The hull for the Liza Unity FPSO – Guyana’s second oil production complex – is now 85% complete as work on the 220,000 barrels per day vessel that will be producing oil from the Liza Phase 2 Development project offshore Guyana, remains on schedule.
Chinese shipyard Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding announced in June that it had launched the FPSO, which is the world’s first floating production, storage and offloading vessel to be built under SBM Offshore’s Fast4WardTM design.
Speaking at a press conference in Guyana’s capital, Georgetown, on Wednesday, Director of the Department of Energy (DE), Dr. Mark Bynoe, said, “The hull for the Liza Unity is about 85 percent completed and is being built in Shanghai. Topsides fabrication are continuing at Dyna-Mac and Keppel in Singapore. Several trees tubing heads have been completed and are awaiting shipment to Trinidad from Brazil and then into Guyana.”
The DE Director said production manifolds are being completed in the US, and the line pipe fabrication, being carried out in Japan, is about 99 percent complete.
“Pipe installation is ongoing in Mexico, buoyancy modules, about 57 percent completed, in the UK and riser, flowlines and jumper detail designs are completed in the US,” he told reporters.
Dr. Bynoe said ExxonMobil, operator at the Stabroek Block, is also working with the DE to include Guyanese expertise in various stages of the Unity’s completion as per the Field Development Plan approval. Over 1,000 Guyanese were involved at various stages in the work that culminated with the completion of the Liza Destiny, the country’s first oil production complex, now moored off its coast in preparation for oil production in December.
The Fast4WardTM FPSO includes a versatile new hull and a range of upper module and mooring system solutions that reduce construction time and cost and are fully responsive to the localization requirements of the owner. The hull design also considers the possibility of installing a detachable propulsion system, such as mass-building the general-purpose hull, which significantly reduces towing costs. Compared with traditional FPSOs, the ship’s hull is widely used and adaptable, and its production cycle can be shortened by 6 to 12 months.
Bruno Chabas, CEO of SBM Offshore, said in May with the award of the second FPSO – Liza Unity, “SBM Offshore’s Fast4WardTM philosophy has moved from plan to reality, with the first standard hull now allocated.”
In addition to its oil production capacity, the Liza Unity 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. Production start-up for the Liza Phase 2 Development is expected by mid-2022.
