An oil rig in the Kaieteur off-shore oil block in the disputed waters of the Essequibo region. Photo: Kevin Harris/Unsplash.
US oil companies ExxonMobil and Hess announced that they will exit the Kaieteur exploration block, in the disputed waters of the Essequibo region of Venezuela, off the coast of Guyana.
According to Reuters, the oil companies took this decision after unsatisfactory exploration results and because oil and gas explorers are focusing on the Stabroek block, where more than 11 billion barrels of potential oil and gas resources have been discovered. This segment is located about 200 kilometers off the coast of Guyana and extends over an area of 6.6 million acres.
Kaieteur, one of two smaller non-producing areas bought by Exxon from Guyana, covers 3.3 million acres. ExxonMobil and Hess transferred their shares in Kaieteur to Ratio Guyana and Cataleya Energy, which initially held the exploration licenses.
Recently, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro condemned the aggression that Venezuela is suffering due to illegal dispossession of historically Venezuelan territory by US-based transnational oil companies with Guyana as a proxy. He proposed direct dialogue with the government of Guyana as the only way out to resolve the controversy over Essequibo, within the framework of the Geneva Agreement.
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/SC/AF/BLA
Misión Verdad
Misión Verdad is a Venezuelan investigative journalism website with a socialist perspective in defense of the Bolivarian Revolution
