Chevron said it would invest $7 billion in its Venezuelan oil projects, expecting to double its current oil production by 2031.
It’s a long-expected decision, although the company didn’t arrive at it easily. Despite President Donald Trump’s demands that US oil companies take advantage of his administration’s January ouster of former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, US oil companies have been slow to commit to new investments in Venezuela because of its uncertain political environment.
Chevron is the only major US oil company that has maintained a constant presence in Venezuela throughout the past several decades. In April, it increased its ownership stake in its joint venture with Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A, or PDVSA, Venezuela’s state-owned oil company. Chevron now owns 49% of that joint venture.
The company said Venezuela assigned its new oil fields to exploit in the country’s Orinoco Belt, a region that produces thick, sludgy, tar-like oil that many US Gulf-area refining facilities are tailor made to refine. The oil is quite cheap to produce – less than $20 a barrel, according to Chevron, considering the roughly $90 a barrel that US oil is current fetching.
Chevron expects to be able produce about 600,000 barrels a day from its Venezuelan oil projects in five years, up from roughly 300,000 today.
