Oct. 26 (oilnow.gy) SBM Offshore has ordered 12 additional Fast4Ward hulls since allocating the first unit to Guyana’s Liza Unity FPSO. The expansion has supplied floating production projects across Guyana, Brazil, and Suriname, while keeping hulls available for future contracts.
The orders show how SBM Offshore has developed its approach to FPSO construction: commission standardized hulls ahead of project awards, then combine them with production facilities suited to individual fields. Its August 6, 2026, results confirmed 13 orders. Upstream Online reported on October 19 that the company was nearing an order for a 14th.
The program began with a speculative order placed in August 2017 at Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding (SWS) in China. That hull was subsequently assigned to Liza Unity, which started production offshore Guyana on February 11, 2022. Fast4Ward combines a newbuild, multipurpose hull with standardized topsides modules used to process production.
SBM Offshore committed to its second hull in November 2018, before securing an engineering, procurement, and construction contract for it. By the end of 2019, its first three hulls had been allocated to Liza Unity, Prosperity, and Sepetiba. The latter two extended the program to Guyana’s Payara development and Brazil’s Mero field.
Orders for the fourth and fifth hulls followed in December 2019, with construction spread between SWS and China Merchants Industry Holdings. SBM Offshore said all three earlier hulls were already allocated when it made those commitments. A sixth hull joined the program in 2021.
Those first six hulls ultimately supported three FPSOs in Guyana—Liza Unity, Prosperity, and ONE GUYANA—and three in Brazil: Sepetiba, Almirante Tamandaré, and Alexandre de Gusmão. The Brazilian assignments took Fast4Ward into both the Mero and Búzios developments in the Santos basin.
Guyana also secured the seventh hull. Ordered in 2022, it was allocated to the Whiptail development following ExxonMobil’s award of preliminary engineering contracts in 2023. It is being used for FPSO Jaguar, with first oil expected in 2027.
The eighth hull, ordered in 2023, expanded the program into Suriname. It was allocated to FPSO GranMorgu for TotalEnergies’ Block 58 development. SBM Offshore reported in August that the hull had completed its second dry-dock launch, while topsides fabrication continued. First oil is expected in 2028.
SBM Offshore ordered its ninth and tenth hulls in 2024 to support tendering. The ninth was subsequently assigned to ExxonMobil’s Longtail project in Guyana under engineering contracts announced in 2026. Further construction and installation remained subject to government approvals, a final investment decision, and authorization for the next phase of work.
Longtail illustrates how the standardized hull supports different processing requirements. Its proposed FPSO is designed to handle 1.2 bcf/d of gas and produce 250,000 b/d of condensate. Liza Unity’s original design provided for 220,000 b/d of oil and 400 million cf/d of gas treatment. Brazil secured hulls 11 and 12 through contracts announced on May 29, 2026. They are assigned to Petrobras’ SEAP-I and SEAP-II developments in the Sergipe-Alagoas basin. Each FPSO is designed to produce 120,000 b/d, with delivery expected in 2031 and 2030, respectively. Both include facilities to treat associated gas for export to shore.
The 13th hull was contracted on June 29 with SWS and China Shipbuilding Trading. Although designated MPF7, it is the seventh hull ordered from SWS within SBM Offshore’s broader program.
“This is the 13th MPF hull ordered to date, with each project providing lessons to further derisk the execution, with improving quality and productivity,” SBM Offshore Chief Executive Officer Øivind Tangen said.
By August, SBM Offshore reported eight hulls operating or delivered to projects under construction. Five remained under construction at three yards. Longtail and the two SEAP projects accounted for three of those, while the remaining two supported active tendering with clients.
Leave a Reply