The purchase of the Liza Destiny Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel by ExxonMobil Guyana Limited (EMGL), was recently completed for US$535 million, meaning that EMGL now directly owns all three FPSO’s operational in the Stabroek Block.
Exxon has for some time been mulling the purchase of the Liza Destiny FPSO, having completed the purchases of the Liza Prosperity and Unity FPSO’s from Dutch shipbuilder SBM Offshore in November 2024 and November 2023 respectively.
This became a reality when the Dutch shipbuilder recently announced that the Liza Destiny purchase has now been completed, ahead of the December 2029 maximum lease term end. According to SBM, out of the US$535 million it will be receiving from Exxon, most of the net cash will go towards paying off the US$405 million in project financing debts.
“The FPSO Liza Destiny has been on hire since December 2019 and since 2023 has and will continue to be operated through the integrated operations and maintenance model combining SBM Offshore and ExxonMobil’s expertise and experience delivering outstanding operational performance,” SBM further explained.
The Liza Destiny FPSO made history in 2019 when it became the first vessel to produce oil in Guyana’s waters.
With the purchase of the Liza Destiny, which has the distinction of being the first ship to produce oil in Guyana back in 2019, Exxon now owns all three FPSO’s operational in Guyana’s waters. The Liza Unity FPSO was purchased from SBM Offshore for some US$1.26 billion in November 2023.
The vessel had been on hire since February 2022, and in 2023 had been operated through the integrated operations and maintenance model, wherein SBM Offshore and ExxonMobil’s expertise and experience had been combined.
The transaction at the time of that purchase had been completed a few months ahead of the end of the maximum lease term, which was set for February 2024. SBM Offshore has notwithstanding been tasked with continuing to operate and maintain the FPSO up to 2033.
Meanwhile, the Liza FPSO vessel servicing the third oil project offshore Guyana, was purchased outright by Exxon in November 2024, in a deal worth more than US$1.2 billion. The purchase was done one year ahead of the max expiration term of its lease with SBM for use of the vessel, which would have been November of next year.
The Prosperity FPSO had been on hire since November 2023, when the Payara oil development first delivered first oil. SBM had said at the time that ExxonMobil will continue its operation and maintenance of the project, combining their expertise with SBM’s.
The Stabroek Block is 6.6 million acres (26,800 square kilometres). Exxon, through its local subsidiary Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited (EEPGL), holds 45 per cent interest therein. Hess Guyana Exploration Ltd holds 30 per cent interest, and CNOOC Petroleum Guyana Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of CNOOC Limited, holds the remaining 25 per cent interest.
Six FPSOs are expected to be operating offshore Guyana by 2027. The fourth FPSO, dubbed the ‘One Guyana’ FPSO, is currently being built by SBM, which had in 2022 been contracted by Exxon to construct, install, and then lease and operate the vessel.
When completed, this vessel will operate in the Yellowtail development. It is expected to begin producing oil in the second half of next year, when production is expected to reach 250,000 barrels of oil per day. SBM’s latest update on the project is that it is 75 per cent completed.
The fifth FPSO, which would be named ‘Errea Wittu’, meaning “abundance” in the Warrau Indigenous language, would meanwhile operate in the Urau project. It would have an oil storage capacity of two million barrels, an oil production design rate of 250,000 barrels per day, and be able to offload approximately one million barrels onto a tanker in approximately 24 hours.
This vessel would be delivered by MODEC, a Japanese company that has confirmed construction of this FPSO. Start-up of the US$12.7 billion Urau development is targeted for 2026.
‘Jaguar’, the sixth FPSO, is earmarked for Exxon’s Whiptail project. Government has said that by the time this FPSO comes online in 2027, Guyana is expected to be producing as much as 1.2 million barrels of oil per day. This FPSO is currently in the final stages of construction.
