• Oil Boom Begins in #Guyana as Exxon Produces First Liza Crude - Bloomberg
    https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-12-21/hess-exxon-report-first-oil-output-from-liza-field-near-guyana

    Exxon Mobil Corp. and its partners produced the first commercial crude from Guyana, setting the small South American nation on a path to potentially vast flows of oil revenues.

    Output from the first phase of the offshore Liza field is expected to reach full capacity of 120,000 gross barrels of oil per day in coming months, with the first cargo to be sold within several weeks, the companies said in separate statements late Friday.

    Exxon has a 45% share in the Guyana project, while Hess Corp. has 30% and China’s CNOOC Ltd. 25%. Exxon and Hess also reported Monday a new discovery at their Mako-1 well, which, along with Liza, is located in the #Stabroek_block.

    Guyana President David Granger declared Dec. 20 “National Petroleum Day,” noting that the country has become an oil-producing state three months ahead of schedule. The president hailed a related 10-year government plan to create oil-related jobs and boost the economy.

    Recoverable resources in the Stabroek block are estimated to exceed 6 billion barrels of oil equivalent. A second floating, production, storage and offloading (FPSO) facility, with capacity of as much as 220,000 gross barrels of oil per day, is under construction as part of Liza’s phase 2 development. At least five FPSOs are expected to be producing more than 750,000 gross barrels of oil per day from Stabroek by 2025.

    The amount of oil expected to be produced would mean Guyana, with a population of less than 800,000, may end up producing more crude per person than any other country in the world. But how it benefits from that wealth is still an open question. While the country has established a sovereign wealth fund, it has been slow to develop regulations to govern the sector and there’s no set plan on how the money will be spent.

    Your government will manage petroleum revenues prudently to ensure fiscal discipline, financial sector stability, sustainable levels of public debt and low inflation,” Granger said in a video address to the people of Guyana.

    Guyana will head to the polls in March for a presidential election that pits the incumbent coalition, led by Granger, against the People’s Progressive Party, which held power for 23 years until 2015.

    • Litiges transfrontaliers sur le plateau des Guyanes, enjeux géopolitiques à l’interface des mondes amazoniens et caribéens
      http://journals.openedition.org/espacepolitique/4242


      Carte 2 - les litiges du Plateau des Guyanes

      LE CAS DE L’ESSEQUIBO
      15 Le Venezuela affirme que la frontière « naturelle » avec le Guyana est formée par le fleuve Essequibo, et non par la ligne Schomburgk(^3) (Carte 2), tracée en 1844 et présentée en 1886 par le Royaume-Uni comme la frontière internationale. En 1899, l’arbitrage des Etats-Unis aboutit à des concessions bilatérales permettant une démarcation réalisée en 1905 (Cabrera Sifontes, 1970 ; Paúl, 1983 ; 2005 ; Donavan, 2003, Martínez, 2011), mais aboutissant à la perte pour le Venezuela d’un territoire d’environ 160 000 km², et surtout de plus de 200 kilomètres de côtes ouvertes sur l’Océan Atlantique, ce qui n’allait pas être sans conséquence par la suite du point de vue du droit maritime et de l’exploitation des ressources (Pouyllau, 1982). Le territoire perdu puis revendiqué appartenait à la Capitainerie générale du Venezuela avant l’indépendance de ce pays, le 19 avril 1810, qui fut suivie de modifications issues de traités et rapports d’arbitrages sans vices de forme (Hensel et Tures, 1997 ; Venezuela, 2000).
      –-------

      (3) Robert Hermann Schomburgk est né à Fribourg (Allemagne), mais a servi la Couronne Britannique comme officier pour fixer ses frontières. La définition des limites internationales avec le Venezuela est connue comme ligne Schomburgk.

      (je reprends le très remarquable article déjà pointé ici (et accessible…) : Litiges transfrontaliers sur le plateau des Guyanes, enjeux géopolitiques à l’interface des mondes amazoniens et caribéen de Gutemberg de Vilhena Silva, Professeur de géographie politique, Département des sciences humaines et sociales de l’Université fédérale d’Amapá (Brésil)

    • ExxonMobil Announces ‘Transformative’ First Oil In Guyana
      https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidblackmon/2019/12/26/exxonmobil-announces-transformative-first-oil-in-guyana


      UN HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK, NY, UNITED STATES - 2016/02/19: Guyanese President David Granger speaks with the press at UN Headquarters in New York City.
      Photo by Albin Lohr-Jones/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images

      December 20th marks a historic milestone for Guyana, the small South American country that is soon to become the fastest growing economy in the Caribbean. Late in the evening, ExxonMobil and its partners announced that it had produced the first commercial crude from the Liza field, located in Guyana’s offshore Stabroek Block. The output from the first phase is expected to reach capacity of 120,000 gross barrels of oil per day (bdp), utilizing the Liza Destiny floating production storage and offloading (FPSO), and the first cargo is set to be sold within several weeks. Stabroek Block is expected to produce 750,000 bpd by 2025.

      Guyana President David Granger declared December 20 as “National Petroleum Day” and said that the revenues from oil would be “transformative” for the Guyanese economy. The international community agrees – the International Monetary Fund has predicted the country’s GDP could grow 86 percent next year. “That’s 14 times the projected pace of China,” according to Bloomberg. The IMF further projects that the country’s current $4 billion annual gross domestic product will grow to $15 billion by 2024.

      Granger took the occasion to announce the government’s “National Decade of Development” plan, which will prioritize reforming the public education system and providing free schooling for all Guyanese. The “Petroleum production has brought the prospects of a higher quality of life closer to our households and neighbourhoods. It is a momentous event,” Granger said. “Every Guyanese will benefit from petroleum production. No one will be left behind.

      Recent months have seen a flurry of activity as the government takes steps to prepare for the first oil production. As I noted in September, The Ministry of the Presidency’s Department of Energy has been established to manage the country’s resources and build the institutional, legislative and regulatory architecture to manage the sector effectively.

      Head of the Ministry of the Presidency’s Department of Energy Dr. Mark Bynoe cautioned that “Guyana’s future is bright, but we can only secure that future by strengthening legislation, conducting due diligence, emphasizing education, following a balanced development paradigm and utilizing the best skills in the industry through partnerships.

      According to the government, local content policy is in its final stages of being reviewed by experts with the Local Content Unit to be set up by the end of the year. The draft has received mixed reviews, and will likely be a crucial issue in the lead up to Guyana’s next general elections in March 2020. The Guyanese government is also conducting a process to find buyers for the first three cargoes of the oil it is entitled to under the contract with the consortium, which is led by ExxonMobil with Hess Corp and China’s CNOCC.

      But first oil was not all that December had in store for Guyana. Just three days later, ExxonMobil announced that it had made a new oil discovery at the Mako-1 well southeast of the Liza field, marking the 15th discovery on the Stabroek Block. The successful Mako-1 adds to the previously estimated recoverable resource of more than 6 billion oil-equivalent barrels in the Stabroek Block.

      Amid the excitement surrounding the first oil milestone, the discovery at Mako-1 emphasizes the long-term nature of production in Guyana. With discoveries continuing to mount, ExxonMobil and its partners have sought to maintain a steady pace of development and approvals for future phases of production. Liza Phase 2 is already well underway, and the third phase, Payara, is expected for early 2020.

      The 800,000 or so citizens of Guyana are about to experience a very significant change in their standard of living due to the ongoing development of their nation’s offshore mineral resources. The crucial challenge for the government there will come in properly managing the new wealth. Granger’s government has taken several key initial steps towards that goal, and March’s national elections will help determine what that management will look like heading into the future.

  • Rien de tel que de réactiver un bon vieux contentieux territorial (chacun court après l’unité nationale à sa façon…)
    contentieux réactivé en 1962-63 sous la présidence de Rómulo Betancourt, fondateur d’Action démocratique.

    Militares venezolanos exigen a #Guyana retirarse de territorio en disputa
    http://www.el-nacional.com/noticias/politica/militares-venezolanos-exigen-guyana-retirarse-territorio-disputa_279709


    referencial

    Funcionarios del Frente Institucional Militar y miembros de la Institución de Estudios Fronterizos de Venezuela enviaron un informe ante «las acciones y actuaciones de la República Cooperativa de Guyana al pretender desconocer la vigencia del Acuerdo de Ginebra.»

    El informe señala que Venezuela nunca reconoció la validez del Laudo Arbitral de París de 1899, «por estar viciado desde su inicio de componendas entre los árbitros del laudo como ha quedado plenamente comprobado», reseñó Infobae.

    Para el grupo de altos oficiales y profesionales en materia fronteriza, «el 26 de mayo de 1966, Gran Bretaña e Irlanda del Norte dieron la independencia a la Colonia Inglesa de Guayana, asumiendo el Acuerdo de Ginebra de 1966, la República Cooperativa de Guyana y la República de Venezuela».

    Además solicitan que Guyana se retire de la tenencia ilegal del territorio #Esequibo y «de las concesiones de explotación por ser riquezas de Venezuela, inalienables e imprescriptibles».

    El FIM considera que el gobierno, la sociedad civil, política y militar «acuerden una alianza patriótica para ejercer por vía jurisdiccional la reivindicación del territorio Esequibo_», declarando ese territorio Estado de la República Bolivariana de Venezuela.

    • Un excellent point en 2017 sur les contentieux sur le plateau des Guyanes.

      Litiges transfrontaliers sur le plateau des Guyanes, enjeux géopolitiques à l’interface des mondes amazoniens et caribéens
      http://journals.openedition.org/espacepolitique/4242

      Résumé
      Limites et frontières internationales ont toujours constitué des thèmes importants dans les études géopolitiques. Dans une perspective diplomatique, les frontières terrestres et maritimes sont en interrelation. Ces interrelations compliquent les pourparlers pour déterminer des limites, ce qui est particulièrement net dans le cas des différents pays composant le plateau des Guyanes, une région géomorphologique localisée entre les fleuves Orénoque et Amazone en Amérique du Sud. Cette région contient le plus grand espace forestier tropical continu et intact au monde, mais son sous-sol contient aussi du pétrole, de l’or, des diamants et autres ressources naturelles qui suscitent de nombreuses convoitises et accroissent les difficultés pour résoudre les litiges frontaliers hérités de la colonisation. Le présent article analyse les principaux aspects des conflits maritimes et territoriaux toujours en cours sur le Plateau des Guyanes, sous l’angle de la géohistoire et de la géopolitique. Il examine leurs causes et leurs conséquences. Il en conclut que tous les États de la région, à l’exception du Brésil, sont aux prises avec des litiges territoriaux. L’article souligne également l’importance des intérêts économiques dans la résolution de ces litiges territoriaux, car ces zones contestées, riches en ressources aiguisent l’appétit des multinationales dans le jeu géopolitique régional.

      PLAN

      Cadre conceptuel et géographique : Plateau des Guyanes et notion de « revendication territoriale »
      • Le Plateau des Guyanes
      • Les frontières internationales et leur contestation
      Les revendications continentales
      • Le cas de l’Essequibo
      • Le cas du Triangle de la New River
      • Le cas des affluents de la rivière Lawa
      Les revendications maritimes
      Conclusion


      Carte 2 - les litiges du Plateau des Guyanes

    • La Cour internationale de justice est en cours d’examen d’une requête introduite par la Guayana en avril 2018. Le Venezuela a refusé de prendre à l’instance, arguant de l’accord de Genève de 1966 et conteste la recevabilité de la requête.

      Le délai pour la présentation du contre-mémoire par le Venezuela à la Cour à échu hier, 18 avril 2019.

      La Cour doit maintenant statuer sur la recevabilité.

      Sentence arbitrale du 3 octobre 1899 (Guyana c. Venezuela)
      https://www.icj-cij.org/fr/affaire/171