The Essequibo 1899 floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel will serve ExxonMobil’s seventh sanctioned development in the Stabroek Block, offshore Guyana. The government approved the US$6.8 billion Hammerhead project and issued its production license in September 2025.
Development plans include 10 production wells and eight injection wells targeting approximately 445 million barrels of oil. Subsea infrastructure will connect the wells to the FPSO. Gas from Hammerhead will first support offshore production operations. Volumes not required offshore could enter Guyana’s wider gas network through the planned connection to the Gas-to-Energy pipeline.
The Essequibo 1899 will be MODEC’s second FPSO for Guyana after the recently delivered Errea Wittu, which will operate at the Uaru development.
Hammerhead will also be the first Guyana project since Liza 1 to use a converted vessel instead of a newbuild FPSO. President Irfaan Ali selected the name Essequibo 1899 in reference to the 1899 Arbitral Award that settled the land boundary between British Guiana and Venezuela, legally confirming the Essequibo region as Guyana’s territory. ExxonMobil operates the Stabroek Block with a 45% interest, alongside Hess, which is owned by Chevron, with 30%, and CNOOC with 25%.
- Name: Essequibo 1899
- Builder: MODEC
- Project: Hammerhead development
- Operator: ExxonMobil Guyana Limited
- Vessel type: Converted very large crude carrier
- Oil production capacity: Approximately 150,000 b/d
- Gas processing capacity: Approximately 90 million cf/d
- Oil storage capacity: Approximately 1.4 million barrels
- Operating water depth: Approximately 1,025 meters
- Mooring system: SOFEC spread mooring system
- Target for first oil: Second quarter of 2029
- Operations and maintenance: MODEC will provide services for 10 years after first oil
- Gas export infrastructure: A 13-kilometer pipeline will connect Hammerhead to Guyana’s Gas-to-Energy pipeline
- Local content, so far: One hundred metric tons of steel handrails were fabricated in Guyana for the FPSO’s topside modules
