Øivind Tangen, Chief Executive Officer of SBM Offshore said that the company’s latest award for the Jaguar floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel is its first to be based on a sale-and-operate model.
Jaguar is its fifth for ExxonMobil Guyana. The other orders were based on a lease-and-operate model.
In the company’s latest earnings update, Tangen said, “[Jaguar] will be our first based on a sale and operate model, adding an accelerated cashflow profile for the project to our backlog. Following transfer of ownership to the client at the end of the construction period, we expect to operate the FPSO under our 10-year Operations and Maintenance Enabling Agreement.”
The accelerated cash flow from the sale-and-operate order is expected to position SBM Offshore favorably as it endeavors to line up more hulls for cost and carbon-efficient FPSOs in what it describes as a tight supply chain environment.
In April, Exxon awarded contracts to SBM Offshore to build and deploy the FPSO for the Whiptail development at Guyana’s Stabroek Block, following authorities’ approval of the project.
FPSO Jaguar will use the Dutch floater specialist seventh Fast4Ward® MPF hull. It said hull construction is progressing, as are FPSO engineering and procurement activities. The company took a US$250 million term loan last month to begin construction, ahead of the expected drawdown of construction financing for the FPSO.
Jaguar will be the sixth FPSO to be deployed offshore Guyana. It will target oil production at an initial rate of 250,000 barrels per day (b/d) and will cause total oil production in the country to exceed 1.3 million b/d.
