The Liza Destiny, the first oil production vessel to be placed in Guyana has been officially dedicated by the South American country’s First Lady, Madam Sandra Granger.
In keeping with tradition and naming protocols, the dedication is performed by a female who is called the “godmother of the vessel” to bestow good luck and divine protection over the vessel and all who sail aboard.
While delivering remarks in Singapore on Saturday, Mrs. Granger recognized the importance of this project and industry to Guyana and relayed hope for the future of the South American country.
“I want to thank all the hearts and minds that came together to put this project together. I hope that it will benefit not only the partners and their profits but also the Government and people of Guyana. I think it is a fitting name for our country because we are talking about destiny, we are talking long term and we are talking what I believe is vision not only for production but the process behind it. I hope this ship will bring to us the people of Guyana not only prosperity in a physical sense but greater cohesion, greater development and of course, the sustainability of our country and the culture that we all desire. I hope that we will succeed together in this venture,” she expressed.
Mrs. Granger noted that the vessel in itself will encompass the destinies of the country and all its stakeholders.
Meanwhile, ExxonMobil’s Upstream President Liam Mallon recognized the correlation between the name of the floating, production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel, the “Liza Destiny”, and ExxonMobil’s intent to partner with the country over the long term.
“We are committed for a long voyage. We first signed an agreement to explore for hydrocarbons in the Stabroek block in 1999, we drilled the Liza well in May 2015, and this FPSO has been designed to produce oil for decades. It will provide value to Guyana and ExxonMobil for the long term. Our destinies, therefore, have been and will continue to be linked to Guyana in the future,” he expressed.
Mr. Mallon indicated that Liza Phase 1 is a global project with significant local participation as more than 1000 Guyanese are involved. This project involves completion of the FPSO and four subsea drill centres with 17 wells.
The Liza Destiny FPSO was converted from the oil tanker, “Tina”, a VLCC (Very Large Crude Carrier) built by Hyundai Heavy Industries in South Korea. The contract for its conversion was awarded to SBM Offshore in July 2017 and for the company, the completion is a moment of pride and honour as indicated by Chief Executive Officer, Bruno Chabas.
“Our objective was to safely deliver the Liza Destiny FPSO on schedule in partnership with our client and safety always remained our number one priority on the project,” he indicated.
The naming ceremony marks the final stage for the Liza Destiny as it readies to set sail for Guyana next month. Final work items are being completed and a series of checks will be performed over the next few weeks.
The Liza Destiny has a production capacity of up to 120,000 barrels of oil per day and an overall storage volume of 1.6 million barrels. During normal operations, there will be at least 80 persons living and working onboard the vessel. Twenty-Four Operations and Maintenance Technicians, who are currently being trained in Canada, will return in 2020 to support work on the Liza Destiny.
The vessel is designed to produce up to 120,000 barrels of oil per day, and will have associated gas treatment capacity of approximately 170 million cubic feet per day and water injection capacity of around 200,000 barrels per day. The converted VLCC FPSO will be spread moored in water depth of 1,525 meters and will be able to store 1.6 million barrels of crude oil.
SBM Offshore has also been awarded contracts for the second FPSO – Liza Unity – to be used in the Liza Phase 2 Development project.
The Liza Unity design incorporates SBM Offshore’s new build, multi-purpose hull combined with several standardized topsides modules. The FPSO will be designed to produce 220,000 barrels of oil per day, will have 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 water depth of about 1,600 meters and will be able to store around 2 million barrels of crude oil.
The Liza Destiny is expected to arrive in Guyana in September.
ExxonMobil affiliate Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited is operator and holds 45 percent interest in the Stabroek Block. Hess Guyana Exploration Ltd. holds 30 percent interest and CNOOC Petroleum Guyana Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of CNOOC Limited, holds 25 percent interest.
