Financing secured to construct US$1.5B Jaguar FPSO for Whiptail project

…consortium of 16 financial institutions steps up to provide financing

Dutch shipbuilder SBM Offshore has secured the US$1.5 billion needed to complete the Jaguar Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel that will service ExxonMobil Guyana’s sixth oil project offshore, the Whiptail development.
It has been revealed that a consortium comprising of 16 financial institutions have stepped up to provide financing for the project. In a recent statement, Chief Financial Officer (CFO) for SBM, Douglas Wood lauded the financial institutions for their faith in the project.
“I am proud of our teams which have successfully secured the project financing of FPSO Jaguar, the Company’s first project under the sale and operate model. We are demonstrating once again the value of our unique lifecycle offering not only from an execution and operation standpoint but also in our ability to continue to provide material financing solutions for our clients. We appreciate the continued support from the 16 financial institutions,” Wood said.
Meanwhile, the company revealed that it will be drawing down from the loan in a phased manner over the construction period of the FPSO. The loan duration is also in line with the construction phase of the FPSO, which is expected to be completed and servicing the Whiptail development by 2027.
The Jaguar FPSO will be designed to produce 250,000 barrels of oil per day, with a capacity to treat 540 million cubic feet of associated gas daily and inject 300,000 barrels of water per day. Furthermore, the vessel will have storage capacity for approximately 2 million barrels of crude oil.
The FPSO’s design is also based on SBM Offshore’s Fast4Ward® programme, which combines the Company’s seventh new build, multi-purpose floater hull along with several standardised topsides modules.
Only recently, a steel strike ceremony was held for the Jaguar FPSO, marking the official start of works on various structures and topside modules for the vessel. Notably, three local companies were contracted to provide fabrication services for the vessel.
The companies are Guyana Oil and Gas Support Services (GOGSSI), Industrial Fabrications Inc. (InFab), and ZECO Group of Services. To date, 290 tonnes of green steel have been fabricated by local companies for two FPSOs- 50 tonnes for Prosperity FPSO and 240 tonnes for the ONE GUYANA FPSO. This number is expected to increase for Jaguar FPSO, which will see an additional 316 tonnes of steel being fabricated by the local companies.
The Whiptail development will be the sixth development within the Stabroek block, approximately 200 kilometres offshore Guyana. ExxonMobil Guyana Ltd (EMGL), an affiliate of ExxonMobil Corporation, is the operator and holds a 45 per cent interest in the Stabroek block, Hess Guyana Exploration Ltd holds a 30 per cent interest and CNOOC Petroleum Guyana Limited, holds a 25 per cent interest.
There are currently three FPSOs operating in Guyana’s waters: the Liza Destiny, the Liza Unity and the Prosperity in the Liza One, Liza Phase Two, and Payara off-shore developments respectively. Six FPSOs are expected to be operating offshore Guyana by 2027.
The fifth FPSO, which would be named “Errea Wittu”, meaning “abundance” in the Indigenous Warrau language, would operate in the Urau project. It would have an oil storage capacity of two million barrels, an oil production design rate of 250,000 barrels per day, and be able to offload approximately one million barrels onto a tanker in approximately 24 hours.
This vessel will be delivered by MODEC, a Japanese company which had confirmed the construction of this FPSO with a ceremony in February 2024. The projected start-up date of the US$12.7 billion Uaru development is 2026. (G3)