Managing editor Matt Thacker makes his selection from the Winter 2024 issue. We publish one article from each edition on the website, but you can see the rest if you subscribe or buy a single issue or four-issue bundle. Matt has chosen Patrick Hargreaves’ piece about the discovery of oil in Guyana.
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I liked this piece because, well, I had no idea. And it’s one of those things that makes you want to research, to find out more, to tell people in the pub. Oil and cricket. Apart from the Aramco sponsorship, and the stuff poured on the pitch in 1975 to bring attention to George Davis’s incarceration, I’ve not really put the two together. But now, it’s a whole new world.
Matt Thacker, Winter 2024
Guyana strikes liquid gold
Patrick Hargreaves on how oil and cricket are big news in Guyana
Essequibo is Cinderella country, a place where the past fades and the future dances. On the northwest coast of Guyana this pocket of the world about the size of Greece could be instrumental to the fortunes of two former behemoths who’ve fallen on hard times – the West Indies cricket team and the Maduro regime in Venezuela. The region will impact the affairs of world cricket, and cricket has a chance to impact world affairs.
In May 2015 it was announced that petroleum had been discovered off northwest South America in the Essequibo region. The hydrocarbon that has promised life and threatened death revealed itself in the small South American country with delight and fear like a bottle of tequila at a house party. The discovery of 11 billion barrels of oil has fundamentally changed the economic outlook for the 800,000 Guyanese people as it is expected to eventually bring in $10 billion annually into the public purse. Suspecting world demand for the fossil fuel would drop dramatically in the near future, Guyanese leaders quickly set about creating the infrastructure and commercial apparatus required to refine the fossil fuel. The US Energy Information Administration ranked Guyana as the third fastest non-OPEC producing state in 2024, outpacing both China and Norway. It is the fastest growing economy in the world according to the IMF, with GDP growth of 33.9% in 2024. The petro dollars have powered a rise of 27 rankings in the Human Development Index since they started producing oil in 2019.
Along with schools, roads and hospitals, Guyana is investing heavily in sports stadia, especially cricket stadiums. The government has five major cricket stadium projects in development around the country, with the expectation of being able to host international games. The investment focuses on a major multi-purpose facility in Anna Regina, Essequibo, where the Government hopes to host the 2025 edition of the Women’s Caribbean Premier League. Cricket runs deep in the Guyanese Government. Upon opening the Shivnarine Chanderpaul Training Facility, Minister for Youth, Sports and Culture, Charles Ramson – the young chiselled face of the new sports investment in the only English-speaking country in South America – dedicated a not insignificant part of his speech to getting tonked for several boundaries by Chanderpaul in a district game, and how grateful he was to have the former Test batsman carefully explain how he got his lines and field placements wrong. The government values cricket as culturally important and crucial to improving the social and economic outcomes for the country and has invested in 400 new facilities since 2020.
“We’re building sport from the bottom up, that is how you change the lives of people in this country. School obviously and education goes without saying, that is the universal formula for changing the lives of the children,” said Ramson.
“But community sport is the lifeblood of our communities, it provides a place where there is a safe space to pursue your passion. If there is no alternative, they turn to hanging with the gangs and doing things that are not beneficial for their future. They get involved in narcotics and stealing and we all suffer from that.
“It has been the most important bit of investment that we have been making and we have seen how it has impacted tens of thousands of kids across the country,” he said at the opening of the facility.
Guyana has three regions; Berbice, Demerara and Essequibo. The capital Georgetown is in Demerara on the coast, while Berbice is in the hinterlands bordering Suriname. Shamar Joseph worked cutting timber in Baracara, Berbice, while Carl Hooper scored his top of score 233 in Georgetown. Essequibo is separated from the rest of the country by the river that shares its name; anything from the other parts of the country must travel by boat and aeroplane. Ramanaresh Sarwan is the most well-known cricketer from the area. Counties contested four-day matches for decades, but Essequibo never won the title. The region had been held back by small populations spread out across large distances which made regular, high-level cricket more difficult to organise than in the rest of the country.
Ravendra Madholall is a cricket journalist who is now based in Canada but grew up in Essequibo. He and his brothers were the first set of siblings to represent the county and he remembers first playing cricket as children using guavas as balls and banana branches as bats.
“My dad used to say if you want to play cricket professionally you have to get used to using a hard ball,” laughs Ravendra, known universally as Madho.
Madho has seen the rapid investment from the oil revenues in the region, not just in hospitals and schools but in cricket and he expects this to lift standards in Essequibo.
“The infrastructure has changed a lot in the last couple of years. I have seen steady development, sports grounds, with more facilities planned and players are taking their game more seriously. There is now a good level of administration, but importantly we’ve more competitive, consistent cricket, which will help with the structure and development of players.
“They’ve put a lot of money into sports and tourism. Things have improved dramatically since we discovered oil. We have seen more pavilions, lights are being installed, it’s very impressive and a good move by the government.”
Guyana has been described as the Qatar of South America; it’s oil rich and it’s investing heavily to attract tourism. However, an argument could be made that it is the Norway of South America. A third of its cabinet are women, and it’s using its well-financed voice to be a strong advocate for climate action. Speaking at the United Nations, President Ali lobbied world leaders to introduce a market mechanism for biodiversity, essentially creating a market mechanism for environmental protection. Its national agriculture policy also supports and prioritises women-owned businesses. While inequality persists, oil revenue has allowed Guyanese leaders to tackle long-standing inequalities with vigour.
But the discovery of petroleum didn’t just bring geopolitical power and cricket stadia. It brought problems. It was discovered in an offshore area that Venezuela believes is their territory. Led by an autocrat with a penchant for extrajudicial killings, Venezuela is Russia’s strongest ally in South America. Facing economic depression and rising political dissidence, President Maduro has sought to use the Essequibo dispute to solidify support.
“It comes up every time there is an election, it’s like ‘oh this again?’ Even though we have known that the matter was settled in 1899,” Trina Williams, a journalist for the Guyana Chronicle tells me, almost smirking down the Zoom line.
The dispute goes back centuries. When the UK first set out to define the borders of its territory in South America with Gran Colombia (the precursor to Colombia), Venezuela, Ecuador and Panama, which had won independence from Spain in 1819. Britain sought to define the borders by what became known as the Schomburg line, after the German botanist who carried out scientific exploration in the area. Britain claimed the territory as far west as the Orinoco river, while Venezuela claimed territory as fast east as the Essequibo river. In a precursor of what was to come, it was only with the discovery of gold that the two states delineated a hard border.
Britain’s claim to the territory is based on the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1814 which transferred Berbice, Demerara and Essequibo to the UK, the Dutch having alliances with indigenous groups in the area, effectively giving it a “sphere of influence”. The matter was considered settled after arbitration in 1899 with Venezuela accepting the tribunal’s ruling that gave it just over 10% of the claimed territory. Defeated and embarrassed, Venezuela left the matter for much of the 20th century, until a diplomat’s letters published posthumously suggested that Britain had colluded with Russia to ensure a positive result.
“All they’ve got is a dead lawyer’s letter!” Williams declares.
Venezuela brought the case to the UN in 1962, which led to the 1966 Geneva Agreement, which tied the parties to “find satisfactory solutions for a practical settlement of the controversy which has arisen as a result of the Venezuelan contention that the 1899 award is null and void.” Effectively, no concessions were made, but all sides promised to not make any further claims on the territory.
The Guyanese claim Venezuela only cares for the territory when they can sense Guyana is weak, or when it is politically convenient for their leaders. They claim the people are culturally Guyanese and support staying in Guyana.
“When the referendum was announced, the streets in Essequibo were filled with people wearing ‘Essequibo is Guyana’ shirts. We are united on this,” says Williams.
With Venezuela militarily strong, through the UN Guyana has consistently pressed for a peaceful resolution to the conflict with independent mediators.
By 2004, after decades of diplomatic back and forth, the dispute was largely considered settled when Hugo Chavez declared it finished. Guyana then submitted claims to the UN for the purpose of oil exploration. Venezuela objected to this and the area became contested again.
Tired at the lack of resolution the UN Secretary General handed the case to the International Court of Justice to adjudicate whether the 1899 agreement was valid.
The issue exploded in October 2023, when President Maduro promised to hold a referendum to oppose “by all means” Guyana’s claim to the territory. Not dissimilar to Russia’s approach in the Crimea, Venezuela declared all people living in Essequibo had Venezuelan citizenship. This was laughed off by the Guyanese Vice President, Bharrat Jagdeo. “We don’t want their ID cards. People are fleeing your country if you didn’t notice it, Maduro,” Jagdeo said on the eve of the referendum.
The dispute threatened to move to warfare when Venezuela started positioning troops near the border, while the US and the UK started joint military exercises with their Guyanese counterparts, Britain sending a Royal Navy vessel to the area in January 2024.
Both sides signed an agreement promising to not use force and agreed to settle the issue in accordance with international law, although Venezuela rejects the ICJ’s authority to rule in the matter. Both countries continue to present their cases before the International Court of Justice, and the court will likely rule in 2025.
Guyana’s case rests on two factors: the legality of proceedings during the colonial period and the Essequibo residents’ self-identification as Guyanese. Trina Williams, who participated in marches across Essequibo against the Venezuelan referendum, said, “Yes, maps play a part obviously, but after a hundred years, culture and reality set in.” Put another way, Essequibians play cricket, not baseball.
After submitting evidence to the ICJ on their historical claim to the territory, Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez told reporters: “We have delivered a document with the historical truth of Venezuela and evidence demonstrating that a crime was committed in 1899 with a fraudulent award. We have also shown how they [Guyana] intend to commit another crime by instrumentalizing the International Court of Justice.”
According to international observers, President Maduro has an odd relationship with the rule of law – he lost the 2024 presidential elections handsomely but remains in power and while he is there, Venezuela’s claim over Essequibo is likely to remain a strong focus. This means Guyana is relying on the US and UK, who are directing their efforts at expanding the capabilities of the Guyana Defence Force but would inevitably be asked to do much more if Venezuela were to invade. Russia’s preoccupation with its invasion of Ukraine, and China’s aversion to picking sides, downplays the chances of this happening but it is not impossible.
One way in which Guyana has looked further into its international investment is through establishing the Global T20 Cricket League, a five-team tournament taking place in late November. The tournament is sponsored by Exxon Mobil, the Texan oil company contracted to develop the petroleum wells. The vision is for the tournament to be the spiritual successor to the old champion’s league. The inaugural edition will see the home side Guyana Amazon Warriors compete against England’s Hampshire, Australia’s Victoria, Pakistan’s Lahore Qalandars, and Bangladesh’s Rangpur Riders, all competing for the $1 million prize money. Hampshire confirmed their participation in 2024 tournament, with Director of Cricket Giles White saying: “Guyana is a beautiful country with a huge passion for cricket, and their ambition to become a global sporting destination is evident through their investment in launching an all-new T20 tournament.
“The league is such an exciting concept. International club competition has proven itself to be successful across other sports and has been lacking in cricket for some time.
“Cricket is a truly global sport and we are embracing the opportunities this presents. It can be challenging to innovate within a crowded market but Guyana really are leading the way in supporting the creation of a franchise tournament that will engage cricket fans from across the world.”
Because of Hampshire’s involvement, the tournament will bring English eyes to Guyana, which could increase trade and relations with the UK. Long term, it’s a lot harder to turn requests for diplomatic support when some of your best cricket players are in the part of the world regularly. As UN debates increasing the Security Council members to include India, cricket offers a soft power way for Guyana to strengthen cultural ties with prominent geopolitical players.
On the announcement of the tournament, President Ali told reporters: “Cricket is part of our cultural history; it is that unifying force, part of our heritage, and an integral part of our strategic objective in economic diversification with a strong emphasis on tourism.”
“As Guyana positions itself as a global shaper in energy, food, and climate landscape, we will use this platform to bring a world-class tournament to our shores.”
Unlike other countries that use sport to ‘wash’ their foreign policy and human rights abuses, Guyana is unique among the oil rich in that it is using sport to tacitly broaden support for its foreign policy that is anchored in peace, climate action, and economic justice for the global south.
“Guyana has the potential to become a new kind of petro state, one that is a democracy, with friendly relations with the West (through Washington and London) and niche diplomatic engagement internationally aiming to establish itself as a progressive actor, with awareness about topics sensitive to small powers and countries in the so-called “Global South”. However, the Venezuelan leadership currently casts a long shadow on Guyana’s future,” says João Vitor Tossini a visiting researcher at the Defence Studies Department of King’s College London.
It is uncertain how successful Guyana’s Global T20 League will be, if it will become the international domestic pinnacle, make West Indies cricket profitable and in turn fund the Test team, but if it does attract tourism and investors, it will help strengthen commercial ties with key strategic partners while Venezuela becomes increasingly isolated. T20 cricket is supposed to be all-out attack, but in this case it’s all about defence. It’s one small tool the country can use to avoid conflict.