Introduction
Today’s column addresses the first listed, and perhaps the most pressing of the three existential threats to the materialisation of Guyana’s petroleum sector and its projected Government revenues. I have labelled this threat as “Venezuelan Aggression.” More specifically, however, this threat is located in Venezuela’s ‘claim’ that Guyana’s present oil and gas finds are located in its territorial waters. As I have argued before, the geo-strategic significance of this claim is enormous. And, the basis for this observation is captured in Michael Klare’s statement in his celebrated work, Blood and Oil (2004):
“Conflict over control of oil supplies has been a persistent feature of international
affairs since the beginning of the 20th century. Such conflict varies … ranging from
territorial disputes over the possession of oil-laden border areas … to major inter
state wars over the control of vital oil zones.”
Indeed, the close historical connection between oil, border conflicts, and war has been otherwise widely documented; particularly by specialists and analysts in two fields, namely, international affairs and the political economy of oil.