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.

Hugo Chavez, the then president, expropriated foreign oil companies in the 2000s to strengthen the control of the PDVSA, the state-owned oil company, over the oilfields.

The U.S., after capturing President Nicolas Maduro, eased sanctions against Venezuela's energy industry this month by issuing general licences that allow global energy firms to operate oil projects and gas in the OPEC nation.

Venezuela awarded BP and Trinidad and Tobago’s National Gas Company a licence to explore and?produce the Venezuelan portion of the cross-border Manakin Cocuina gas 'field' that has yet to be produced.

The U.S. revoked in April the previous license it had granted to the two companies. This?stalled?the?project planning.

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 agreed to remain in Venezuela, and to form partnerships with PDVSA as a result of Chavez's forced migration to joint ventures that are dominated by PDVSA.

Four joint ventures between Chevron and PDVSA 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.

According to data from ship monitoring, Chevron shipped around 150,000 barrels per day (bpd) of Venezuelan crude to the U.S. Gulf Coast during November and about 100,000 in December.

U.S. refineries can process 100,000 additional barrels of Venezuelan crude per day. Gulf and West coast refining facilities. The refineries currently process 50,000 bpd Venezuelan crude.

CHINESE COMPANIES

China is the largest oil buyer in Venezuela and a major investor. Sinopec and China National Petroleum Corp, both state-owned companies, have joint ventures with Venezuela.

Reports state that China Concord Resources Corp, a private company, planned to invest $1 billion last year in two oilfields for a production of 60,000 bpd at the end 2026.

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 an arbitration award and collection actions are still ongoing.

Italy's Eni 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 Eni $2.3 billion by?June 2020, which is more than the previous year due to?U.S. Last March, the U.S. revoked all licenses for recovering money via PDVSA crude cargoes. Eni source said that this figure would reach $3 billion by 2025.

EXXONMOBILES

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 emphasized his company's technology capability, which could potentially allow it to extract Venezuela's heavy crude, traditionally expensive, at a cheaper cost.

Chris Wright, the U.S. secretary of energy, said in a statement this month that Exxon is in talks with Venezuela's government.

MAUREL & Prom

Maurel & Prom, a French oil company, said that their?activities at the Urdaneta Oeste Field, where M&P Iberoamerica holds a stake of 40%, are going well and they were ready to move on to the next phase in 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 both producing onshore and offshore oil and gas fields, including Petroquiriquire, Cardon IV West and Cardon IV West that it operates with Eni.

The U.S. informed Repsol in March 2025 that a license it had given the company to conduct business in Venezuela?had been revoked. In a previous agreement, Repsol had agreed to receive oil as a debt repayment from PDVSA.

Repsol owes the Venezuelan government 4,55 billion euros (5,37 billion dollars), including commercial debts tied to oil and natural gas supplies as well as 947 million euro in financing for Petroquiriquire. The debt has been written off over a period of several years.

Josu Imaz, the CEO of the company, said that it is working on increasing its gas production for domestic use by 10%, to 640 million cubic foot per day. He did not give a specific time frame.

Repsol, said he, can triple oil production in three years and increase it by 50% within 12 months. The average production last year was 71,300 barrels equivalent to oil per day.

ROSNEFT

Due to the threat of secondary U.S. sanction, Russia's Rosneft, the world's largest oil company, sold its stakes (worth an estimated $5 billion) in Venezuelan projects such as Petromonagas and Petroperija to a state-owned company Roszarubezhneft, which is not well known.

Shell and Trinidad and Tobago’s National Gas Company will operate the yet to be produced Dragon gas field on Venezuelan waters. The output from this gas field will then be sent to Trinidad for conversion into liquefied gas.

The project is still largely on hold. Shell and BP own the Trinidad's Atlantic Liquefied Natural Gas facility. This facility needs more gas.

Venezuela suspended all energy deals with Trinidad after Venezuelan authorities authorized Shell to restart Dragon planning in October.

Shell CEO Wael Sawan stated this month that he hopes Dragon will start production within three years.

Shell said the recent issuance of general licences was a positive sign, allowing progress to be made on Dragon.

(source: Reuters)