Singapore firm snags FPSO contract

– to convert crude carrier ship into offshore facility

Less than one year after Dutch firm SBM Offshore NV had signed a contract with a Singapore firm, another company has been contracted by SBM to convert an oil carrier ship into an offshore facility.

The Singapore company Keppel Offshore and Marine Unit announced that it would be partnering with SBM to convert a large crude carrier into an offshore facility. It is understood that the floating production, storage and offloading facility (FPSO) would then be deployed to the ExxonMobil wells.
The company’s terms of reference include refurbishment, and life extension works which include upgrading of living quarters and fabrication and installation of spread mooring systems. The company would also be installing topside modules.
It is understood that the converted FPSO would have a storage capacity of 1.6 million barrels of crude oil, and is capable of producing up to 120,000 barrels of oil per day. The vessel would also have a gas treatment capacity of about 170 million standard cubic feet per day, and a water injection capacity of about 200,000 barrels of water per day.
Keppel Shipyard Ltd. is itself a subsidiary of Keppel Offshore & Marine, specializing in offshore rig design, construction and repair, and ship repair and conversion.
Last year, Exxon signed a contract with SBM Offshore NV for the construction of a floating production, storage and offloading facility (FPSO). This is with an eye to 2020, when oil production is likely to commence in Guyana. Construction of this FPSO had been announced to commence this year.
Construction has commenced on an onshore facility which is expected to supply components to the offshore production vessel. At a previous oil and gas meeting with Minister of Natural Resources, Raphael Trotman, Director of oil and gas at Ernst and Young, Christ Pateman, had said the supply base must consist of components that include the maintenance fabrications, warehousing, spares housing and spares handling, among other things.

Onshore facility
ExxonMobil’s recently appointed Country Manager in Guyana, Rod Henson, had announced that the company would be relocating its onshore operations which were used for support services from neighbouring Trinidad and Tobago to Guyana.
He had told participants at a meeting that it was not a case in which ExxonMobil would be looking to build a facility for its support services, but the company would rather put out tenders and anyone interested in providing the shore-based services could present a proposal.
Trotman had, in 2016, announced that Cabinet had given its ‘no objection’ to the establishment of the onshore industrial site on Crab Island, located in the mouth of the Berbice River. He had said it would be forged through the joint efforts of the ministries of Natural Resources, Public Infrastructure and Business.
Construction was announced for early this year, and the investments from the private sector and Government’s infrastructural work and support were to be equivalent to US$500 million. The Crab Island facility is, however, yet to materialise.
According to information released by the Government’s Department of Public Information (DPI) last March, the construction of an onshore oil-and-gas facility seeks to cater to the expansion of exploration and subsequent production of oil in Guyana.
That report had said Government would be investing US$500 million to construct the onshore facility during the course of this year, and that the facility would serve as a logistics and supply base to the offshore production.
Shortly after, however, construction commenced on an onshore facility owned by Guyana Shore Base Incorporated (GYSBI) at Houston, EBD to service Exxon.
GYSBI is acting in partnership with Muneshwer’s Limited, Pacific Rim Constructors, Total Tech Oil Field Services, and LED Offshore.