Dutch firm SBM Offshore has commenced the construction phase of the Liza Unity floating production, storage and offloading vessel (FPSO) following ExxonMobil’s final investment decision (FID) on the Liza Phase 2 development, in May 2019.
This follows the recent delivery of sister FPSO, Liza Destiny, which arrived in Guyana’s waters from a Singaporean shipyard in late August 2019.
The company will be converting an ultra large crude carrier (ULCC) class tanker into the 220,000 barrels per day Liza Unity FPSO.
“The Liza Unity FPSO design is based on the industry leading Fast4Ward® program with a new build, multi-purpose hull combined with several standardized topsides modules. Leveraging SBM Offshore’s Fast4Ward program with the experience gained on Liza Destiny has allowed the FPSO project teams to fast-track the Liza Unity,” the company said.
SBM Offshore teams working on Liza Unity have been able to leverage the valuable experience built up on the Liza Destiny project, “as many of the team members were transferred from the Destiny to the Unity project.” It said that this experience, “in combination with a close working relationship with our client, sub-contractors and suppliers and a firm commitment to safety and quality has played a key role in the success of the project to date across all phases from engineering, procurement and now the construction phase.”
The Liza Unity FPSO will be the largest capacity FPSO the Company has ever delivered and its first to be built under its Fast4Ward® program.
“SBM Offshore’s Fast4Ward® philosophy has moved from plan to reality, with the first standard hull now allocated,” Chief Executive Officer, Bruno Chabas, said in May.
The vessel will be designed to 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.
