MODEC has secured a significant agreement with Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Company (DSIC) to construct the hull for a new floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) vessel being built for ExxonMobil’s Uaru development offshore Guyana.
The DSIC, situated in Dalian City in northern China, emerged victorious in the bidding process and will be responsible for constructing the hull and living quarters of the FPSO. The commencement of construction is scheduled to occur in just four months, emphasizing the swift pace at which the project is progressing.
“DSIC has got another order for designing and building [an] M350 FPSO, with the construction work to start in October,” China Daily reported, without naming the FPSO.
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The forthcoming floater – named Errea Wittu – will be based on the M350 standard hull design, a collaborative effort between Modec and DSIC. This marks the second M350 FPSO agreement between the two companies, following their initial collaboration for Equinor’s Bacalhau project off the coast of Brazil. Notably, the Bacalhau FPSO has recently embarked on its journey, setting sail earlier this week en route to Singapore, where it will undergo hull-topsides integration at the Seatrium yard.
Errea Wittu will have an oil storage capacity of two million barrels, and oil production design rate of 250,000 barrels per day (bpd). The vessel will be able to offload approximately one million barrels onto a tanker in a period of approximately 24 hours.
The proposed FPSO vessel will be a new-built facility with double-hull protection. The project will draw crude from the Uaru, Mako and Snoek fields. The project will tap into more than 800 million barrels of oil.
To date, all the FPSOs for ExxonMobil’s approved projects offshore Guyana have been built by SBM Offshore. The Liza Destiny and Unity are producing oil at the Stabroek Block, the Prosperity FPSO (Payara Development) is being prepped for first oil, and the ONE GUYANA FPSO (Yellowtail Development) is under construction in Singapore.
