Collaboration targets development of stranded and undervalued offshore gas resources to power safe, secure and efficient offshore data-center applications

Houston based Riverway Group, LLC, and Offshore Data Center, LLC, today announced a collaboration to design and build offshore platforms that turn stranded and undervalued natural gas into power for data centers located right at the source. The approach gives oil and gas producers a new way to monetize gas resources that are uneconomic to develop under conventional models.

The collaboration combines Offshore Data Center’s partner relationships, notably HORTON DO BRASIL TECNOLOGIA OFFSHORE LTDA’s patented and proprietary semi-submersible hull designs with Riverway’s automated welding and advanced fabrication methods. The result is a hull up to 50% lighter than traditional designs, with improved stability — making U.S. Gulf Coast construction cost-competitive with shipyards in South Korea, China and Singapore.

The hulls are engineered to carry large topside loads, including data centers, ammonia or methanol production units, and conventional production facilities. The platforms also incorporate patented and proprietary closed-loop deep-ocean cooling systems. Cooling can account for as much as 40% of a data center’s energy use; drawing on cold deep-ocean water significantly reduces that load and also improves power-generation efficiency.

“A significant amount of offshore gas is never developed, or is simply reinjected, because getting it to market doesn’t pencil out,” said Art J. Schroeder, Jr., CEO of Offshore Data Center. “By putting the data center next to the gas, we eliminate the pipeline to shore and the transmission line, and we cut the cooling bill dramatically. Riverway gives us a way to build these platforms here in the United States.”

The companies expect the collaboration to strengthen U.S. maritime manufacturing and domestic energy development, expand the nation’s SI computing capacity, and create jobs and tax revenue.