Riverway and Offshore Data Center plan floating compute platform on stranded gas

Riverway Group and Offshore Data Center, both based in Houston, plan to develop an offshore compute platform. They intend to sell it to oil and gas producers looking to monetize stranded or undervalued natural gas, Data Center Dynamics reported on Oct. 16.

The design is 50 percent lighter than traditional platforms and can carry large topside loads, including data centers, according to DCD. Loads could also include ammonia or methanol production units and conventional gas production facilities. A patented closed-loop system would use seawater to cool the IT hardware, a design DCD describes as cutting energy costs.

"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."

The firms have not outlined timelines for developing the platform, how much IT capacity the floating data centers would offer, or how much they would cost to build, DCD reported.

The plan arrives as power access, not capital, is deciding which compute projects get built. Texas, where both firms are based, froze new data center permits in August, and 49.8GW of projects are waiting on a December audit deadline. An offshore platform on stranded gas would bypass the interconnection queue.