McDermott International and SBM Offshore have established a special purpose company to perform Front End Engineering and Design (FEED) for a Floating Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel under contracts for the Yellowtail development project.

Through the special purpose company, McDermott and SBM Offshore will design and construct the FPSO project, which will follow the FEED and is subject to government approvals in Guyana of the development plan, project sanction including final investment decision by ExxonMobil and Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited's (EEPGL) release of the second phase of work.

The FPSO will be the fourth to be deployed in Guyana and will be designed to produce 250,000 barrels of oil per day, will have associated gas treatment capacity of 450 million cubic feet per day and water injection capacity of 300,000 barrels per day. The FPSO will be spread moored in water depth of about 5,900 feet (1,800 meters) and will be able to store around two million barrels of crude oil.

"McDermott brings unrivaled project execution, integrated engineering and modularization and industry leadership to this important project," said Samik Mukherjee, McDermott Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer.

"We will leverage our worldwide engineering centers and access the modularization design and fabrication expertise of our Qingdao McDermott Wuchuan (QMW) fabrication yard in China. This—and our shared vision with SBM Offshore for integrated solutions, optimized efficiency and delivery assurance—will enable success," said Tareq Kawash, McDermott Senior Vice President, Europe, Middle East, Africa.

McDermott and SBM Offshore will provide project management, basic design, procurement, engineering, integration and commissioning services. SBM Offshore will manage the transport and installation and then lease the FPSO and operate it for a period of up to two years.