VIDEO: Topsides Modules Lifted on Guyana-bound Liza Unity FPSO

SBM Offshore, the Dutch-based FPSO company, said Tuesday that the topsides lifting campaign for the Liza Unity FPSO was recently completed. The FPSO is being built for deployment at ExxonMobil's Stabroek offshore block in Guyana.

"Thanks to the efforts of the integrated team, over 26,000 tons of topsides were safely lifted in position at Keppel Shipyard in Singapore since the vessel came out of dry-dock in October of last year," SBM Offshore said.© SBM Offshore

SBM Offshore said that all efforts are now focused on further progressing and completing the integration activities and gradually ramping-up the onboard commissioning activities.

The FPSO Liza Unity is the first FPSO built under SBM Offshore’s Fast4Ward design, which entails the use of a standardized new build, multi-purpose hull combined with several standardized topsides modules. The hull was built in China, with topside modules built by Keppel and Dyna-Mac.

Once completed, the FPSO will sail to Guyana, where it will be deployed as part of the second phase of ExxonMobil's Liza field development.© SBM Offshore

The Liza Unity FPSO is designed to produce 220,000 barrels of oil per day, to have an associated gas treatment capacity of 400 million cubic feet per day, and water injection capacity of 250,000 barrels per day. The FPSO will be spread moored in a water depth of about 1,600 meters and will be able to store around 2 million barrels of crude oil.

The Liza field is located in the Stabroek block around 200 kilometers offshore Guyana. ExxonMobil is the operator and holds a 45 percent interest in the Stabroek block. Hess holds a 30 percent interest, and CNOOC holds a 25 percent interest.

"The project continues to target first oil in 2022 in line with client planning," SBM Offshore said Tuesday.

Once online, the FPSO will be the second FPSO in production in Guyana, after the Liza Destiny FPSO started producing oil in late 2019. The liza Destiny was also delivered by SBM Offshore, but not under the Fast4Ward program. It was converted into an FPSO from a VLCC.

Worth noting, SBM Offshore in October last year won a contract with ExxonMobil and its Guyana partners to build an FPSO for what will be the third offshore development in Guyana - the Payara field.

Under the contract, SBM Offshore will construct, install, and then lease and operate the FPSO named Prosperity at the Payara project off Guyana for a period of up to two years. 

After this, the FPSO ownership and operation will transfer to ExxonMobil which operates the gain Staborek offshore block in Guyana, on behalf of its partners Hess and CNOOC. The Prosperity FPSO will utilize a design that largely replicates the design of the Liza Unity FPSO. The first oil is expected in 2024.

Overall, ExxonMobil plans to have six FPSOs producing in the block by 2027. ExxonMobil expects to drill 10 exploration and appraisal wells in 2021 in the Stabroek block, in what is expected to be a record year for Guyana when it comes to the number of offshore wells drilled.