(Reuters, Neil Marks, 10.Jan.2019) â Seismic research vessels hired by Exxon Mobil to explore for oil off Guyanaâs coast have not yet returned to the site of a December incident with Venezuelaâs navy, but they may in the future, Guyanaâs foreign minister said on Thursday.
Guyana, with no history of oil production, has become the focus of intense interest since Exxon announced the discovery of over 5 billion barrels of oil and gas off its shores. That has reignited a territorial dispute with neighboring Venezuela going back centuries. OPEC-member Venezuelaâs crude output is near its lowest levels in 70 years amid an economic crisis.
In a speech at a trade union forum in the capital Georgetown, Foreign Minister Carl Greenidge said the Dec. 22 incident when the ships complied with Venezuelaâs order to turn around – which both countries say took place within their territorial waters – would not necessarily hold back future exploration.
âThey havenât returned to the area. It doesnât mean they canât return in the future,â Greenidge said. “Weâre not speaking in absolutes here.â
According to a notice posted on Guyanaâs Maritime Administration Departmentâs website before the incident, the shipsâ activities were expected to begin on Dec. 6, 2018 and conclude on Dec. 31. No new notice has been posted.
Venezuelaâs Information Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Greenidgeâs statements. In a press conference on Wednesday, socialist President Nicolas Maduro praised the armed forces for intercepting the ships, noting that if it were not for their patrol, âone day we would get there and they would be taking oil.â
âIs a world like that viable, without respect for international law?â Maduro said.
An Exxon spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
(Reporting by Neil Marks Additional reporting by Jennifer Hiller in Houston Writing by Luc Cohen Editing by Phil Berlowitz)
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