02/09/2026
🇻🇪🛢️📈 Major companies are signing or working deals this week in Venezuela:
🇺🇸 Chevron is the top private producer in Venezuela (~280k bpd) with 3 joint ventures already in the country:
📍Petroboscán: Boscan oilfield in Lake Maracaibo, heavy oil.
📍Petropiar: Huyapari oilfield in the Orinoco Belt, extra heavy crude oil and upgrading operations. Projection of adding Ayacucho 8 field
📍Petroindependencia: Carabobo 1 & Carabobo 2 oilfields in the Orinoco Belt.
With the new deal Chevron will expand to 600k bpd their oil output within 5 years.
The further investment amount would be 7 billion USD and the cost per barrel is structured to be less than 20$.
🇮🇹 Eni is another incumbent major oil and gas producer with joint ventures in Venezuela:
📍Junín 5 Transition: Eni moved away from its traditional Petrojunín joint venture (where PDVSA held 60% and Eni held 40%). It signed a 25-year contract to become the exclusive technical and commercial operator of the 35-billion-barrel heavy oil field under reformed local hydrocarbon laws.
📍Cardón IV (Eni 50% / Repsol 50%): Eni continues to co-own this joint company, operating the Perla field, which is the largest offshore gas field discovered in Latin America (17 TCF)
📍PetroSucre (PDVSA 74% / Eni 26%): A traditional upstream joint venture managing the offshore Corocoro oil field.
Eni is producing 12k bpd today and plans to expand production to 200k bpd in Junin 5 and 400k bpd overall by the end of the decade, with a 1.5 billion USD additional investment.
Natural Gas production is at 580 million cubic feet per day and plans to expand at 1.25 billion cfd.
🇨🇴 Geopark is a Colombian company partially owned by mogul Jaime Gilinski looking to enter in the Oil industry in Venezuela:
GeoPark is looking to operate in the Bare field, located in Anzoátegui state, in the Ayacucho region of the Orinoco Oil Belt. This field produces heavy and extra-heavy crude, although its output has declined after years of underinvestment and inadequate maintenance.
🇺🇸 Aspect Holdings, a Denver-based company, is involved in the exploration and development of energy resources. Interim authorities signed an agreement with the company to conduct economic feasibility studies, while their representative explained that they are already working alongside PDVSA—and with Venezuelan and U.S. teams—to develop several oil fields. The executive also signaled the long-term outlook for the investment: "We are here for the long haul."
🇸🇪 KEO Capital joined major energy firms in Caracas to sign project expansion pacts.
Petrourdaneta Funding: The $350 million financing targets the Petrourdaneta project, aiming to boost output under Venezuela's updated legal framework for foreign operators.
It operates primarily in fields within the Maracaibo Lake Basin, in Zulia State:
📍La Paz Field: One of the oldest and most important traditional fields in the western region, with accumulated potential for both light/medium crude oils and associated gas reserves. Light crude 34 API.
📍Mara East Field: Located in the Mara Municipality, focused on reactivating mature wells using surface stimulation infrastructure. Light-mid crude 28-29 API.
📍Mara West Field: An adjacent area complementing the Mara geological formations, characterized by large volumes of original hydrocarbons in place. 28-29 API.
*Mara fields have shallow heavy crude oil 15-17 API.
📍El Moján Field: The fourth field assigned to the joint venture's operating block, with reserves that are integrated into the natural gas production strategy. Mid crude oil and associated gas.
🇺🇸 Coinbase co-founder Fred Ehrsam seeks to control at least three oil fields in Venezuela through Primavera, his private investment firm.
📍Boca field (Boca-Chimire): Northern zone of the San Tomé District, Anzoátegui State. Medium to heavy crudes; traditionally requires diluents for pipeline transport. Features flow stations connected to the San Tomé trunk network. Contains inactive wells with potential for rapid reactivation via workover.
📍Guico field (Nipa-Guico): Southern zone of Anzoátegui State, approximately 30 km from the city of El Tigre. Heavy and extra-heavy crude typical of the Belt, with high concentrations of sulfur and metals. Hosts major gas handling operational centers and crude dehydration stations. Receives associated gas for gas lift artificial lift systems.
📍Guara field (Guara West / East): South-central area of Anzoátegui, integrated into heavy crude production networks. Extra-heavy crude (low API gravity, typically less than 10°). Structurally designed for exploitation via well pads (drilling multiple directional wells from a single platform). Features injection infrastructure to optimize production.
🇺🇸 Last but not least GE Vernova signed a strategic alliance with PDVSA and an agreement with the interim authorities to repair and stabilize Venezuela's electrical grid.
Agreement Details – Primary objective: To restore and strengthen the National Electric System (SEN) by adding over 5,000 MW of capacity over four years and addressing transmission networks and substations.
Venezuela needs to revamp the electrical grid in order to increase significantly the oil production.
