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Venezuela tramples on ICJ ruling with plans to illegally blacklist Exxon, other companies
Kaieteur News – The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela has announced plans to expel and blacklist companies that are conducting activities in the Essequibo region and offshore as part of its illegal plot to take over two-thirds of Guyana’s territory.
President Nicolas Maduro on Tuesday evening ordered “the drafting of the Special Law to establish a rule prohibiting contracting with companies operating in the unilateral concessions given by Guyana in the Sea for delimitation.”
Venezuela has claimed the Essequibo region, which it calls ‘Guayana Esequiba’, currently accounting for two-thirds of Guyana’s territory. The Essequibo region of Guyana is a land of abundant natural resources, including valuable minerals, forests, agricultural potential, and significant offshore oil and gas reserves. It aligns with a large portion of the offshore Stabroek Block, where ExxonMobil, Hess and CNOOC have discovered more than 11 billion oil-equivalent barrels.
The Maduro regime also claims, that blocks Guyana intend to contract to international oil companies are also part of the area that Venezuela claims.
According to Bloomberg, President Maduro has ordered companies operating in the territory under Guyana concessions, to leave within three months.
This comes just days after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordered that Venezuela should not take any action to interfere with Guyana’s administration and control over the territory, given that Guyana’s sovereignty over the area is plausible due to the 1899 Arbitral Award.
In clear disregard for the court’s judgment, given the results of Venezuela’s controversial referendum, Maduro has said: “I ordered the immediate creation of the division “PDVSA Esequibo”, “CVG Esequibo”, to grant licenses for oil, gas and mines exploitation.”
The Corporacion Venezolana de Guayana (CVG) is a state-owned Venezuelan mining and energy conglomerate, that operates in the southeast of the country. Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PDVSA) is the Venezuelan state-owned oil and natural gas company.
Issuance and administration of oil and mining licenses in Guyana is handled by agencies and departments of the Ministry of Natural Resources. Maduro’s order for all companies in the area to leave, could send a message to offshore operators like ExxonMobil, as well as companies conducting mining and logging operations in the richly endowed Essequibo region, that they are not welcome.
However, President Irfaan Ali has assured investors in his most recent public message that they have nothing to worry about in a country that is safe, democratic, and which respects the rule of law.
“We will not allow our territory to be violated nor the development of our country to be stymied by this desperate threat.” Ali said
ExxonMobil is currently producing upward of 400,000 barrels of crude per day (bpd) from three floating production, storage and offloading vessels in the Stabroek Block, with production expected to reach 620,000 bpd next year. Revenues from oil sales and royalties have significantly boosted Guyana’s development prospects and have resulted in a spillover of economic stimulation countrywide.
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