SBM Offshore starts topside integration on Liza Unity FPSO

Dutch FPSO provider SBM Offshore has begun the topside integration phase on the Liza Unity FPSO in a yard in Singapore.

Once completed, the FPSO will be deployed at ExxonMobil’s Stabroek offshore block in Guyana and become Guyana’s second FPSO in production.

SBM Offshore said on Monday that the progress on the Liza Unity FPSO picked up pace when the yards in Singapore re-opened earlier this year.

According to the company, the mooring and riser system integration, as well as another work scope, were completed in dry dock at Keppel FELS.

China-built Fast4Ward FPSO hull moved to Singapore in January 2020 and has now moved to the integration quayside in Keppel TUAS where the topsides integration phase started with the progressive lifting of the topsides modules.

SBM Offshore added that this phase would facilitate gradual preparation of the FPSO for the start of the onshore commissioning activities, leading up to the final quayside departure.

Both Keppel and Dyna-Mac shipyards are fabricating the topsides modules for the Liza Unity FPSO. This FPSO represents SBM Offshore’s first standardized Fast4Ward hull design.

“This latest milestone is in line with the Liza Phase 2 project schedule, which targets departure of the FPSO to its final offshore location in Guyana next year, with a start-up in 2022. It represents another key step forward on the path to delivering SBM Offshore’s first Fast4Ward FPSO to our client ExxonMobil”, SBM stated.

The FPSO is designed to produce 220,000 barrels of oil per day. It will also have an 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 metres and will be able to store around 2 million barrels of crude oil.

The Liza field is located in the Stabroek block some 200 kilometres off Guyana. ExxonMobil is the operator with a 45 per cent interest in the block. Partners Hess and CNOOC hold 30 and 25 per cent interest respectively.