‘America will always protect its economic interest’ – opposition parties on Chevron’s licence to operate in Venezuela

Jul 26, 2025 News

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• Citizens’ benefits should be protected – APNU

• AFC says not surprised

Kaieteur News – The A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) and the Alliance for Change (AFC) have voiced their concerns over the United States government renewing the licence of Chevron to operate in Venezuela, declaring that America will always protect its own economic interest.

At their respective press conferences on Friday, both parties were asked to respond to Chevron having a stake in both Guyanese and Venezuelan waters with the border controversy and what it would mean for Guyana. Opposition leader, Aubrey Norton said that issues of this nature have to be addressed in “a pragmatic way.”

“We do not fool ourselves that any state likes us and will do the things because they like us. All states pursue their interest. The United States is no different, it has its interests. The companies will pursue their interests, Exxon Mobil has its interests, Chevron has its interest,” he said.

Norton said the task at hand is to examine the dynamics of the situation and come up with an approach that will ensure Guyana benefits and progresses.

“I do not believe we can determine what the United States does in terms of Chevron and Exxon. What we can do is have a command of what we own and then use our intellectual, and other capacities to carve out a niche, to ensure the people of Guyana benefit and that we don’t become a kind of a slave society,” he added.

The politician said further, that it is all about examining the variables, and developing strategies to achieve the objective.

“Venezuela has its interests. We have our interests. We have kept the Guyana/Venezuela territorial controversy on the front burner. We have it before the ICJ. We intend to develop a proper diplomatic strategy to deal with Venezuela, and so we believe, from a combination of proper diplomatic strategy, a plan and a competent and Foreign Service to implement it, we can keep Venezuela at bay, whilst ensuring the benefit from the oil and gas sector,” Norton said.

Chairman and spokesperson for the AFC on oil and gas, David Patterson said the renewal of Chevron’s licence to operate in the Spanish speaking by the Trump administration is something that very close attention should be paid to as it can either be an advantage or a disadvantage.

On the advantage side, Chevron can connect the unhindered with Exxon whereby they may be able to explore the waters closer to the Venezuelan border. However, it can pose a challenge if Chevron decided to prioritise “restarting and refinancing their operation (in Venezuela) over putting in contributions (in the Stabroek Block), and they would have to put in contributions, I think it’s 25 per cent to any development, future development again. So, we have to pay very close attention to it as a country,” he said.

Patterson further stated that an AFC government will ensure that all the oil companies appear before parliamentary committees to explain matters of their operations here, and be held accountable for their actions. Additionally, the companies need to be more forthcoming with information, as currently while they may share with the government, the rest of the country is in the dark.

AFC leader, Nigel Hughes highlighted the importance of citizens understanding how international politics work in Guyana’s position and the United States.

He said, “I’ll start with the obvious Henry Kissinger, back in 1972 I think it was said that America has no permanent friends. It has only permanent interest. The reality of Guyana and Venezuela is that Venezuela has a lot more oil than Guyana. It has a lot more oil. So don’t let us run away with the impression that because we’ve got 13 or 20 billion barrels in reserve that we are the only friend that America can have in this part of the world.”

Hughes said at the moment, Guyana is producing oil at the most economical rates but the reality is that for example, if there is a regime change in neighboring Venezuela, then the level of interest of the US in Guyana may not be the same.

He said this was one of the reasons when the present administration was elected a year ago, he had proposed for the political parties to sit and craft 10–15-year plans in several areas, including foreign relations.

The attorney believes that such plans are necessary “because we do have to provide for the possibility that Venezuela, which has a population of over 25 million people and more oil reserves than Guyana, clean energy is not as prominent as it used to be. So, the heavy sulfur in the Venezuelan oil is not as much as of an issue as it has been previously.”

Even though the crude Guyana produces is considered ‘sweet and light’, unless the country has a superior economic advantage in oil production, it has to face the real possibility that at some stage.

“If America is balancing its interest in relation to its economic interests, between Guyana’s economic circumstances and those of Venezuela, it will act in its best interest. We need to have a plan to deal with that,” Hughes stressed.

Citing the position of Venezuelan to not abide by any ruling of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), Hughes said Guyana can be comforted by the fact that the US has and perhaps continues to stand behind it.

However, “as a mature country, we need to consider all options, and we should not be surprised and or disappointed by the fact that Chevron has got a licence in America’s interest. It may not be in our interest, and we need to have the appropriate contingency plans, which are not cloistered in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the government of the day and the PPP has clearly demonstrated over the last five years that they have no desire or interest to involve anybody else other than themselves in discussing foreign relations,” the AFC leader lamented.

Highlighting that the government only seeks the opposition leader when there is an escalated crisis, Hughes said this discussion should be ongoing in the universities and foreign service institutes, as every Guyanese ought to be fully aware of what the consequences are.

“We can’t run around holding our heads saying, oh my god, America gave a licence to Chevron in Venezuela. If we were a responsible nation, we would expect that it should not be an outlier, and what we should be more concerned about is what plans do we have, collectively as a country, to address this,” he said.

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• America, APNU, Aubrey Norton, Economic interest, Nigel Hughes, Venezuela

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