The administration of Nicolás Maduro requested the Government of Trinidad and Tobago, through its acting head of mission, to provide information on the tests carried out by Exxon Mobil in an area near the maritime border with Venezuela and northwest of the Stabroek block, which the company operates in Guyana.
Venezuela seeks the location and other details from Trinidad and Tobago about the first field tests that Exxon Mobil will carry out in an ultra-deepwater area that was recently awarded.
This was reported by the agency Reuters this Tuesday, based on two sources and a document to which they had access.
The vice president and Minister of Hydrocarbons, Delcy Rodríguez, demanded from Trinidad – through diplomatic channels – information about Exxon’s plans for the block, whose award it obtained this year, including whether the possible discoveries could extend to Venezuelan territory.
The area is located near the maritime border with Venezuela and northwest of the prolific Stabroek block, which the company operates in Guyana. Rodríguez’s request was made in early October in a meeting with the acting head of the mission, Dayne-Marc Chin Slick, according to a diplomatic note he sent to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Trinidad and Tobago.
Venezuela on Monday suspended a broad energy deal with Trinidad and Tobago, including several joint gas projects, after Nicolás Maduro criticized that country’s stance amid the ongoing US military escalation in the region.
Delcy Rodríguez told Trinidad’s acting head of mission that under Article 8 of a territorial border delimitation treaty, either country must inform the other of any planned exploration as long as the area is within 500 meters (1,640 feet) of the border, according to the diplomatic note.
Trinidad is prepared to inform Venezuela about a seismic study that Exxon plans next year, but will not give more details about the work plan or say whether there is potential for a discovery that extends to Venezuela, since none has been made, the Trinidad government’s internal memo showed.
“The Government of Trinidad and Tobago is subject to confidentiality provisions and, consequently, specific and detailed information regarding Exxon Mobil’s operations in the TTUD Block 1 cannot be disclosed,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs memo states.
Exxon declined to comment, while Trinidad and Tobago’s Energy and Venezuelan Petroleum and Information ministries did not respond to requests for comment from the agency.
Until April, when Trinidad’s government changed, the two countries had close relations, and Caracas granted a license to Shell and the Trinidad National Gas Company to develop the 4.2 trillion cubic foot Dragon gas field in Venezuelan waters.
With information from Reuters
*Journalism in Venezuela is carried out in a hostile environment for the press with dozens of legal instruments in place to punish the word, especially the laws “against hate”, “against fascism” and “against the blockade.” This content was written taking into consideration the threats and limits that, consequently, have been imposed on the dissemination of information from within the country.
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