GEORGETOWN, Guyana, CMC – The US oil and energy giant ExxonMobil says it plans to explore for oil offshore the Essequibo region where Venezuelan gunboats had six years ago chased seismic research vessels in oil concessions that Guyana had granted.
“The Liza field, the last time I looked, takes you close to that (central) line. We plan to drill two exploration wells west of Liza and Payara. The Trumpet Fish and Redmoth exploration wells are planned more in the middle of the Stabroek Block this year, so it’s not inhibiting that activity in our plans,” said President of ExxonMobil Guyana, Alistair Routledge.
In 2015, Venezuela’s President, Nicolas Maduro, unilaterally extended his country’s maritime boundary to take in all of the waters of the Essequibo, Demerara, and Berbice counties after ExxonMobil had first announced its first oil discovery offshore Guyana. Venezuela’s navy also intercepted two seismic research vessels 2018 that had gathered data for American companies, Anadarko Petroleum and ExxonMobil, off the Essequibo Region.
Routledge said the company planned to spend around US$60-70 million on each exploration well, but that cost could escalate if more data has to be gathered and stem drill tests have to be conducted.
He acknowledged that the recent Guyana-Venezuela border dispute, where Caracas has insisted that it has ownership of the Essequibo region, which makes up about two-thirds of Guyana and is home to 125,000 of the country’s 800,000 citizens, had “made a lot of people nervous.”
However, he maintained that ExxonMobil’s agreement with Guyana is legal.
“ExxonMobil has a comfort where we believe the contract we have with the country is valid under the local law, but also under international law, we have valid rights to the blocks in which we are participating,” Routledge said.
He welcomed the Argyle Declaration from last December’s talks between Guyana’s President Irfaan Ali and Maduro. The two countries agreed not to issue threats of force or use force.
He hailed heightened defense cooperation between the United States and Guyana in the context of low carbon emissions and energy supply to the rest of the world.
“The collaboration that we are seeing for Guyana with other countries on the military front as well as on the diplomatic and economic front reflects that, so I think it’s a healthy thing,” he said.
US Air Force Major Evan L. Pettus, 12th Air Force (Air Forces Southern) Commander, visited Guyana last week. It held talks with government officials and top brass of the Guyana Defence Force on-air domain awareness. It collaborated on advancing Guyana’s airspace awareness capacity to protect its national security and sovereignty.
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