KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 16): An offshore production business unit of Yinson Holdings Bhd, together with its client Azule Energy, is going to pilot an offshore carbon capture and storage plant on the FPSO Agogo in Angola, which is a significant milestone for the company to realise its zero-emission FPSO concept that aims to reduce carbon footprint and pave the way for the decarbonisation of the offshore production industry.

In a statement, the business unit Yinson Production Pte Ltd said the plant is the world's first post-combustion carbon capture unit installed aboard an FPSO, which stands for floating, production, storage and offloading vessel.

Construction on the plant is progressing well after the first steel cut took place last month, Yinson Production said.

"It is designed at a pilot scale and will be used as a demonstration unit in an offshore floating environment to assess technical readiness and gain operational know-how. This marks an important step in implementing future scale-up of the CCS technology for YP’s Zero Emissions FPSO projects," it said.

Besides the CCS plant, FPSO Agogo will have other emission-lowering technologies such as electriciation, advanced automation and digitalisation, a combined-cycle power system, a seawater turbine generator, a hydrocarbon cargo tank blanketing scheme and an integrated closed flare system.

Yinson Production and Azule entered into a firm contract for the provision, operation and maintenance of the FPSO vessel in late February this year for the Agogo Integrated West Hub Development Project in Angola, making it Yinson Production's first offshore production project in Angola as well as its eighth FPSO project in the West African region.

"The combined innovations on board FPSO Agogo will significantly reduce its overall carbon emissions and improve operational efficiency, transforming it into an industry-leading project," said Yinson Production.

“As a top-tier FPSO contractor, Yinson Production's goal is to explore and provide sustainable energy solutions and make recommendations to our clients that will significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions from their operations. We are pleased that both Yinson Production and Azule are fully aligned in our commitment to implementing emission-reduction technologies such as the CCS plant onboard FPSO Agogo," said Yinson Production's chief executive officer Flemming Grønnegaard.

Yinson's shares were trading at RM2.46 apiece on Bursa Malaysia at Monday noon break, up two sen or 0.82% from last week's close, for a market capitalisation of RM7.54 billion.