Guyana rejects Ven claiming province as its own

Guyana rejected Venezuela's declaration of the resource-rich Essequibo province as its newest state today, another move in the century-long territorial dispute that has cast a shadow over highly prospective offshore oil and gas fields.

Venezuela's national assembly declared the province that forms the western two-thirds of Guyana as a state on Thursday, saying the move reflects the result of a referendum in December.

Guyana has rejected Venezuela's move, which ignores a December agreement between presidents Irfaan Ali and Nicolas Maduro "that they would do nothing to make the dispute worse," Guyana's home affairs minister Robeson Benn said today.

"This is highly regrettable and it is a violation of the principles of the good faith discussions which were undertaken in December and more latterly in Brazil," Benn said.

Benn did not indicate Guyana's next move to address the issue.

Venezuela said it would call the region Guayana Esequiba and consider it formally created when the declaration is published in that country's official gazette.

The territorial dispute dates to colonial times, when the UK acquired British Guyana, which included the disputed territory, without establishing a clear border with Venezuela. The dispute has prevented the countries from agreeing on their maritime boundary.

It has intensified since 2016 when US major ExxonMobil made several oil finds in the deepwater Stabroek block that partially overlaps the disputed waters.

The UN's International Court of Justice is to determine the merits of Venezuela's claim to Essequibo, but Venezuela has rejected the ICJ's role. It is seeking direct bilateral talks on the dispute, which Guyana refuses.

By Canute James