Venezuela on Sunday accused Guyana of violating its sovereignty and announced that the Venezuelan navy has intercepted and chased two seismic exploration vessels working for the US oil and gas company ExxonMobil with the permission of the Guyanese government, in a maritime zone disputed by the two countries.
"Strict respect of agreements". Denouncing a "blatant violation" of "sovereignty", the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry said in a statement that a patrol had intercepted on Saturday in the "territorial waters of Venezuela" vessels Ramform, flying the flag of the Bahamas, and Delta Monarch ( Trinidad and Tobago), "both under contract for the transnational ExxonMobil", and forced them to withdraw. Caracas assured that he acted in "strict respect of international agreements and treaties".
An "illegal" act for Guyana. For its part, Guyana denounced the interception of the ship Ramform Thethys, calling it an act "illegal, aggressive and hostile". He did not refer to the Delta Monarch. The Guyana Foreign Ministry has also accused its neighbor of "violating" its territorial waters.
Borders that Caracas never recognized . The Venezuelan government is demanding sovereignty over Essequibo, a region rich in mineral resources and covering a large maritime area rich in oil reserves. Guyana, a former British colony, claims that the borders were established in 1899 by an arbitration tribunal. Caracas never recognized them. Robert Palladino, spokesman for the US State Department, defended in a Twitter message on Sunday the "right" of Guyana to "explore and exploit the resources of its territorial waters".