US ready to help settle Guyana-Venezuela maritime boundary after ICJ ruling

Last Updated on Monday, 30 March 2026, 22:54 by Writer

The United States (US) plans to bring Guyana and Venezuela together to negotiate the delimitation of their maritime boundary after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) rules on the validity of the 1899 Arbitral Tribunal Award of the land boundary, American Ambassador to Guyana Nicole Theriot said at the weekend.

“As soon as that happens, that will trigger our ability to assist with the negotiations on maritime border. I think your EEZ (exclusive economic zone) is what it is, and we will continue to help you defend that. But I think having it set once and for all will be incredibly comforting to everyone, especially Guyana, to know that this has been settled and so we are absolutely ready and willing to assist you with that,” she said on the hour-long News Source social media interview programme, SOURCES.

With Venezuela not being a member of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), foreign ministry experts had long said the two countries would have to engage in maritime delimitation negotiations.

American supermajors, ExxonMobil and Occidental Petroleum Corporation, are said to be preparing to explore for hydrocarbons offshore Essequibo closer to Venezuela soon after the ICJ ruling.

A final round of oral arguments is yet to be scheduled.

In the past, Venezuela’s navy had intercepted and chased out seismic vessels operating on behalf of ExxonMobil and Anadarko from that area. The companies have since obtained force majeure for those areas.

Meanwhile, Ms Theriot said the US was ready to provide drones and other technologies to Guyana to assist in monitoring its EEZ.

“In addition to drone technology, I know that the President (Irfaan Ali) spoke about the US helping Guyana develop an integrated system that would protect both the airspace and also the EEZ because of threats, for example, criminals using our waterways to maybe smuggle drugs and so forth, she said.

Guyana has also over the years struggled with controlling illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing activity in its EEZ.

The US Coast Guard and Navy last year engaged in joint exercises with the Guyana Defence Force to forge interoperability.