SBM Offshore secures $1.14 billion loan for Liza Unity FPSO

October 17, 2019, by Offshore Energy Today

Dutch FPSO provider SBM Offshore has secured project financing for the FPSO Liza Unity for a total of $1.14 billion.

SBM Offshore said Wednesday that a consortium of nine international banks had provided the financing for the Liza Unity FPSO destined to be deployed at ExxonMobil’s Liza field offshore Guyana.

SBM Offshore said: “The Company expects to draw the loan in full, phased over the construction period of the FPSO. The financing will become non-recourse once the FPSO is completed and the pre-completion guarantees have 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 cost of LIBOR plus 1.50%.”

The Liza Unity will be SBM’s first operational FPSO built under its Fast4Ward program – a standardized FPSO designed to systematize the FPSO construction and delivery process, thus reducing cost and speeding up the time to the market.

The Dutch company ordered the hull from a Chinese shipyard on speculation in August 2017, without a contract in hand at the time.

However, earlier this year, SBM Offshore confirmed the FPSO contract award with ExxonMobil for the deployment of the Liza Unity in Guyana for the development of the second phase of the Liza oil field.

Once fully completed, the FPSO will be able 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 a water depth of about 1,600 meters and will be able to store around 2 million barrels of crude oil. The Liza field is located in the Stabroek block circa 200 kilometers offshore Guyana. ExxonMobil is the operator and holds a 45 percent interest in the Stabroek block. Hess holds a 30 percent interest, and CNOOC holds a 25 percent interest.

SBM is also supplying an FPSO for the first phase – the Liza Destiny – which was recently completed and reached Guyana in August. Able to produce up to 120,000 barrels a day, the Liza Destiny is expected to start producing oil from the Liza field in the first quarter of 2020, which will also make Guyana an oil-producing nation.

See below a video by SBM Offshore showing the construction of the Liza Unity FPSO