US Govt. informed about Venezuela’s oil exploration objections

US Govt. informed about Venezuela’s oil exploration objections

The United States government has been informed of Venezuela’s continuing objections to the exploration activities of US oil company Exxon Mobil in the Guyana waters.

Charge d’ Affaires at the US Embassy in Georgetown, Bryan Hunt on Thursday confirmed that the US government through the embassy has been informed of the objections of Venezuela. He said the embassy received reports of the objections from both the Government of Guyana and the Exxon Mobil company.

“Exxon Mobil has certainly brought it to our attention, as have the Guyana government, and we have been in discussions with both of them but the bottom line is that Exxon’s development is continuing and we hope that the partnership will yield tremendous results both for Guyana and our company”, Hunt said.

Earlier this week, US President Barack Obama handed down new sanctions on Venezuela as he described the country as a threat. Those sanctions were in relation to the treatment of protesters by the current Venezuelan government.

Asked if that move could see the United States paying much more attention to the Venezuela government’s objections to the Exxon Mobil’s exploration, the Charge d’ Affaires said the US government is always actively engaged with its big companies that operate overseas and he expects the same to continue with the Exxon Mobil company.

The Government of Guyana has issued a strong message to the Government of Venezuela over Venezuela’s decision to write the Exxon Mobill oil company objecting to its decision to begin drilling for oil in the Guyana waters.

In a statement earlier this month, the Guyana Ministry of Foreign Affairs said  it has requested that the Government of Venezuela desist from taking any actions that could only result in the stymieing of the development of Guyana and its people and that would be in contravention of international law.

The Government of Guyana has also informed CARICOM, UNASUR, the OAS, the Commonwealth as well as the United Nations Secretary General about this recent action by Venezuela.

Venezuela wrote the country manager for the company objecting to the move. Venezuela continues to claim some parts of Guyana’s territory as its own although settlement on the issue was completed decades ago.

 

Filed: 14th March, 2015

You must be logged in to post a comment Login