Last Updated on Saturday, 1 March 2025, 14:05 by Writer
Guyana’s President, Irfaan Ali on Saturday said his country has put its international partners on standby after a Venezuelan military patrol vessel informed floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessels in the Stabroek Block that they were operating in disputed international waters.
“Our international partners stand resolute and ready in support of Guyana and in ensuring that our sovereignty and territorial integrity are respected and honoured,” he said in a nationwide broadcast. He said those partners include the United Kingdom, France, United States, Regional Security System, and Brazil. “We continue to work with other neighbours Brazil at the militarily level and at the level of the State,” he said.
Dr Ali said he also informed Opposition Leader Aubrey Norton and they would be having further talks when the latter returns to the city.
The President said Guyana has since deployed its air and coast guard “assets” to the area. “Guyana remains committed to peace and the rule of law. We will continue to pursue diplomatic solutions, but we will not tolerate threats to our territorial integrity,” he said.
Ali said at about 7 a.m. local time, a Guaiquerí-class patrol vessel, moved up nearby the FPSO Prosperity and dispatched a radio message informing that that oil ship was operating in “disputed international waters”.
He said the secretaries general of the United Nations, Commonwealth and the Organisation of American States (OAS), the Caribbean Community’s Regional Security System as well as the International Court of Justice were informed. The OAS Secretariat on Saturday said it “unequivocally condemns” Venezuela’s actions threatening ExxonMobil’s FPSOs operating “within Guyana’s internationally recognised maritime territory.
“Such acts of intimidation constitute a clear violation of international law, undermine regional stability and threaten the principles of peaceful coexistence between nations,” said the hemispheric organisation.
President Ali said the Chairman of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), Barbados’ Prime Minister Mia Mottley and the interlocutor for the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) in the Guyana-Venezuela border dispute, St Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister, Ralph Gonsalves were informed and have since been in contact with the Venezuelan government.
ExxonMobil is producing 650,000 barrels per day of crude and recently discovered a large gas deposit of 1.2 billion cubic feet of gas at Longtail.
Venezuela moved its naval vessel to the Stabroek Block just days after United States President Donald Trump’s administration cancelled a Biden-era licence that had allowed US company Chevron to sell hydrocarbon products from its operations in Venezuela.
