ExxonMobil taps Kotug for towage services offshore Guyana

Dutch towage services provider Kotug has been awarded a long-term contract oil major ExxonMobil to provide offshore terminal towage support for operations in Guyana.

Kotug said on Wednesday that the contract was awarded by ExxonMobil subsidiary Esso Exploration and Production Guyana.

This contract marks Kotug’s first operation in the South American subcontinent and upcoming oil-producing nation of Guyana.

To support the operations in Guyana, Kotug will employ its newly acquired vessel SD Power, a 130-tonne bollard pull, DP-2 azimuth anchor-handling tug.

The vessel will provide support to the existing and upcoming floating production storage and offloading units (FPSO’s) at the Liza field by providing towage assistance to export tankers, infield support duties, and cargo duties.

Ard-Jan Kooren, CEO of Kotug, said: “Being part of the growing offshore oil and gas activities in the cooperative republic of Guyana and working together with one of the world’s largest oil majors ExxonMobil for us is an important milestone and in line with our long-term strategy to grow our business in the FPSO support business”.

It is worth reminding that ExxonMobil plans to have two FPSOs producing oil from the Liza field located in the Stabroek block some 200 kilometres offshore Guyana. The first, Liza Destiny, started production back in December 2019.

The other – named Liza Unity – is still under construction. ExxonMobil targets Liza Phase 2 start-up, which includes the Liza Unity FPSO, in early 2022. The hull of the FPSO was delivered from China to Keppel’s yard in Singapore in January 2020.

The FPSO is designed to produce 220,000 barrels of oil per day, 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 a water depth of about 1,600 meters and will be able to store around 2 million barrels of crude oil.

On 31 August 2020, SWS, a subsidiary of China State Shipbuilding Corporation, delivered the hull for the Liza Prosperity which will work on ExxonMobil’s Payara development project, also located in the Stabroek block.