The floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel for ExxonMobil Guyana’s Hammerhead development has been named Essequibo 1899, anchoring one of the country’s newest offshore projects to a pivotal moment in its history.
The name, selected by President Irfaan Ali, references the 1899 Arbitral Award, which settled the land boundary between British Guiana and Venezuela following an international arbitration process agreed under the 1897 Treaty of Washington. The decision was treated as a “full, perfect and final” settlement by both parties.
READ MORE HERE: Guyana-Venezuela land boundary was settled 124 years ago
A joint British-Venezuelan Boundary Commission later demarcated the boundary, with maps and reports signed in 1905. The award remained accepted for more than sixty years.
Venezuela moved to challenge the ruling in 1962, claiming it was null and void based on allegations contained in a memorandum written decades after the arbitration. No evidence was produced to substantiate those claims.
The issue carried into the 1966 Geneva Agreement, signed ahead of Guyana’s independence, which established a process to address Venezuela’s contention. After years under the United Nations Good Offices Process, the Secretary-General selected the International Court of Justice in 2018 as the means of settlement. Guyana has asked the court to affirm the validity of the 1899 Award. The case has progressed considerably and a judgment is expected to be delivered in 2027.
The naming comes as Guyana’s oil industry continues to expand offshore in the Stabroek Block, operated by ExxonMobil, with co-venturers Hess and CNOOC. Production began in 2019 and has since grown rapidly, with output now exceeding 900,000 barrels per day (b/d) from multiple FPSOs, including Liza Destiny, Liza Unity, Prosperity and ONE GUYANA.
Hammerhead is among several developments expected to add capacity, alongside projects such as Uaru and Whiptail, as Guyana moves toward production levels well above one million barrels per day.
ExxonMobil Guyana President Alistair Routledge said on March 25 at a recent steel-cutting ceremony that the FPSO name reflects both the historical weight of the award and the significance of present-day developments.
“His Excellency President Ali shared with us his choice of name for the Hammerhead Project, the Essequibo 1899. I couldn’t help but mention it. And I think it’s important to mention, in the sense that it is an important point in Guyana’s history, and we all need to understand the history of the country. But what it also tells us and reminds us is that today, we’re writing tomorrow’s history, and that what we’re doing and how we’re doing it will be remembered and written in the books of the history of the country for future generations to read about,” he remarked.
Once operational, the FPSO will have the capacity to produce oil at 150,000 b/d and about 90 million cubic feet of gas per day. Slated to start in 2029, the development also includes a pipeline link to Guyana’s Gas-to-Energy system to deliver gas to shore.
