International Desk, Mar 15 (EFE) - Venezuela's Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino said Friday that his country would respond "proportionately" to "provocations" in waters disputed with neighboring Guyana, as Washington conducted military exercises in the area. Hours later, US giant ExxonMobil announced a new "discovery" of oil in the same waters.

Padrino accused the United States of "irresponsibly interfering" in the territorial dispute between Guyana and Venezuela over the Essequibo, an oil-rich area of nearly 160,000 square kilometers that has been controlled by Georgetown since 1899, but which Caracas claims was illegally seized.

The Defense Minister criticized Washington for promoting military exercises in the waters that Venezuela considers to be undemarcated and that Guyana considers to be an integral part of its own geography.

"This zone of peace is in danger because of the presence of the (US) Southern Command in the lands and waters to be demarcated between Venezuela and Guyana," Padrino said.

A day earlier, Laura Richardson, commander of the US Southern Command, told the Senate Armed Services Committee that Guyana is a "very important partner" and that "we see what the Maduro regime and Venezuela are doing (...) against this democracy with an unjustified claim."

She went on to say that the US has a "very robust plan with Guyana" that includes "visits," "engagements," "exercises," and "subject matter exchanges" that she said do not seek to "exacerbate the situation (...) but continuing on path with our regular engagement."

Exxon's discovery ExxonMobil announced on Friday a new "discovery" of oil off the coast of Guyana, located in an exploration well named Bluefin, in the Stabroek Block.

The company did not provide an estimate of the amount of recoverable reserves from the discovery.

The Stabroek Block, located more than 200 kilometers off the coast of Guyana, currently produces about 380,000 barrels per day and Exxon expects it to produce more than 1.2 million barrels of oil and gas per day by 2027.

Prior to the Bluefin discovery, the company announced that the block had estimated gross recoverable resources of nearly 11 billion barrels of oil equivalent.

The block is located in the territorial waters of the Essequibo, an area of nearly 160,000 square kilometers that was under Venezuelan jurisdiction at independence from Spain in 1811, but was later annexed by the British to form British Guiana.

By the end of the century, international arbitration settled the dispute with the Paris Award of 1899, which determined that the territory would remain under British rule.

But in 1962, Venezuela protested the award, alleging a political deal that biased the judges in favor of the British.

The dispute was reactivated in December due to a unilateral referendum held in Venezuela that approved the annexation of the territory, which is fully controlled by Georgetown. EFE

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