The very first production vessel destined for operations offshore Guyana has departed Singapore en route to the ExxonMobil-operated Stabroek block off the northeastern coast of South America.

The Liza Destiny floating, production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel is expected to arrive in September ahead of first oil planned in 2020.

The FPSO, which was converted from a very large crude carrier (VLCC) at the Keppel Shipyard in Singapore, is designed to produce up to 120,000 barrels of oil per day, will have associated gas treatment capacity of circa 170 million cubic feet per day, water injection capacity of circa 200,000 barrels per day and an overall storage volume of 1.6 million barrels. It will be spread moored in about 1,525 meters water depth.

Liza Destiny (Photo: Guyana Department of Public Information)

The first of several FPSOs planned for operations offshore Guyana, Liza Destiny will produce as part of ExxonMobil's $4.4 billion Liza Phase 1 development, which includes four drill centers with 17 wells in total: eight production wells, six water injection wells, and three gas injection wells.

SBM Offshore, which completed front-end engineering studies for the project, was awarded the contract to construct, install, lease and operate the FPSO in 2017.

The Liza discovery, announced in May 2015, is located on the Stabroek block around 195 kilometers off the coast of Guyana. The 26,800-square-kilometer Stabroek block contains multiple prospects and play types. ExxonMobil estimates the discoveries offshore Guyana have 5.5 nillion boe of recoverable resources.

ExxonMobil is the operator of the block with 45% interest. Its partners are Hess and CNOOC/Nexen with 30% and 25% shares respectively.

Liza Destiny (Photo: Guyana Department of Public Information)