Venezuela ratchets up tensions with Guyana over Exxon Mobil megaproject

On Saturday, Venezuelan coast guard vessels entered Guyana’s waters near Exxon Mobil Corp.’s offshore drilling site and transmitted a radio message claiming it was patrolling a “disputed international” maritime zone.

In response, Guyanese President Irfaan Ali triggered a military response, deploying the country’s naval and air forces to defend the oil megaproject poised to remake the economy of one of South America’s poorest nations.

The incursion came just days after US President Donald Trump canceled Chevron’s licenses to exempt some Venezuelan oil exports from sanctions. The maritime escalation followed an attack last month in which a suspected Venezuelan gang opened fire on Guyanese soldiers, injuring six on patrol along the Cuyuní River.

The background: A year ago, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro signed a law designating Essequibo, a sparsely populated region that comprises roughly two-thirds of Guyana’s territory, as a new state of Venezuela. While Caracas revived its claim to the region in the 1960s, a series of treaties over the last two centuries have repeatedly given Guyana and its colonial forebears control over Essequibo.

Essequibo is rich in deposits of gold and copper, and its seafloor off the coast contains vast oil reserves that Exxon started developing in recent years.

A united front: What Ali’s government lacks in military weapons it seems to be making up for in powerful friends. Washington and London bothaffirmed support for Georgetown, as did the Organization of American States and the Commonwealth. Guyana’s private sector and the opposition party issued statements backing the government. We'll be watching for signs of how far Venezuela is likely to go to assert its claims over Essequibo.