*Venezuela’s government led by Nicolás Maduro has said that it “energetically rejects” an “illegal oil production licence granted by Guyana to oil companies in the Stabroek block”. It warns that any concession that “Guyana grants or intends to grant in the areas in question is unacceptable, since it violates international law and Venezuela’s sovereignty”. The statement comes amid continued Venezuela-Guyana tensions which have escalated since the 3 December referendum in Venezuela in which voters expressed support for annexing the Essequibo region. It is in response to the 12 April announcement that Guyana’s government led by President Irfaan Ali had approved the Whiptail project, the sixth on the Stabroek block, in which US oil giant ExxonMobil is operator and holds 45% interest, with the remainder held by US firm Hess (30%) and China’s China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) (25%). According to an ExxonMobil statement, the Whiptail project will add capacity of 250,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd), bringing the country’s production capacity to approximately 1.3m bpd. The US$12.7bn Whiptail project will include up to 10 drill centres with 48 production and injection wells.
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