SBM Offshore wraps up $800M Turritella FPSO financing

SBM Offshore, a Dutch company providing floating production solutions to the oil and gas industry, has completed the project financing of FPSO Turritella for a total of $800 million.

The company said on Wednesday that project financing was secured by a consortium of twelve international banks with an average cost of debt of 3.5% over the ten-year post-completion maturity.

The Turritella FPSO, to be deployed at Shell’s Stones field in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, is owned and operated by a joint venture owned by affiliated companies of SBM Offshore (55%), Mitsubishi Corporation (30%) and Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha (15%).

The joint venture will own and operate the vessel for an initial contract period of 10 years with future extension options up to a total of 20 years for Shell Offshore Inc.

Once installed the Turritela FPSO will be the deepest FPSO development in the world, as the Stones field is located in 2,896 meters (9,500 feet) of water, approximately 320 kilometers (200 miles) offshore Louisiana in the Walker Ridge area.

“Combined with the US$1.55 billion project financing of FPSO Cidade de Saquarema (July 2015), today’s announcement culminates the successful financing of US$2.35 billion for two FPSO’s during 2015. Project financing has now been secured on all finance lease projects currently under construction,” SBM Offshore said in its announcement.

As for the FPSO itself, the unit sailed away from Singapore in November, and it is on its way to the U.S. Gulf of Mexico. First oil from the Stones field is expected to start flowing in the first half of 2016.