Oil wars

Will Venezuela invade Guyana?

Eight years ago in Guyana, an Idaho-sized country on the northern coast of South America, ExxonMobil discovered massive oil reserves. So massive, that it’s speculated that the tiny nation, which is one of the least densely populated countries on the planet, could become the richest country per capita. Estimates indicate that Guyana has around 11 billion barrels of oil equivalent, boosting the nation to the third position in terms of proven oil reserves in the region. To contextualize the enormity of these discoveries, consider that the tiny nation has almost five times more proven oil reserves than Argentina, a country thirteen times larger by land mass. Only Brazil, the fifth largest country, and Venezuela, the country with the largest proven oil reserves, surpass Guyana.

Guyana

Could President Trump lose the oil war?

In a cover story for The Spectator that appeared just after Saudi Arabia launched an oil war against Russia in March, I wrote: 'One wonders how Donald Trump — who hates personal disloyalty more than anything — will react when he wakes up to the fact that the Saudi leader he has stuck with through thick and thin is now out to destroy the domestic industry Trump is most proud of.' Well, now we know. By the first week of April, Trump was so concerned about the impact of dramatically lower prices on the domestic fracking industry that he called the Saudi leaders and gave them a stark ultimatum. Unless they pressured OPEC members to cut oil production, he would be powerless to stop lawmakers from passing legislation to withdraw US troops from the kingdom.

oil