Guyana’s government announced on Wednesday that it expects production to begin at its contested offshore oil and gas field in 2020 or earlier.
US energy giant ExxonMobil’s projections for the field, if borne out, would be an economic game changer for Guyana. Exxon is working the offshore concession on a licence from Guyanese authorities.
Neighbouring Venezuela claims jurisdiction over the waters where Exxon plans to drill. It is part of a bigger, longstanding dispute (dating to the 19th century) over the Essequibo territory, encompassing areas of land and sea, which Guyana has administered since independence from Britain in 1966. Guyana is the only English-speaking country in South America.
Venezuelan feelings on the land issue were agitated in early 2015 when Exxon announced the big oil find. A sporadic, sometimes heated, war of words has been ongoing between the two countries since then.
Venezuela has the world’s largest proven oil reserves and is one of the world’s leading oil producers, although its economy is in turmoil with high inflation and shortages of basic goods. Last month’s parliamentary elections saw a coalition of opposition parties end 16 years of rule by the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), the party of the late president Hugo Chavez.
