Tensions between Venezuela and Guyana continue to rise with the Venezuelan Coast Guard recently making incursions into Guyana’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ).
By Frederik Van Lokeren
With ongoing maritime disputes and Venezuela seeking to annex parts of Guyana in order to secure offshore oilfield located in the Stabroek Block, it is uncertain if the recent incursion by the Venezuelan Coast Guard is an isolated incident or part of testing the political environment as Venezuela appears to be concentrating forces against Guyana.
On Saturday March 1st, around 7am local time, a patrol vessel off the Venezuelan Coast Guard entered inside Guyana’s EEZ and operated in the Stabroek Block. The Stabroek Block contains several off shore oilfield and holds an estimated reserve of eight million barrels according to estimates made by ExxonMobil.
Once inside the Stabroek Block, the Venezuelan patrol vessel approached the floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel Prosperity which is reported to produce around 222,000 barrels of oil per day and which is part of ExxonMobil’s operations. For several hours, the Venezuelan patrol vessel navigated between several drill ships and started interrogating ship captains and asserting that the vessels were operating in Venezuelan waters. The vessel was identified by its visual markings as the ABF Guaiqueri PO-11 of the Guaiqueri class ocean patrol vessels. Build by the Navantia shipyard in Spain between 2008 and 2012, this class consists of four ocean going patrol vessels of which only three remain in operations at this date. All vessels are armed with a 76mm Oto Melara gun and 1 Oerlikon Millennium 35mm gun system as well as two 12.7mm machine guns. These vessels can also carry one helicopter and two rigid hull inflatable boats (RHIB).
Guyana responded by issuing a diplomatic protest and summoned the Venezuelan ambassador to meet with the Guyana’s foreign minister while its embassy at Caracas, Venezuela, will launch a formal complaint. The country also responded by deploying air assets to the region to monitor the area while Guyana’s Coast Guard was being deployed to the area.
Other organizations also followed in condemning the incident with the Organization of American States (AOS) condemning the Venezuelan incursion in “Guyana’s internationally recognized maritime territory”. The US State Department’s Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs also expressed its solidarity with Guyana and called the Venezuelan incursion “unacceptable and a clear violation of Guyana’s maritime territory and that further provocation will result in consequences for the Maduro Regime”.
The Venezuelan incursion is the latest in a series of events regarding a territorial dispute between Venezuela and Guyana that regained traction since 2015 when additional oil reserves were reported in the western maritime regions of Guyana. Veneuela intensified these tensions in September 2023 when it held a national referendum calling for the annexation of Guyana’s Essequibo Region, bordering Venezuela. The completion of the vote took place on December 3rd, 2023, with the majority of Venezuelans voting in favor of the annexation though the international Court of Justice called upon Venezuela to refrain from military action and settle the dispute legally. Annexation of the Essequibo Region would allow an extension of Venezuela’s EEZ to include parts of the Stabroek Block, most notably the northwestern corner which is yet to be developed by ExxonMobil. It is doubtful if Venezuela has the capability to develop these oilfields but control over these fields would give Venezuela additional economic and political leverage.
Both Venezuela and Guyana have overlapping maritime claims, which in the past resulted in several incidents whereby the Venezuelan Navy intercepted and boarded vessels operating in the disputed waters. However, until the March 1st incident, the incursions of the Venezuelan Navy remained isolated to the disputed maritime regions. On March 1st however, the Venezuelan Navy operated in waters offshore of Guyana’s capital Georgetown, a region well outside of the disputed maritime area between Guyana and Venezuela. It is possible that Venezuela is testing the political environment and international reactions to its military presence in the region prior to making a military move aimed to forcefully annex the Essequibo Region and extend its maritime control over the area.
The Center of for Strategic and International Studies recently published articles in which they report a build up of military forces by Venezuela near the border with Guyana. Satellite imagery showed expansion of the military base on Anacoco Island and the Coast Guard base at Guiria. Images taken on January 28th revealed the presence of three Peykaap III (Zolfaghar)-class guided missile patrol boats as well as a probable Pagalo-class patrol craft. These numbers are a decrease of previous images from April 13th, 2024, when five Peykaap III (Zolfaghar)-class guided missile patrol boats, one Pagalo-class patrol craft, and one Gavion-class patrol craft were visible but one should take in account that several vessels might have been at sea at the time when the images were taken.
The base located at Guiria is a small one compared to the main naval bases of La Guajira and Puerto Cabello so a concentration of several Peykaap III (Zolfaghar)-class guided missile patrol boats, of which Venezuela is reported to operate only a handful, is a significant development. There are also rumors that Venezuela is also expanding a coast guard station at Punta Barima which is located near the border with Guyana. This station would allow the Venezuelan Navy to locate its missile boats within striking distance of Guyana.
Guyana is currently investing in modern naval assets. The Government of Guyana last year signed a letter of intent with French company OCEA S.A to procure an Offshore Patrol Vessel (OPV) worth €39.5 million ($42 million USD). The new vessel will complement GDFS Berbice, a 35 metre OPV that the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) Coast Guard bought from Louisiana-based Metal Shark boats for €10 million ($11 million USD) in 2021, in the revitalization of the countries fleet.
Frederik Van Lokeren is a former Navy Lieutenant, having served for seven years in the Belgian Navy where he was trained in logistics and maritime intelligence. Afterwards he’s been active as a freelance maritime analyst, regularly writing about naval developments on a strategic and operational level. His main area of expertise is the Russian Navy of which he keeps track on his personal blog Russian Navy – News and Analysis though he also keeps track of European navies and maritime developments in the Indo-Pacific Region.