SBM Offshore has announced that ExxonMobil Guyana has confirmed the award of contracts for the Whiptail development project offshore Guyana.
The scope of the contracts includes construction and installation of the FPSO vessel, Jaguar, for the project in the Stabroek block.
As per the terms of the contract, SBM Offshore will transfer ownership of the FPSO to ExxonMobil Guyana prior to its installation in Guyana.
SBM Offshore is also expected to operate the FPSO for ten years under the operations and maintenance enabling agreement signed last year.
The award of the FPSO contract follows the completion of front-end engineering and design studies, the receipt of requisite government approvals, and the final investment decision (FID) on the project by ExxonMobil and block co-venturers last week.
Located approximately 200km offshore Guyana, the Whiptail development is the sixth within the Stabroek block.
The Whiptail project will require $12.7bn of investment, include up to ten drill centres and 48 production and injection wells.
ExxonMobil's unit EMGL is the operator of the Stabroek block, holding a 45% interest.
Hess Guyana Exploration, a unit of Hess, holds 30%, while CNOOC Petroleum Guyana, a subsidiary of China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC), holds the remaining 25% stake.
The FPSO Jaguar's design is based on SBM Offshore's Fast4Ward programme, which utilises the company's seventh new build, multipurpose floater hull, combined with several standardised topside modules.
The vessel will be capable of producing 250,000bopd, with associated gas treatment capacity of 540 million cubic feet per day and a water injection capacity of 300,000 barrels per day.
It will be moored in a water depth of around 1,630m and will have a storage capacity of roughly two million barrels of crude oil.
The FID and the FPSO contract award come amid arbitration proceedings initiated by ExxonMobil and CNOOC to assert their rights over Hess's stake in the Stabroek block.
This block, estimated to contain at least 11 billion barrels of oil, is a pivotal asset in Chevron's proposed $53bn acquisition of Hess.
Chevron has indicated that the outcome of this dispute is critical to the merger, which could fall apart if the issue remains unresolved.
