Venezuela orders state companies to exploit oil and gas mines in Guyana territory

Order from president Nicolás Maduro comes after referendum on whether Venezuela should claim sovereignty over the region

Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro has ordered the country’s state-owned companies to “immediately” begin to explore and exploit the oil, gas and mines in Guyana’s Essequibo region, a territory larger than Greece and rich in oil and minerals that Venezuela claims as its own.

The announcement came a day after Maduro declared victory in a weekend referendum on whether to claim sovereignty over the region.