DUTCH Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel specialist SBM Offshore has won a Front-end Engineering and Design (FEED) contract that will see it design, build and install its seventh new build FPSO at the Whiptail development project in Guyana
ExxonMobil’s Whiptail development is the US supermajor’s sixth offshore oil and gas project in Guyana and, pending government’s approval and ExxonMobil’s Final Investment Decision (FID) on the project, would be SBM Offshore’s fifth FPSO for the development.

The FPSO will be designed to produce 250,000 barrels of oil per day, will have associated gas treatment capacity of 15.3M m3 and water injection capacity of 300,000 barrels per day. The FPSO will be moored in water depth of about 1,630 m and will be able to store around two million barrels of crude oil.
The FEED contract award triggers an initial release of funds by ExxonMobil Guyana to start SBM Offshore’s FEED activities and commits a hull for the execution of the Whiptail development project in Guyana. Under the contracts, the FPSO’s ownership is expected to be transferred to the client at the end of the construction period and before the start of operations in Guyana.

“SBM Offshore will design and construct the FPSO… using the Company’s seventh new build, multi-purpose floater hull, combined with several standardised topsides modules,” SBM Offshore said.

ExxonMobil has in place a 10-year Operations and Maintenance (O&M) agreement with SBM Offshore that covers O&M for four rigs: Liza Destiny, Liza Unity, Prosperity and One Guyana.

According to SBM, which said the contracts added some US$3Bn to its revenue backlog, the first two FPSOs listed are in production; Prosperity is on site and expected to come online in late 2023 and the company said FPSO One Guyana’s topsides fabrication is progressing as planned, with first oil expected at the end of 2025.
In May 2023, ExxonMobil green-lit an FID, at US$12.7Bn, for its fifth offshore energy development project in Guyana’s Stabroek Block following government approval and another discovery at the Lancetfish-1 well.

The company said it aims to have six FPSOs online by the end of 2027, which would bring Guyana’s production capacity to more than 1.2M barrels of oil per day.
ExxonMobil operates the Stabroek Block and China’s CNOOC and US-headquartered Hess Corp each have a stake in the block. The developments in the Stabroek Block offshore Guyana have reportedly totalled some 11Bn barrels of oil, to date.

If Exxon’s Whiptail Deepwater oil/gas project goes ahead, the FPSO would be connected to a network of subsea infrastructure that will require installation contracts. In early September, US-headquartered offshore engineering group Oceaneering International revealed contracts with ExxonMobil, in both Guyana and Angola, with a combined value of more than US$100M. (Credit: Riviera News)