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Venezuela-Guyana clash over oil-rich region -

In early December 2023, Venezuelans voted in a referendum about the border conflict with neighboring country Guyana. Effectively a plebiscite regarding ownership of the potentially oil- and mineral-rich Essequibo region, Venezuela's president Nicolás Maduro is claiming sovereignty over this disputed territory.

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The lines were drawn over 100 years ago -

Venezuela argues Essequibo was stolen when the border was drawn more than a century ago, when Guyana was known as British Guiana. Image: Scottish Geographical Magazine, 1896

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Exploration begins -

Guyana's history with oil dates back centuries. But it was only in 1916 that the first exploration wells were drilled. The United States Geological Survey estimates that 13.6 billion barrels of oil and 32 trillion cubic feet of natural gas could lie in the Suriname-Guyana Basin.

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Offshore oil discovered -

In 2015, US oil giant ExxonMobil discovered oil in the waters off Essequibo's coast. Since then, more than 11 billion barrels of oil-equivalent resources spanning over 35 discoveries have been found off the coast of Guyana—much to the chagrin of Nicolás Maduro.

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History's most significant oil wars -

Voters rejected the International Court of Justice's jurisdiction over the area in dispute and backed the creation of a new state. It remains unclear how Maduro will enforce the results of the vote. But the issue underlines how the grab for oil can result in tension and conflict. And history has recorded several so-called oil wars.

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The First World War -

The First World War was the first global conflict driven by oil. Strategists for all the major powers during this period increasingly perceived oil as a key military asset. Pictured is the arrival of General Maude's British troops into Baghdad, in Mesopotamia (later renamed Iraq).

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The fight for Mosul -

Indeed, it was a fact that during the Great War certain operations were planned specifically to secure oil resources. And several countries were competing for the right to extract the vast oil reserves around the city of Mosul.

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The Sykes-Picot Agreement -

The 1916 Sykes-Picot Agreement was a secret treaty between the United Kingdom, France, and, later, Russia and Italy, to define their mutually agreed spheres of influence and control in an eventual partition of the Ottoman Empire. The treaty was named for Sir Mark Sykes (left) and François Georges-Picot.

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A divided land -

Unfortunately for the British, by signing the Sykes-Picot Agreement they had ceded much of the oil-producing area in northern Mesopotamia to their French ally. This May 1916 map indicates areas of control and influence agreed on between the British and the French. Image: Royal Geographical Society

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Changing the rules -

Realizing the error, British foreign secretary Arthur Balfour (pictured) threw diplomacy out of the window and changed military plans to recuperate what had already been given away.

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French fury -

Shortly after the armistice was signed ending the First World War, British forces raced to capture the key northern city of Mosul, outmaneuvering the French to claim the oil zone in northern Mesopotamia. The French were furious, with British Prime Minister David Lloyd George (left) and his French counterpart Georges Clemenceau nearly coming  to blows.

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US seeks its fair share -

The British and the French eventually settled their differences, with Paris setting up the Compagnie Francaise des Pétroles to take up the French share of oil in Iraq. But this move upset the Americans, who were looking for their own "fair share" in the region and threatened sanctions and other measures against what they felt were ungrateful recent allies.

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Red Line Agreement -

To even the playing field, the Americans formed a consortium of the biggest US oil companies. Then in October 1927, the British discovered large oil deposits in the region. The bickering only ended with the quarreling parties signing an accord known as the "Red Line Agreement."

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Striking a deal -

This agreement allowed Britain, France, and the United States a share of Iraqi oil among themselves on a basis of relative power. Britain, the dominant colonial power, came out with nearly half a share of the black gold. France and the United States, meanwhile, each won close to a quarter share.

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The Chaco War -

In an echo of the current Venezuela-Guyana conflict, the Chaco War of 1932–1935 was fought between Bolivia and Paraguay over the control of the northern part of the Gran Chaco region, which was thought to be rich in oil. Known in Spanish as Chaco Boreal, this sparsely populated, hot and semiarid region was divided among eastern Bolivia, western Paraguay, northern Argentina, and a portion of the Brazilian states of Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul.

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Expansion and exploration -

Beginning in the late 1920s, Bolivia's growing need for petroleum to fuel its mining sector and urban centers led the country on a policy of expansion into the Chaco Boreal.

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Military confrontation -

In response, the Paraguayans built a line of forts across the Chaco. This action was met in kind, with Bolivia constructing a similar number of strongholds in the region. Then in June 1932, a Bolivian patrol captured a Paraguayan fort. This triggered a military escalation that culminated in full-scale conflict.

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A war neither country could afford -

The ensuing war pitched two of South America's poorest countries against one another in the bloodiest interstate military conflict fought on the continent in the 20th century.

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Taking sides -

Compounding the issue was the fact that oil companies had already been prospecting the area. After war broke out, Grand Dutch Shell ended up supporting Paraguay, while Standard Oil backed the Bolivian claim. Pictured is German military officer General Hans Kundt, who commanded the Bolivian forces during the conflict.

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Bolivia is beaten -

On February 7, 1935, around 5,000 Paraguayans attacked the heavily fortified Bolivian lines near Villa Montes with the aim of capturing the Bolivian oilfields. On June 4, Bolivian resistance crumbled. Pictured are Bolivian prisoners of war.

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Ironic outcome -

On June 12, the day a ceasefire was announced, Paraguayan troops were entrenched only 9 mi (15 km) away from the prospective Bolivian oil fields in Cordillera Province. Most of Gran Chaco was ceded to the victors. But in a cruel and ironic twist, no oil was discovered on it until decades later, the vast majority of it, as luck would have it, lying in the region given to Bolivia.

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Economic devastation -

The Chaco War was formally brought to an end in July 1938 with the signing of a peace treaty in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The conflict, which saw around 100,000 killed in combat or by disease, was an almost complete military victory for the Paraguayans. From an economic perspective, however, both countries were devastated and left on the brink of collapse.

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Oil use in the Second World War -

The Second World War was decided by oil. Fighter planes, bombers, tanks, battleships, submarines, and supply trucks all depended on the vital commodity in order to operate.

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The Allied oil campaign of World War II -

The Allied oil campaign of World War II was the specific targeting by the RAF and USAAF of refineries, synthetic-fuel factories, storage depots, and petroleum, oil, and lubrication product infrastructure supplying Nazi Germany. Pictured is a B-24 Liberator bombing the Astra Romana refinery on August 1, 1943, during Operation "Tidal Wave."

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Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran -

The purpose of the Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran in August 1941 was to ensure the safety of Allied supply lines to the USSR, secure Iranian oil fields, and limit the sphere of German influence in the country.

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Dutch East Indies campaign -

The conquest of the Dutch East Indies (present-day Indonesia) by Japanese forces in 1941–1942 had the specific objective of securing the islands' vast oil reserves. At the time the colony was the fourth-largest exporter of oil in the world, behind the US, Iran, and Romania. Image: US Army

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Battle of the Caucasus -

In the summer of 1942, the Wehrmacht's drive toward Baku and the oilfields of the Caucasus was met with fierce resistance by the Red Army. The Russians eventually forced the Germans into retreat.

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Guarding American interests -

To provide all the oil, or at least most of it, for the Allied war effort, the United States enlisted the aid of American oil companies. Furthermore, President Franklin D. Roosevelt established what became known officially as the Petroleum Administration for War in December 1942. And while located well away from theaters of operations, America's oil fields were nonetheless well guarded in case of attack.

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The Gulf War -

Oil was an obvious issue during the Gulf War. Iraq's decision to invade  Kuwait in 1991 was partly based on the attempt to grab Kuwaiti oilfields (Iraq owed Kuwait upwards of US$14 billion, the amount that it had borrowed to finance its military efforts during the Iran–Iraq War). After being ousted from the country by coalition forces during Operation Desert Storm, the retreating Iraqi Army set fire to Kuwaiti oil wells.

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Conflict in the Niger Delta -

The conflict in the Niger Delta in Africa has been ongoing since the early 1990s. Struggle for oil wealth and environmental harm over its impacts has fueled violence between ethnic groups, the Nigerian military, and police forces.

Sources: (BBC) (AP) (History Today)

See also: The longest and shortest wars in history

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