ExxonMobil awarded contracts to Guyana for infrastructure, drilling and storage with a view to extracting the huge oil and gas reserves from the so-called “Liza Project” located in maritime territory claimed by Venezuela as stipulated by the Geneva Agreement of 1966. In 2015 the first oil discovery in the area provoked a diplomatic conflict between the nations due to the activities of the oil company on the Atlantic front of the Essequibo river.