What is the current status of international oil companies operating in Venezuela?
Here are some key facts about the international oil companies operating in Venezuela. The country has vast oil reserves, but a dilapidated infrastructure.
In the early 2000s, the then-President?Hugo Chavez took assets from foreign oil companies to strengthen the control of the state-owned PDVSA over the oilfields in Venezuela. The United States, after capturing Nicolas Maduro as President in January, eased sanctions against Venezuela's oil sector this month. They issued general licenses allowing global energy companies the opportunity to operate oil projects and gas in Venezuela.
In 2024, Venezuela granted BP and Trinidad and Tobago’s National Gas Company a?exploration and a production licence for Venezuelan portion of the cross-border Manakin Cocuina field that has yet to be produced. The?U.S. In?April, the?U.S.
BP welcomed the U.S.'s decision to issue general licences and said it believed it supported its efforts to move ahead with Manakin Cocuina.
CHEVRON CHEVRON negotiated with PDVSA to form partnerships and stay in Venezuela under Chavez’s forced migration to joint ventures dominated the state company. Four Chevron and PDVSA joint oil ventures produce between 240,000 to 250,000 barrels of heavy crude per day, which is in high demand by U.S. Gulf Coast refining companies.
Ship monitoring data shows that Chevron exported approximately 150,000 barrels per day of Venezuelan crude to the U.S. Gulf Coast between November and December. According to the company, it can increase its Venezuelan gross production by 50% within a short timeframe. It also has the ability to process 100,000 additional barrels of crude per day through refineries on the U.S. Gulf Coast and West coast. The refineries currently process 50,000 barrels per day of Venezuelan crude.
CHINESE COMPANIES China has a major role in the energy sector of Venezuela as a buyer and investor. Sinopec and China National Petroleum Corp, both state-owned companies, have joint ventures with Venezuela. Last year, China Concord Resources Corp. planned to invest over $1 billion into two oilfields in order to produce 60,000 barrels per day by 2026. reported. Officials from the U.S. Government have said that companies from geopolitical competitors China, Russia, and Iran are not welcome in Venezuela.
CONOCOPHILLIPS
Conoco has been trying to recover $12 billion in assets that were expropriated during the Chavez years. This month, CEO Ryan Lance stated that the company is still focused on recovering money due under existing legal judgements in Venezuela.
The company has collected 794 million dollars in relation to a single arbitration award and collection actions are still ongoing.
Eni, an Italian company, produces gas at the Perla offshore oil field. This is a joint venture between Spain's Repsol and the local Cardon IV. Venezuela uses gas for electricity production.
Eni reported that Venezuela owed them $2.3 billion by June 2025. This is more than the amount owed the year before, as a result of the U.S. decision in March last year to revoke licenses for recovering money via PDVSA crude cargoes. A source at Eni stated that this had increased to around $3 billion by 2025.
EXXONMOBIL
ExxonMobil is no longer present in Venezuela after declining to transfer projects into joint ventures with PDVSA.
Exxon claimed that Venezuela owed them $984.5m in compensation by 2023. This was after a series of international arbitrations dating back to 2007, when Exxon’s oil projects Cerro Negro y La Ceiba had been expropriated.
In September, a U.S. Court recognized Venezuela's responsibility to pay the amount.
Exxon CEO Darren Woods has revealed that his company is able to?extract Venezuelan heavy crude, which is traditionally expensive, at a cheaper cost. U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright stated this month that Exxon is in talks with Venezuela's government.
MAUREL & Prom French oil producer Maurel & Prom announced this month that their activities in the Urdaneta Oeste, where M&P Iberoamerica holds a stake of 40%, are running smoothly and they were ready to move on to the 'next phase' of the field development. The field's gross production averaged 21,000 bpd during January. This month, the U.S. Government included a French company under a general license.
REPSOL
Repsol has stakes in onshore and offshore oil and gas fields that are producing or yet to produce, including Petroquiriquire, Cardon IV West and Petroquiriquire, which is run by Eni. The U.S. informed Repsol in March 2025 that a license it had given the company to conduct business in Venezuela was revoked. In a previous agreement, Repsol had agreed to accept oil from PDVSA in repayment of debt. The Venezuelan government owes Repsol 4.55 billion euro ($5.37 billion), including commercial debt related to oil and natural gas supplies, and 947 millions euros of financing for Petroquiriquire. The company has written off a total of?about 3.6 billion euro over the past few years.
Shell and Trinidad and Tobago’s National Gas Company were to jointly operate the yet to be produced Dragon gas field located in Venezuelan waters. The output would then be sent to Trinidad for conversion into liquefied gas. The project is still largely on hold. Shell and BP are both shareholders of Trinidad's Atlantic Liquefied Natural Gas facility. This facility needs more gas.
Venezuela suspended later all energy agreements with Trinidad. Shell CEO Wael Sawan stated this month that he hopes Dragon will start production within three years.
Shell's spokesperson stated that Shell was pleased with the issuance and review of general licenses. Shell is evaluating them to determine what exactly they mean for Shell's potential projects in Venezuela.
ROSNEFT
Due to the threat of secondary U.S. sanction, Russia's Rosneft, a state-owned oil company, sold its stakes (estimated at $5 billion) in Venezuelan projects such as Petromonagas and Petroperija. Boqueron was also included.
(source: Reuters)
