Netherlands-based SBM Offshore has signed a memorandum of understanding with ExxonMobil for a multi-purpose floater (MPF) hull to be used by the US supermajor on a floating production, storage and offloading vessel offshore Guyana.

The MoU was announced just two weeks after ExxonMobil awarded SBM’s Japanese arch-rival Modec a front-end engineering and design contract for an eventual FPSO that will be deployed in the Uaru field in Guyana’s prolific Stabroek block.