Australia’s Provaris Energy has opened for business in Europe, setting up an office in Oslo.
The Sydney-listed group is developing hydrogen shipping solutions, including new compressed gas carriers.
It brought in experienced gas executive Per Road as chief technical officer in February.
Now he has relocated to Norway to spearhead Provaris’ European drive.
Chief executive Martin Carolan said: “We are excited to have established a European subsidiary, Provaris Norway, and corporate office in Oslo.
“Europe is a key region of our focus for the commercialisation of integrated compressed hydrogen supply chain solutions. The location of Norway is strategic, and we expect it to remain an important region long-term.”
Provaris has noted an increase in opportunities across many supply and demand hubs in Europe, and wants to be closer to technical partners, suppliers and off-takers.
“This is a major reason for our focus in Europe, as it will also open up access to sources of government funding and a deeper pool of capital market participants,” Carolan said.
Roed was global manager of newbuilding and technical at Stolt Tankers for nearly six years until being seconded to join the Stolt-Nielsen small-scale LNG carrier joint venture Avenir as CTO in December 2020.
He has been based in Rotterdam for Provaris.
An established hub
Roed described Oslo as an established hub for gas-carrier companies, with relevant shipowners, engineering companies and equipment suppliers all present.
“This will allow Provaris to leverage local knowledge and expertise as we grow in the years ahead,” he said.
Provaris also said its 2.8 GW Tiwi H2 hydrogen plant in far northern Australia has been awarded major project status by the Northern Territory government.
Tiwi H2 is an integrated compressed green hydrogen production development in the Tiwi Islands, targeting production of up to 100,000 tonnes per annum of green hydrogen for export to the Asia-Pacific region.
Provaris also has a deal with technical partner Northern Marine to develop its compressed hydrogen carrier design.
The group said the agreement covers specialist technical and operational services as the project moves through class society and flag state approval to shipbuilding contract negotiations, newbuilding supervision and operations.
During the work, opportunities will be identified for Stena’s Northern Marine to become ship manager for future 26,000-cbm hydrogen transport vessels, called H2Neo.
Provaris is targeting approval for construction in mid-2023.
