By Arathy Somasekhar, Gram Slattery and Nathan Crooks
PALM BEACH, Florida Jan 3 (Reuters) – President Donald Trump said that American oil companies were prepared to tackle the difficult task of entering Venezuela and investing to restore production in the South American country, an announcement that came just hours after Nicolás Maduro was captured and removed by U.S. forces.
“We’re going to have our very large U.S. oil companies, the biggest anywhere in the world, go in, spend billions of dollars, fix the badly broken infrastructure, oil infrastructure, and start making money for the country,” Trump said on Saturday.
Chevron is the only American major currently operating in Venezuela’s oil fields that produce heavy crude used by U.S. Gulf Coast and other refineries. Exxon Mobil and ConocoPhillips, among others, had storied histories in the country after their projects were nationalized nearly two decades ago by former President Hugo Chavez. The American Petroleum Institute, the largest U.S. oil trade group, said on Saturday it was monitoring the emerging situation.
Francisco Monaldi, director of the Latin America Energy Program at Rice University’s Baker Institute in Houston, said that Chevron is immediately positioned to benefit the most from any potential oil opening in Venezuela. Still, he said that other U.S. oil companies will be paying close attention to political stability and wait to see how the operational environment and contract framework unfold.
“The company that probably will be very interested in going back is Conoco, because they are owed more than $10 billion, and it’s unlikely that they will get paid without going back into the country,” he said. Exxon could also return, but is not owed as much money, he added.
“Exxon, Conoco and Chevron, the three of them are not going to be worried about investing in heavy oil, given that it’s very much needed in the United States and that they have less focus on decarbonization,” Monaldi said. European companies may be more hesitant to invest in the prolific Orinoco Belt, he added.
PAST OIL NATIONALIZATIONS LOOM
Conoco has been seeking billions for the takeover of three oil projects nearly two decades ago. Exxon was involved in lengthy arbitration cases against Venezuela after it exited the country in 2007.
Chevron, which exports around 150,000 bpd of crude from Venezuela to the U.S. Gulf Coast, has had to carefully maneuver with the Trump administration in an effort to maintain its presence in the country in recent years. In February, Trump axed a license granted to Chevron under previous President Joe Biden that allowed the company to export Venezuelan crude, but the company was then granted a new restricted authorization in July that allowed it to resume limited operations and swap oil as long as no money from oil proceeds could be paid to the Maduro administration.
Chevron CEO Mike Wirth said in December that he had spoken with both the Biden and Trump administrations about what he said was the importance of maintaining an American presence in the country through multiple political cycles. The oil firm has been in Venezuela for over 100 years and said on Saturday that it is focused on the safety and well-being of its employees, in addition to the integrity of its assets.
“We continue to operate in full compliance with all relevant laws and regulations,” a Chevron spokesperson said in an emailed response to questions.
Top oilfield service companies SLB, Baker Hughes, Halliburton and Weatherford did not immediately respond to requests for comment, but their services would be essential to produce any meaningful increase in Venezuela’s heavy crude. Exxon and Conoco did not immediately respond to questions from Reuters. Italian energy group Eni, which produces natural gas in Venezuela, said it is closely monitoring the situation and that its operations in the country have not been affected.
Trump’s plans to have large U.S. oil companies enter Venezuela and get “oil flowing” will be hindered by lack of infrastructure that will require many years and heavy investment, analysts said. “There are still many questions that need to be answered about the state of the Venezuelan oil industry, but it is clear that it will take tens of billions of dollars to turn that industry around,” said Peter McNally, Global Head of Sector Analysts at Third Bridge, adding that it could take at least a decade of Western oil majors committing to the country.
A U.S. embargo on all Venezuelan oil, meanwhile, remains in full effect, Trump said. He told reporters that the U.S. military forces would remain in position until U.S. demands had been fully met.
“The American armada remains poised in position, and the U.S. retains all military options until United States demands have been fully met and fully satisfied,” he said.
Oil tankers chartered by Chevron have been among the few to set sail from Venezuela over the past month, following Trump’s December announcement of a “blockade” of all sanctioned tankers entering and leaving the country.
Venezuela, which has the largest oil reserves in the world, exported around 921,000 barrels per day (bpd) in November. It was producing 3.2 million b/d in 2000, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
(Reporting by Arathy Somasekhar, Richard Valdmanis, Gram Slattery, Jarrett Renshaw, Liz Hampton, Nathan Crooks, Sheila Dang and Francesca Landini. Writing by Andrea Shalal and Nathan Crooks; Editing by Frances Kerry and Anna Driver)
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