Riverway Group and Offshore Data Center Join Forces to Develop Gas-Powered Offshore Data Center Platforms on the U.S. Gulf Coast
Riverway Group, LLC, a Houston-based company, and Offshore Data Center, LLC, have announced a strategic collaboration to develop offshore platforms that convert stranded and undervalued natural gas into electricity for data centers located near the gas supply. The initiative aims to create a more efficient way to use offshore energy resources while supporting the growing demand for computing infrastructure, particularly for artificial intelligence (AI) applications.
The partnership will combine Offshore Data Center’s offshore platform technologies and industry relationships with Riverway Group’s automated welding and advanced fabrication capabilities. Together, the companies plan to design and construct platforms that can generate power directly from offshore natural gas resources, reducing the need to transport gas to shore before converting it into electricity.
The proposed approach could provide oil and gas producers with an alternative way to monetise resources that are difficult or uneconomical to develop through conventional methods. It also aims to support domestic manufacturing, strengthen U.S. energy infrastructure and expand computing capacity.
Transforming Underutilised Natural Gas into Computing Power
Offshore oil and gas operations can produce natural gas that is difficult to bring to market because of infrastructure limitations, transportation costs or unfavourable project economics. In some cases, gas may remain undeveloped or be reinjected into reservoirs beyond the volumes required for pressure maintenance.
The Riverway collaboration seeks to address these challenges by placing data centers close to the natural gas supply. Instead of transporting gas through pipelines to onshore facilities and then transmitting electricity to a separate data center, the proposed platforms would integrate power generation and computing infrastructure at the offshore location.
This Riverway model could reduce reliance on long-distance gas transportation and electricity transmission infrastructure. It would also create an opportunity to use otherwise underutilised energy resources to support data-intensive workloads, including AI training, inference and other high-performance computing applications.
Art J. Schroeder Jr., CEO of Offshore Data Center, said substantial volumes of offshore gas remain undeveloped or are reinjected because bringing the resources to market is not economically viable under traditional approaches.
By Riverway positioning data centers alongside the gas supply, the companies aim to eliminate the need for pipelines to shore and transmission lines for delivering power to land-based facilities. The approach also incorporates specialised cooling technology designed to reduce the energy required to operate data centers.
Advanced Offshore Platform Design
A central element of the collaboration is the combination of Offshore Data Center’s industry partnerships, including its relationship with HORTON DO BRASIL TECNOLOGIA OFFSHORE LTDA, and Riverway Group’s manufacturing expertise.
The Riverway platform designs incorporate patented and proprietary semi-submersible hull technology intended to provide structural stability while reducing weight. According to the companies, the resulting hulls can be up to 50% lighter than traditional designs.
Reducing structural weight while maintaining stability could help lower construction and transportation costs, improve payload efficiency and make offshore data center platforms more commercially competitive.
Riverway Group will contribute automated welding processes and advanced fabrication methods to support construction in the United States. The companies believe these capabilities could make Gulf Coast manufacturing competitive with established shipbuilding centres in South Korea, China and Singapore.
The Riverway platforms are designed to accommodate substantial topside equipment loads, allowing them to support different industrial applications according to project requirements.
Potential uses include large-scale data centers, ammonia and methanol production units, and conventional offshore production facilities. This flexibility could allow the technology to serve multiple markets and support projects with different energy and processing requirements.
Deep-Ocean Cooling for Greater Efficiency
Cooling is another major consideration in the development of offshore data centers. High-performance computing systems, particularly those used for AI training, generate substantial amounts of heat and require reliable thermal management to maintain performance.
The Riverway companies’ proposed platforms incorporate patented and proprietary closed-loop deep-ocean cooling systems. These systems are designed to use cold deep-ocean water to remove heat from computing equipment without relying entirely on conventional cooling methods.
According to the announcement, cooling can account for as much as 40% of a data center’s energy consumption. Reducing this requirement could lower the amount of electricity needed to operate the facility and leave more generated power available for computing workloads.
The Riverway cooling approach may also improve power-generation efficiency by supporting more effective thermal management across the offshore installation.
By combining natural gas-based electricity generation with deep-ocean cooling, the companies aim to develop an integrated system that addresses two major operating requirements for data centers: dependable power and efficient heat removal.
The effectiveness of the approach will depend on site-specific factors, including ocean conditions, platform design, cooling-system performance and the computing equipment deployed.
Supporting AI Infrastructure and High-Performance Computing
The growing demand for AI services is increasing the need for data centers capable of handling intensive computational workloads. Large-scale AI training facilities require significant electricity, advanced cooling systems and infrastructure that can support high-density computing equipment.
Offshore Data Center’s proposed platform concepts are intended to address these requirements through modular, liquid-cooled graphics processing units (GPUs) and central processing units (CPUs), supported by power generation located near the natural gas resource.
The company’s development concepts range from facilities with capacities of up to one gigawatt for large-scale AI training to smaller configurations designed for faster deployment and lower-cost edge computing and AI inference applications.
The modular approach could provide flexibility for different customers and workloads. Large installations could support intensive computing operations, while smaller platforms could serve applications requiring computing resources closer to where data is generated or processed.
However, actual deployment capacity, costs and timelines would depend on individual project specifications, infrastructure requirements and commercial feasibility.
Expanding U.S. Manufacturing and Energy Development
Beyond computing infrastructure, the partnership aims to support domestic maritime manufacturing and offshore energy development.
By combining offshore engineering with advanced fabrication methods, Riverway Group and Offshore Data Center intend to establish a construction approach that can be implemented along the U.S. Gulf Coast. The companies expect the initiative to create opportunities for domestic suppliers, skilled workers and supporting industries.
Potential economic benefits include manufacturing employment, engineering and technical roles, supply-chain activity and additional tax revenue for local communities.
The collaboration could also provide energy producers with another route to commercialise natural gas resources that might otherwise remain underutilised. By creating a direct connection between offshore energy production and high-value computing applications, the proposed model aims to establish an alternative offshore industrial ecosystem.
In addition to gas-powered computing, the platforms could support gas-to-ammonia or gas-to-methanol conversion where market demand, project economics and customer requirements make those applications attractive.
About Offshore Data Center, LLC
Offshore Data Center, LLC develops concepts for offshore data centers powered by natural gas at the source. The company focuses on resources that are stranded, undervalued or uneconomical to develop using conventional infrastructure.
Its approach integrates offshore power generation with modular computing equipment and deep-ocean cooling to reduce the need for separate onshore gas transportation, electricity transmission and cooling infrastructure.
The company is working with service providers and equipment suppliers to develop an integrated offering for offshore data center projects. Its platform concepts can also accommodate industrial applications such as ammonia and methanol production, depending on project requirements.
Through its collaboration with Riverway Group, Offshore Data Center aims to advance the development of offshore platforms that combine energy production, computing infrastructure and specialised cooling systems.
The partnership represents a proposed approach to addressing the challenges of offshore gas utilisation and rising computing demand. Its commercial success will depend on engineering validation, project economics, regulatory requirements and the ability to deploy reliable offshore infrastructure at scale.
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