CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuela’s foreign ministry on Tuesday described as “interventionist and disrespectful” U.S. comments on a weekend incident in which the country’s navy stopped two ships exploring for oil for Exxon Mobil off Guyana’s coast
Each of the neighboring South American countries says the Saturday incident occurred within its territorial waters. In response to the event, the U.S. State Department said Venezuela had behaved “aggressively” and said Guyana had the right to exploit natural resources in its territory.
“It is evident that the U.S. government is interfering in a matter that is not at all incumbent upon it, with the goal of promoting corporate interests closely linked to the Washington ruling elite,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.
A century-long territorial dispute has flared up in recent years with Exxon’s discovery of more than 5 billion barrels of oil and gas off Guyana’s coast. In OPEC-member Venezuela, crude output is hovering near 70-year lows amid a severe economic crisis.
Reporting by Luc Cohen; Reporting by Steve Orlofsky