Dutch company to install, operate ExxonMobil floating base

ExxonMobil, the US-based oil giant gearing for production offshore Guyana, has handed a major contract to a Dutch based company to install and operate its floating producing and storage base for its Liza oil field in Guyana.

The company — SBM Offshore –made the official announcement on Monday saying under the contract it will construct, install, lease and operate a Floating Production, Storage and Offloading Vessel (FPSO).

This follows completion of front-end engineering studies and the final investment

decision on the project by ExxonMobil, according to the company.

The FPSO is said to be designed to produce up to 120,000 barrels of oil per day, will have associated gas treatment capacity of about 170 million cubic feet per day and water injection capacity of about 200,000 barrels per day.

The floating base will be moored at a depth of 1525 meters and will be able to store 1.6 million barrels of crude oil at a given time.

Making the announcement, SBM’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Bruno Chabas said, “We are proud that ExxonMobil awarded SBM Offshore the contracts for the Liza FPSO.”

He observed that the ExxonMobil Liza Field offshore Guyana was one of the industry’s largest oil discoveries of the past decade, and “we look forward to cooperating closely with our client and partners to make this project a success”.

According to Chabas, “this award underlines SBM Offshore’s continued focus on building on our experience, our long-term relationships and FPSO-led strategic vision.”

The decision to award the contract by ExxonMobil comes on the heels of the company being awarded its Production Licence from the Guyana Government.

The acceleration towards production offshore Guyana follows major discoveries in Guyana in May 2015 and June 2016 of “world-class resources”, possibly the largest over the last two years.

“A small team worked more than a year designing and executing a plan that had now brought us to the brink of what could be a major discovery,” ExxonMobil’s Guyana Basin Project Manager said, at the time of the Liza-1 well discovery.

SBM Offshore is a listed holding company headquartered in Amsterdam, Netherlands that provides floating production services to the offshore energy industry.

The company is regarded as one of the leading firms in leased floating production systems with multiple units currently in operation.

The company’s main activities are the design, supply, installation, operation and the life extension of FPSO vessels.

These are either owned and operated by SBM Offshore and leased to its clients or supplied on a turnkey sale basis.

Only recently, the Guyana Parliament was updated by Natural Resources Minister Raphael Trotman, who had said the Stabroek Basin offshore Guyana, where exploration activities are currently underway, holds potentially two billion barrels of recoverable oil.

He said, too, Government has drafted an Upstream and Local Content Policy in anticipation of the start of production in 2020.

Trotman was at the time piloting the Petroleum Bill 2017, which has since been sent to a Special Select Committee of the Guyana Parliament for further consultations.