<article><p class="lead">The International Court of Justice (ICJ) will start oral hearings tomorrow on a 120-year-old border dispute between Venezuela and Guyana with broad implications for offshore oil exploration.</p><p>Caracas claims sovereignty over Guyana's western Essequibo province, leaving the maritime border undefined but <a href="https://www2.argusmedia.com/en/news/2118322-guyana-narrows-search-for-oil-marketer-update?backToResults=true">effectively controlled by Guyana</a>. </p><p>The disputed offshore waters encompass at least part of the Stabroek block, where ExxonMobil started crude production in December 2019 under a production-sharing contract with Guyana. The deepwater block has estimated reserves at 8bn bl of oil equivalent (boe).</p><p>Work by hydrocarbon research vessels in the disputed waters has been disrupted by occasional brushes with the Venezuelan navy in the past seven years.</p><p>Guyana will present arguments to the ICJ, Guyana's foreign secretary Carl Greenridge confirmed. In contrast, Venezuela does not accept the ICJ's jurisdiction and will not participate in the hearing, Venezuela's foreign ministry says.</p><p>The ICJ said it will proceed with the hearing despite Venezuela's refusal to participate.</p><p>Guyana is asking the court to validate a 1899 arbitration award that gave it control over Essequibo when the country was a British colony.</p><p>The territorial claim is a rare issue that unites the Venezuelan government of President Nicolas Maduro and its US-backed political opponents. But the opposition contends that Maduro neglected the claim.</p><h3>Touchy waters</h3><p>In a press conference today, deputy Williams Davila, head of the opposition-controlled National Assembly's Essequibo commission, blasted the Maduro government for abandoning the region. "I call on the armed forces, don't be complicit in this plunder of the nation," he said. Opposition adviser Victor Cedeno nonetheless acknowledged a shared posture with the government that does not recognize the ICJ's jurisdiction.</p><p>ExxonMobil temporarily halted seismic surveys on the Stabroek block in late December 2018 after a research vessel it had contracted was approached by a Venezuelan navy ship.</p><p>After the brush with the Venezuelan vessel, the <i>Ramform Tethys</i> survey ship operated by Norwegian contractor PGS left the western section of the Stabroek block.</p><p>The dispute has not affected other companies with offshore licenses in Guyana's acreage that include European firms Total, Tullow and Repsol.</p><p>The dispute was referred to the ICJ in 2018 by UN secretary general Antonio Guterres after he failed to successfully mediate the matter.</p><p class="bylines">By Canute James</p></article>
