While he thinks batteries offer advantages for OSVs, Rem Offshore CEO Fredrik Remøy says charterers must help finance investments in green fuels and technologies
Equinor’s recent long-term charter of six platform supply vessels (PSVs) — all of which have or will have batteries and two of which could be retrofit to burn ammonia — is “a good initiative” in the words of Rem Offshore chief executive Fredrik Remøy.
In an exclusive interview with OSJ, Mr Remøy likened trialling green fuels and technologies to reach decarbonisation to “crossing the river by looking for stones.”
Under the charter agreements announced in October, six PSVs managed by Simon Møkster Shipping, Island Offshore Management, Eidesvik, Remøy Shipping and P/F Skansi Offshore, will each be on charter to the Norwegian oil and gas company for three years (with three one-year options) for work in the offshore oil and gas sector on the Norwegian continental shelf (NCS). The charters cover the PSVs Island Crusader (Island Offshore), Stril Luna and Stril Mar (Simon Møkster) Rem Hrist (Remøy Shipping), Kongsborg (P/F Skansi Offshore) and Viking Avant (Eidesvik).
Two of the agreements include a joint commitment between Equinor and vessel owners to pursue possibilities to modifyIsland Crusader and Kongsborg to be powered by ammonia fuel. These modifications “will be carried out in two separate projects involving a number of sub-suppliers throughout the maritime industry,” said Equinor.
“Authorities and societies all over the world expect the offshore industry to reduce its carbon footprint”
As OSJ previously reported, one of the PSVs, Island Offshore’s Island Crusader, has been testing bioLNG sourced from Gasum for about a year, with promising CO2 emissions reductions — “a reduction of 40% compared to normal operations with LNG and MGO – some days with actual zero CO2emissions,” according to the company.
The charterer said its overall goal is to reduce the two vessels’ CO2 emissions by up to 90% through using ammonia fuel.
Batteries wanted
All six vessels under new contract either have, or will receive, a battery system installation to allow for battery-hybrid propulsion.
Mr Remøy sees batteries as a “must have,” saying they allow “you to reduce to one engine switching between open and closed-bus bar, while keeping DP. That alone reduces fuel consumption considerably, plus reduces engine running hours. That is already implemented in our Norwegian operations, but slower in the UK, unfortunately. It is something we are working on through the year.”
Several owners are retrofitting their OSVs for charters on the NCS. Tidewater Rederi, US-based Tidewater’s Norwegian vessel operator, placed an order with Norwegian Electric Systems (NES) to deliver a battery package and associated control system for shore-power charging to retrofit on DP class-2 PSVNorth Pomor.Built in Simek, Norway, the ST216 design PSV has an overall length of 92 m, beam of 19 m, depth of around 8 m, draught of 7 m and deck area of 1,053 m2. NES facilities in Bergen and Ålesund will design, assemble and test the battery package and control system for the retrofit, with delivery Q3 2023.
“Authorities and societies all over the world expect the offshore industry to reduce its carbon footprint,” said NES sales manager Egil Bremnes. “Retrofitting a battery package on board a vessel is a quick way to cut emissions. Moreover, installing a battery package reduces fuel costs and operating expenditure, while also enhancing system reliability on board. This also explains why we are experiencing increased interest in battery retrofits onboard OSVs,” added Mr Bremnes.
There are slightly more than 100 OSVs and offshore vessels with batteries installed in the global fleet and Norwegian OSV owners have been clear frontrunners in installing the systems. Mr Remøy reminded OSJ readers that they were pioneers in using LNG, building “dual-fuel vessels around 2010 under the then taxation regime (NOx Fund).” He said bioLNG offers an alternative to LNG, which “had a few drawbacks on methane emissions.” As is the case with bioLNG and other alternative fuels, “scalability will be important,” he pointed out.
Financing green initiatives
“Equinor leading the way here can only be a good thing,” said Mr Remøy, noting that financing support from charterers is critical in making the clean energy transition reality. “Such initiatives should be financed by the client – there is no point in owners adding additional leverage to a vessel they have not been able to pay down loans on during the last seven years of blood-red results and wiped-out equity,” he said. “Offshore owners have endured seven and a half years of misery and half a year of a bit of normality.”
Hydrogen sceptic
Like many shipowners, Rem Offshore is carefully researching and assessing future fuels. “We will base our future fuel options on best industry practice; we engage with physicists, chemists, nuclear experts, etc to increase our knowledge base,” said Mr Remøy.
The outspoken Rem Offshore boss did not hide his scepticism of hydrogen as a fuel, saying it is “a dead end, but still billions of dollars [are] flowing into this industry. I don’t get it. It seems more and more to be a hoax created by special interests and is not in the public interest. Prominent chemists are clear on this, but their voices are not funded by big oil.”
“Equinor leading the way here can only be a good thing”
Proponents say some of the best business cases for green hydrogen — made by using renewable energy and electrolysis —are in making ammonia-based fertilisers and methanol, which are currently made with grey hydrogen, made mostly from natural gas. Other potential applications of green hydrogen are to produce e-fuels for ocean-going shipping, long-haul aviation, steel production and chemicals. Less viable now from a practical standpoint, say critics, are for applications such as domestic heating, light aviation, trucking and autos.
