The floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel Liza Destiny will set sail for the ExxonMobil-operated Stabroek block off Guyana in the summer of 2019.
Dutch FPSO giant SBM Offshore said in its 2018 full-year earnings report on Thursday that the Liza Destiny FPSO construction was progressing well, with sailaway from Singapore expected in a few months.
The company said that the FPSO project was going according to schedule and that the last modules had been lifted on board. According to the FPSO supplier, commissioning activities are currently taking place.
SBM also stated that the vessel, following the planned sail-away in the summer, would be installed offshore Guyana later in the year, in preparation for next year’s production startup at ExxonMobil’s Liza field.
As for operations in Guyana, SBM said work was underway concerning operations readiness, setting up the shore base, and delivering on SBM’s local content commitments.
ExxonMobil’s Liza field, where the FPSO will be deployed, sits in the giant Stabroek block, which covers almost 27,000 square kilometers, circa 200 kilometers offshore Guyana and where ExxonMobil has struck a dozen oil discoveries which are yet to be developed.
ExxonMobil subsidiary Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited is the operator and holds 45 percent interest. Hess Guyana Exploration Ltd. holds 30 percent interest, and CNOOC Nexen Petroleum Guyana Limited holds the remaining 25 percent interest.
The FPSO, to have a 120,000 barrels a day capacity, is part of the first phase of the field’s development. A second FPSO with a capacity of 220,000 barrels per day is being planned as part of the Liza Phase 2 development, and a third is under consideration for the Payara development. The second phase FPSO contract is expected to be awarded to SBM Offshore, subject to an FID.
ExxonMobil has already applied for an environmental permit to develop the second phase of Liza with start-up expected by mid-2022.
It is worth saying that Guyana has turned out to be a gift that keeps giving for ExxonMobil. Namely, the U.S. oil major has made twelve discoveries so far on the Stabroek block with the latest two, Tilapia-1 and Haimara-1, striking oil earlier this month .
Exxon’s undertakings in Guyana have also been good news for FPSO suppliers as the oil major recently said the Stabroek Block might need as much as five FPSOs to develop the discovered oil. Worth reminding, SBM Offshore has also felt positive signals from the industry, saying on Thursday it would order another FPSO hull on speculation.
The company has already ordered two such units in the past two years, one of which is earmarked for Guyana.
Offshore Energy Today Staff