US reaffirms Guyana support as ruling approaches in Essequibo territorial dispute

During a recent speech at the UN, Delcy Rodriguez wore a brooch with a Venezuelan map that encompassed Essequibo

WHAT The US Ambassador to Guyana recently reaffirmed support for Guyana

WHY Exxon and Chevron are extracting oil off the coast

WHAT NEXT The ICJ is expected to rule on the dispute in late 2026 or early 2027

The United States has reaffirmed its support for Guyana’s “territorial integrity” as an International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling approaches on Venezuela’s claim to the oil-rich Essequibo region, despite the sharp improvement in Washington’s relations with Caracas.

US Ambassador to Guyana Nicole Theriot said, in a podcast on September 28, that Washington stood “shoulder to shoulder” with Guyana and remained firmly committed to its security and territorial integrity.

“I think everyone knows that we stand shoulder to shoulder with Guyana, and we are so passionate about your territorial integrity, and we support you on that 1,000 per cent,” Theriot said on the Energy Perspectives podcast, according to OilNOW and local news outlet News Guyana.

Theriot said political stability and security were among the main issues raised by US companies and institutions considering investments in Guyana.

“I can proudly say that we are standing next to you when it comes to both of these issues,” she said.

Theriot’s remarks amount to Washington’s clearest recent public reassurance that, whatever the evolution of US-Venezuela relations, its stated support for Guyana’ in the dispute remains unchanged.

Her comments follow a dramatic warming of relations between the US and Venezuela, which has raised questions in Guyana over whether Washington’s closer ties with Caracas could affect its position on the long-running territorial dispute.

Trump-Rodriquez

US President Donald Trump met Venezuela’s interim president Delcy Rodríguez on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York last week, with energy, mining and security among the areas discussed.

The rapprochement follows a sweeping oil agreement announced in August under which Venezuelan authorities awarded North American Blue Energy Partners, or NABEP, 100-year concessions covering 17 oilfields with about 65bn barrels of proven reserves.

Under the agreement described by the White House, the US government has governance rights and an economic interest in NABEP’s parent company as well as access to some production.

Theriot’s remarks indicate that Washington is seeking to separate its rapidly expanding relationship with Venezuela from its support for Guyana as the two neighbours await a potentially decisive judgment on their land boundary.

The dispute

The dispute centres on Essequibo, a roughly 160,000-sq-km resource-rich territory that accounts for about two-thirds of Guyana’s land area, and a majority of the offshore Stabroek block. The land has been administered by Guyana for 127 years. Venezuela contests the validity of the 1899 arbitral award that established the boundary.

The dispute has assumed greater economic importance since the discovery of huge offshore oil resources off Guyana. ExxonMobil and its partners – including Chevron and CNOOC, have developed four projects in Guyana’s Stabroek block, with installed production capacity now exceeding 900,000 barrels per day. The block contains resources estimated at just under 11bn barrels of oil equivalent.

Venezuela has continued to press its territorial claim despite participating in hearings at the ICJ in May.

Rodríguez used her address to the UN General Assembly to call on Guyana to return to bilateral negotiations. She wore a brooch depicting a Venezuelan map that included Essequibo.

“I appeal to the Cooperative Republic of Guyana to resolve the issue and to return to negotiations, as stipulated by the Geneva Agreement,” Rodríguez said, arguing that agreements reached through bilateral negotiations were more durable than settlements imposed by outside bodies.

ICJ jurisdiction

Venezuela maintains that the 1966 Geneva Agreement provides for a negotiated resolution and has challenged the ICJ’s jurisdiction. The court has rejected Venezuela’s jurisdictional objections and proceeded to hear the merits of Guyana’s case.

Guyana argues that recourse to the ICJ followed decades of unsuccessful attempts to resolve the controversy through diplomacy, including a mixed commission and the UN Secretary-General’s good offices process.

President Irfaan Ali of Guyana told the UN General Assembly a day after Rodríguez’s address that both countries should respect the forthcoming judgement and said Guyana hoped it could open the way to improved relations.

“Now that we have both participated in the hearings, which were completed in May 2026, we urge Venezuela to abide by the forthcoming ruling, in accordance with their obligation under the UN Charter, as Guyana will do,” Ali said, according to local outlet Caribbean Today.

“We look forward to a new era of neighbourly relations in the interests of our peoples, the development of our countries, and the stability and prosperity of our region.”

US lawmakers have separately reinforced Washington’s ties with Georgetown.

Congressional delegation

A congressional delegation led by Representative Gregory Meeks and including Representatives Pramila Jayapal and Jonathan Jackson met Ali on the margins of the UN General Assembly. According to Guyana’s department of public information, the talks included the question of Guyana’s sovereignty and so-called territorial integrity and the upcoming ICJ judgment.

They also discussed efforts to diversify Guyana’s rapidly expanding economy beyond oil and gas, while the lawmakers committed to deepen engagement through congressional committees and caucuses.

The ICJ has not announced when it will deliver its final judgment.

Oral hearings on the merits concluded on May 11 after Guyana and Venezuela presented two rounds of arguments at the Peace Palace in The Hague. Guyana asked the court to confirm that the 1899 award is legally valid and binding and established the land boundary between the countries.

Venezuela argued that the award resulted from fraud and collusion during the colonial era and that the Geneva Agreement, rather than the 1899 award, provides the framework for resolving the dispute.

What next?

The court is now deliberating.

Guyana’s government said in June that the ICJ normally takes around six to eight months after the close of oral hearings to deliver a final judgment. On that basis, Georgetown expects a decision between November 2026 and January 2027, although the court itself has set no date.

The parties are expected to receive about two weeks’ notice before the judgment is delivered publicly.

Ali has said he hopes for a ruling early in 2027 and has presented the judgement as a potential turning point in relations with Venezuela rather than the end of bilateral engagement.

The territorial question is also intertwined with the future of offshore exploration. Venezuela claims maritime areas adjoining Essequibo, while Guyana has authorised extensive oil and gas activity offshore.

ExxonMobil has said Guyana’s Stabroek block has already produced 1bn barrels since first oil in December 2019. Four FPSOs are operating and another project, Uaru, is expected to start production by year-end, with further developments under construction.

For Georgetown, the immediate diplomatic challenge is to ensuring that its increasingly important economic and security relationship with Washington remains insulated from the US rapprochement with Venezuela.