SBM Offshore closes financing for Exxon’s Payara FPSO

Dutch floater operator SBM Offshore has completed the project financing for a total of $1.05 billion for the FPSO Prosperity, which is destined to operate on ExxonMobil’s Payara development offshore Guyana.

The project financing, secured by a consortium of 11 international banks, will be drawn in full, phased over the construction period of the FPSO.

SBM Offshore said last Friday that the financing would become non-recourse once the FPSO was completed and the pre-completion guarantee had been released. The project loan has a tenor of two years post-completion, in line with the duration of the charter, and carries a variable interest rate plus 1.60 per cent.

The Prosperity FPSO will use a design that largely replicates the design of the Liza Unity FPSO, which is based on SBM Offshore’s Fast4Ward program. The design incorporates the company’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 an associated gas treatment capacity of 400 million cubic feet per day and a water injection capacity of 250,000 barrels per day. It will be spread moored in a water depth of about 1,900 meters and will be able to store around 2 million barrels of crude oil.

The project is part of the Payara development, which is the third development within the Stabroek block, circa 200 kilometres offshore Guyana.

The Payara project will target an estimated resource base of about 600 million oil-equivalent barrels. It is expected to produce up to 220,000 barrels of oil per day after startup in 2024, using the Prosperity FPSO.

In September 2020, Chinese shipbuilder Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding built and delivered the Prosperity hull, the second Fast4Ward FPSO hull, to SBM Offshore.

About a month later, SBM Offshore confirmed the award of contracts for the next phase of the Payara development project following ExxonMobil’s final investment decision for the $9 billion project.

Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited, an affiliate of ExxonMobil, is the operator and holds a 45 per cent interest in the Stabroek block, Hess Guyana Exploration holds a 30 per cent interest and CNOOC Petroleum Guyana Limited holds a 25 per cent interest.