Guyana president explains effect of Venezuela tensions on national energy future

Published: 2026-05-12 11:20:09 ET XOM

Published on 05/12/2026 at 11:20 am EDT

Guyana's territorial dispute with Venezuela over one of South America's most contested hydrocarbon frontiers moved to an international court in Belgium this week, with Guyanese President Mohamed Irfaan Ali explaining his country’s concerns in an interview with the Houston Chronicle.

During the interview at the Offshore Technology Conference in Georgetown, Ali admitted that Guyana remains open to regional coexistence, provided that the government in Caracas undertakes to respect Guyanese sovereignty and the rule of law.

The hearing comes at a structurally awkward moment for Washington. The Trump administration has backed Venezuela's oil and gas rehabilitation, granting Chevron continued operating rights in the country, while simultaneously maintaining long-standing support for Guyana's territorial claims over the Essequibo region, a more than 6mn-acre area of oil-rich land that Caracas has contested for decades

ExxonMobil, which leads production in Guyana's Stabroek Block under a production sharing agreement signed roughly a decade ago, sits on the opposing side of that equation. On March 1, 2025, Venezuela's coast guard vessels allegedly entered Guyanese waters, approaching an ExxonMobil production vessel in the disputed offshore region.

Ali offered careful language when pressed on whether Chevron's presence in both countries could facilitate a diplomatic opening. 'We see no conflict of interest between companies operating in Venezuela and operating in Guyana,' he said. 'They are all aware that if you operate in Guyana, you operate with full regard for our laws, our sovereignty.'

The response was notable for what it did not say: Ali stopped short of endorsing any bilateral engagement with Caracas, framing coexistence as conditional on democratic values and the rule of law, criteria Venezuela's Maduro government does not currently meet by any international standard.

The broader energy sector climate sharpens the strategic stakes. Guyana has emerged as one of the world's fastest-growing economies since commercial offshore production commenced in 2019, with the Stabroek Block anchoring a development trajectory that has drawn comparisons to Gulf state petrostates. A prolonged legal process over Essequibo, or a deterioration in relations with Venezuela, introduces sovereign risk into a production profile that Exxon and its partners have aggressively expanded.

Domestically, the ExxonMobil contract remains a point of contention. Royalty rates are historically low, and criticism that ordinary Guyanese have not received an equitable share of resource revenues has not dissipated. Ali ruled out renegotiation, citing the legal complexity involved, but confirmed Georgetown is deploying a new production sharing agreement with updated terms for future licensing rounds.

The conference backdrop added a further dimension to the territorial question. With the Iran war sustaining what Ali described as the largest oil crisis in history, Guyana's ability to present itself as a stable, Western hemisphere alternative to Middle Eastern supply is a core element of its diplomatic leverage, and one that makes the Venezuela boundary dispute not merely a bilateral matter, but a variable in Washington's broader hemispheric energy strategy.