegian certification society DNV and a 87,000m³ carrier with an installed dynamic positioning system (DPS) from US maritime standards agency ABS. The DPS system enables a ship to stay at a fixed point and to sail a preset route with automatic calculations of wind, wave and other factors, Mol said.
ABS has also given Petronas, Mol and SDARI another AiP for a 96,000m³ liquefied CO2 FSO that can receive, store and offload cargoes offshore. The companies said the FSO will be one of the most effective measures in the carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) value chain.
The AiPs from DNV were issued on 17 April, with those from ABS on 9 June.
These partnership follows an agreement between Petronas and Mol on a joint study to discuss liquefied CO2 carriers signed in February 2022. The discussion aimed to explore the best way to transport captured CO2 and to set up CCUS value chains in Asia-Pacific.
"Liquefied CO2 carriers will play a key role in the CCS value chains and Petronas targets Malaysia as a CCS hub in the region," Petronas' executive vice-president and chief executive Adif Zulkifli said on 26 June at the Energy Asia conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
