International court warns Venezuela over Guyana vote
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) today warned Venezuela it should take no action to seize neighboring Guyana's resource-rich Essequibo province, regardless of the outcome of a 3 December referendum on the status of the disputed territory.
Guyana and Venezuela "shall refrain from any action which might aggravate or extend the dispute before the court or make it more difficult to resolve," the ICJ said.
The South American countries are locked in a simmering century-long territorial dispute over the province that Caracas calls Guayana Esequiba. The dispute has intensified since 2016 when ExxonMobil made several oil finds in the deepwater Stabroek block that has prevented the countries from agreeing on their maritime boundary. Stabroek partially overlaps the disputed waters.
"The definitive settlement of the boundary dispute between Guyana and Venezuela are matters for the court to decide at the merits stage," the Hague-based ICJ said.
Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro said today the country will move ahead with plans for the vote on Sunday, in which citizens would say whether or not they believe the region belongs to Venezuela. The country's supreme court said it was in an emergency "permanent session" following the ICJ warning "... for the protection and defense of the rights of the Venezuelan people."
The head of Venezuela's Maduro-aligned national assembly said the ICJ warning does not prevent Sunday's vote, but rather blocks Guyana from granting new oil exploration licenses.
The ICJ cleared the way in April for settling the dispute, but Venezuela rejected that ruling. Maduro stoked the dispute last month by setting the date for Sunday's vote on "its rights" to the province.
Guyana officials lauded the ICJ ruling today.
"Today's ruling is legally binding on Venezuela," Guyana's president Irfaan Ali said. "Both the UN charter and the statute of the court, to which Venezuela is a party, require its strict compliance."
There was "increased Venezuelan military activity" along the border this week, Guyanese officials said. US and Guyanese military officials met this week "to discuss their readiness to address security threats," the US embassy in Georgetown said.
The dispute dates back to colonial times, when the UK acquired British Guiana, which included the disputed territory, without establishing a clear border with Venezuela.
Related news posts
Japan’s Imabari delivers LNG-fuelled car carrier
Japan’s Imabari delivers LNG-fuelled car carrier
Tokyo, 16 July (Argus) — Japanese shipbuilder Imabari Shipbuilding delivered an LNG-fuelled car carrier this month to domestic shipping company Mitsui OSK Line (Mol), as Mol targets 90 LNG or methanol-fuelled ships in its fleet by 2030. Imabari supplied on 12 July the Turquoise Ace with capacity for 7,000 cars. It is designed to consume boil-off gas generated within the vessel's fuel LNG tank, expected to curb carbon dioxide emissions by 25-30pc, sulphur oxide emissions by almost 100pc and nitrogen oxide emissions by 80-90pc. The ship was built by Imabari's group company Tadotsu Shipyard in west Japan's Kagawa prefecture. Mol is targeting carbon neutrality by 2050 by boosting the number of its LNG- and methanol-fuelled vessels. The firm has commissioned another LNG-fuelled car carrier the Cerulean Ace with capacity for 7,050 cars, while it plans to charter an LNG-fuelled bulk carrier for utility Kansai Electric Power to deliver coal to Kansai's Maizuru power complex in 2026. By Nanami Oki Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
Trump taps Vance as running mate for 2024
Trump taps Vance as running mate for 2024
Washington, 15 July (Argus) — Former president Donald Trump has selected US senator JD Vance (R-Ohio) as his vice presidential pick for his 2024 campaign, elevating a former venture capitalist and close ally to become his running mate in the election. Vance, 39, is best known for his bestselling memoir Hillbilly Elegy that documented his upbringing in Middletown, Ohio, and his Appalachian roots. In the run-up to the presidential elections in 2016, Vance said he was "a never Trump guy" and called Trump "reprehensible." But he has since become one of Trump's top supporters and adopted many of his policies on the economy and immigration. Vance voted against providing more military aid to Ukraine and pushed Europe to spend more on defense. Trump said he chose his running mate after "lengthy deliberation and thought," citing Vance's service in the military, his law degree and his business career, which included launching venture capital firm Narya in 2020. Vance will do "everything he can to help me MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN," Trump said today in a social media post. Like Trump, Vance has pushed to increase domestic oil and gas production and criticized government support for electric vehicles. President Joe Biden's energy policies have been "at war" with workers in states that are struggling because of the importance of low-cost energy to manufacturing, Vance said last month in an interview with Fox News. Trump made the announcement about Vance on the first day of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and just two days after surviving an assassination attempt during a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Earlier today, federal district court judge Aileen Cannon threw out a felony indictment that alleged Trump had mishandled classified government documents after leaving office. By Chris Knight Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
Polish gas reforms still needed: Energy Traders Europe
Polish gas reforms still needed: Energy Traders Europe
London, 15 July (Argus) — Recent government plans to amend Poland's onerous gas storage legislation are positive, but more serious reforms are necessary to foster increased competition, industry association Energy Traders Europe told Argus . The Polish government last month said it plans to amend the Act on Stocks in November , removing importers' obligation to maintain mandatory gas storage reserves and placing it on state-owned strategic reserves agency Rars instead. Energy Traders Europe welcomed the move but recommended several further steps to bolster competition and liquidity. The Act on Stocks "needs to be revised first and fast" before addressing other issues in the market, the association's gas market manager, Pawel Lont, told Argus . While shifting the obligation to Rars is a positive first step, Poland would still have "state-enforced storage filling with hardly any capacity left for commercial use", which removes an important flexibility source for the market, he said. Ultimately, storage needs to be reformed to a point at which commercial filling becomes not only possible but desired, Lont said. The government needs to ensure that the system provides an incentive for the storage operator to offer products that are attractive to users, Lont said, noting that currently "this incentive simply does not exist, and this set-up can only inflate the costs of gas consumption in Poland". Energy Traders Europe previously suggested that the strategic reserve should be calculated against the demand of vulnerable customers only, as opposed to all consumers, which would significantly reduce the overall burden and free up space for commercial use. It would also be desirable to move the start date of the draft storage legislation to 1 April 2025 and ensure that licence applications declaring the intention to start commercial activity after this date are tested for compliance with these new rules. It can take a year or more for licence applications to be approved, so "the sooner we start, the better", Lont said, adding that the licensing procedure in Poland is "undoubtedly the most problematic in all of Europe". Applications involve a long list of documents that are difficult to complete in a timely manner. There are also issues on the reporting side, with "an impressive list of 20+ positions reported to different bodies at different points in time" on top of standard EU reporting, Lont said. These obligations create exposure and considerable costs for companies, so it would be beneficial to run a critical review on their necessity, he said. And Polish transmission tariffs are high, although this is understandable given Gaz-System's construction of interconnectors with several neighbouring countries over the past few years. Polish tariffs are decided yearly, while entry/exit splits can also be adjusted, which is problematic for trading companies that would like to book longer-term products. The multipliers and seasonal factors "definitely deserve some rethinking as they severely inflate the costs of short-term capacity products, while booking yearly products in Poland can be quite a bet", he said. But even if these other issues are addressed, "We will [still] be looking at a largely monopolised country, with the dominant player having exclusive access to LNG terminals", Lont said. While the gas release programme is positive for the market, it would be beneficial to see whether Orlen's dominance could be challenged at import terminals. Orlen has booked all capacity at the Swinoujscie terminal, as well as at the planned Gdansk terminal, meaning it continues to be the sole beneficiary of the 100pc discount on entry to the grid from LNG terminals. Several measures could be taken to open other companies' access to the terminals, such as secondary capacity trading, use-it-or-lose-it rules or set-aside rules and limits when allocating capacity to a single entity, Lont said. But these measures would be ineffectual without a guarantee that other firms are ready and willing to book this capacity, so the reforms discussed above need to come first so as to ensure that these participants can actively trade in Poland beforehand, Lont said. In general, it is not unusual to have a dominant company in a given country, but "one just needs an environment in which the group cannot abuse its position and its offer can be challenged", he said. Orlen had a 91pc share of the Polish retail market last year, according to regulator URE. Poland has "all the cards" to develop a liquid gas market, but this takes time, so reforms must get going as soon as possible. Since the change of government, it has at least become "much easier to approach the ministries in Poland", which "helps a great deal on the transparency side", Lont said. By Brendan A'Hearn Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
Iraq's Opec+ compliance challenges are not going away
Iraq's Opec+ compliance challenges are not going away
Dubai, 15 July (Argus) — Iraq's crude production fell in June but not by enough to stave off heat from the Opec+ alliance. State-owned marketing firm Somo said output dropped by 26,000 b/d on the month to 3.83mn b/d, excluding that from the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region. Production levels in the northern region are unclear, but are probably enough to take the overall country output to above the 4mn b/d limit imposed by the Opec+ agreement. Iraq has failed to meet this target in any month this year, and as the Opec+ alliance's least compliant member it agreed in May to make additional cuts to compensate for prior overproduction. The Opec+ secondary sources, which include Argus , put Iraq's output at 4.19mn b/d in June. Iraq's oil ministry on 14 July reiterated its commitment to meeting the 4mn b/d limit and reaffirmed its willingness to compensate for the excess production since the beginning of the year. Baghdad's mission is made more difficult by a lack of visibility in Kurdistan, where 400,000 of crude exports were taken off international markets in March 2023. Argus estimates output from the region at between 250,000 b/d and 300,000 b/d, much of which ends up in Turkey or Iran, but the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has stopped providing any oil-sector data. Baghdad says a drop in its crude exports is evidence of attempts to improve compliance — shipments from the southern Basrah oil terminal averaged 3.29mn b/d in June, down from 3.36mn b/d in May and 3.41mn b/d in April, according to Somo. Kpler data put Iraq's crude exports at 3.24mn b/d in June, the lowest since the beginning of the year. Somo said the amount of crude supplied to domestic refineries increased to 475,000 b/d in June from 441,000 b/d in May and 421,000 b/d in April. It said 10,000 b/d were exported to Jordan. By Bachar Halabi Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
Business intelligence reports
Get concise, trustworthy and unbiased analysis of the latest trends and developments in oil and energy markets. These reports are specially created for decision makers who don’t have time to track markets day-by-day, minute-by-minute.
Learn more