EXXONMOBIL’s second Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel, the Liza Unity, will soon be home to SMB Offshore’s first generic hull as a part of the company’s innovative Fast4Ward® program.

The Multi-Purpose Floater (MPF1) is SBM’s first in its series of hulls currently under construction and has safely arrived at Keppel yard in Singapore where the company will construct the vessel.

In a release on Thursday, SBM stated that the hull safely arrived from China after a journey of 2,300 nautical miles.

“This first, new build hull was completed by Chinese yard SWS in December and is part of our industry-changing, Fast4Ward® program. The hull’s arrival represents a significant milestone on the path to delivering the Company’s first standardized FPSO,” the release stated.

It noted that the hull was completed in less than two years from first steel cut in March 2018. The MPF1 hull was allocated to the Liza Unity FPSO for offshore Guyana, following Final Investment Decision (FID) by ExxonMobil, Hess and CNOOC in May 2019.

SBM added: “This milestone is in line with our client’s project schedule, which targets Liza Phase 2 start-up in early 2022.”

In May 2019 the company had announced that it was awarded contracts to construct, install, lease and operate the Liza Unity FPSO which almost doubles the capacity of the Liza Destiny FPSO.

The Liza Unity FPSO will be designed to produce 220,000 barrels of oil per day with a storage capacity of 2 million barrels in comparison to the Liza Destiny FPSO with 120,000 barrels of oil per day with 1.6 million barrels storage capacity.

It will have associated gas treatment capacity of 400 million cubic feet per day and water injection capacity of 250,000 barrels per day. It will be spread moored in water depth of about 1,600 meters and able to store some 2 million barrels of crude oil.