US Oil Giant Chevron Confirms It Will Expand Operations In Venezuela

 

 

Washington: Oil giant Chevron confirmed that it will expand operations in Venezuela after President Donald Trump announced an ambitious deal to develop the nation's oil reserves and give the Pentagon a stake in the profits. Chevron, the only U.S. oil company with a major presence in Venezuela, said Wednesday that it has been assigned additional acreage in the Orinoco Belt, where it has active operations. The company plans to invest more than $7 billion over the next five years, with the goal of more than doubling its current production to about 600,000 barrels a day. "Chevron's history in Venezuela spans more than a century, and our expanded position reflects our confidence in the country's deep resource potential," CEO Mike Wirth said in a prepared statement. Venezuela holds the world's largest proven reserves, totaling more than 303 billion barrels of crude oil, according to OPEC's 2025 Annual Statistical Bulletin. Saudi Arabia is a distant second with 267 billion barrels.

 

Yet because Venezuela's energy infrastructure is severely degraded and the nation is operating under international sanctions, its daily production is just over 1 million barrels, compared with the 10 million to 11 million barrels that Saudi Arabia produces each day. The U.S. produces almost 14 million barrels per day. Chevron's expansion follows US deal with Venezuela Chevron, the second-largest U.S. oil company, has had a presence in Venezuela since 1923. U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright on Wednesday attended a ceremony in Venezuela's capital in which Chevron, Italian oil company Eni and other energy companies signed agreements with the South American country's government. "President Trump's mission in Venezuela is straightforward. The mission is to bring peace, freedom, opportunity and prosperity to the people of Venezuela," Wright said in Caracas. "I believe the deals that are signed today – tens of billions of dollars of investment, ultimately many thousands of jobs – are critical in starting this ball rolling of peace, opportunity and prosperity for everyone in Venezuela."

 

The White House confirmed Monday that it is partnering with North American Blue Energy Partners, NABEP, as part of Trump 's push to tap into Venezuela's oil industry. Yet the agreement has been met with skepticism from energy experts who say it will take years to revive Venezuela's oil industry, which is in disarray after years of neglect. There are also questions about whether Venezuela's acting president, Delcy Rodríguez, has the authority to give NABEP 100-year rights over 17 oil fields with reserves of 65 billion barrels — and whether future Venezuelan or American administrations would overturn the agreement.

 

US pushes back on criticism Venezuela's constitution states that arrangements like the one that the United States has entered must be approved by the National Assembly, which has not happened, wrote Ian Vásquez, vice president for international studies at the Cato Institute. "The deal lacks legitimacy since it was agreed to with a dictatorship that has clung to power for decades through violence and by committing what was probably the largest electoral fraud in Latin American history in 2024," Vásquez wrote. "The agreement was also reached under overwhelming pressure, military and otherwise, from the United States. As such, any future Venezuelan democracy will question the deal, thus undermining confidence in the current arrangement." The ruling party-controlled National Assembly expressed support for the agreement during its Tuesday session, but lawmakers held no debate or voted to approve it. Wright on Wednesday pushed back on criticism, telling reporters that the deal is "a massive win" for both countries. "Because what it's going to do is take resources that are underground, not helping anyone, and invest capital and money and technology and bring them to the surface to better the lives of Venezuelans, better supply energy to Americans," Wright said during a joint press conference with Rodríguez.