Find out which Latin countries have large oil reserves and where they are located.
The dispute over the Essequibo region escalated again after Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro promulgated a law passed by the country’s National Assembly that, in effect, created a Venezuelan state in the region that is now part of Guyana.
In response, Guyanese authorities later warned that they “will not tolerate the annexation, seizure or occupation of any part” of their sovereign territory.
The region is rich in oil and other minerals, and the most recent moment of the dispute – which has lasted for more than a century – has led Brazil to strengthen its military contingent on the borders with Venezuela and Guyana.
The crisis has worsened in recent years, after significant oil and gas reserves were discovered in the area and the Guyana government granted exploration licenses to the American company ExxonMobil.
There are more than a thousand oil and gas exploration fields in the region: approximately 980 have production greater than 1 million barrels per year or reserves greater than 25 million barrels.
Of these large deposits, 40 have been discovered recently.
According to the most recent report from researchers at Global Energy Monitor, it was Latin America, in fact, that had the highest percentage of new oil discoveries in the world in 2022 and 2023.
37.3% of new oil reserves were present in the world, in Guyana, Colombia, Cuba and Suriname.
Guyana’s new oil reserves amount to at least 11 billion barrels and are being explored by US and Chinese oil companies.
According to World Bank data, this activity has led the country to the highest economic growth in recent years.
According to the Global Energy Monitor, Guyana was the country in the world where the most oil and gas reserves were discovered in the last two years.
In terms of sanctioned reserves, that is, those that have already received approval to begin exploration, Guyana was second only to the United States.
The small country thus joins the large oil producers of Latin America, which already includes Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia, Brazil, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia and Argentina.
Brazil is the largest producer, peaking at 5.4 million barrels per day, and plans to double its production by 2029.
Source: Terra
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