Chevron to Invest Over USD 7 Billion in Venezuela on a Sub-20-Dollar Cost Base

Chevron will spend more than USD 7 billion over the next five years to expand its oil operations in Venezuela, targeting roughly 600,000 barrels per day and more than doubling output against 2026 levels. The company puts its total estimated cost in the country at under USD 20 per barrel.

That cost figure is what separates the barrels from most of what sits in a global upstream portfolio. Chief executive Mike Wirth said better terms and a larger acreage position strengthen a portfolio the company believes can deliver attractive low-cost oil growth, support energy supply, and create long-term value.

Chevron said in a Wednesday statement that it had reached agreements with Venezuela improving the fiscal, commercial, and legal conditions for its joint ventures in the country, according to EFE. The announcement came days after United States President Donald Trump announced a deal to develop Venezuela's oil reserves and give the Pentagon a share of the proceeds.

The agreements assign the joint venture Petroindependencia, 49% held by a Chevron subsidiary, the rights to develop the adjacent Carabobo-1 and Carabobo-2-South-A areas in the Faja del Orinoco. That follows an April deal under which Chevron raised its Petroindependencia stake to 49% and secured rights to the Ayacucho 8 area, adjacent to the Petropiar joint venture.

Production is already moving. Chevron's three Venezuelan joint ventures have lifted output 15% so far this year. Over the past six months output rose 15% to 280,000 barrels per day, according to Forbes Argentina. Chief financial officer Eimear Bonner said production in Venezuela has gone from 40,000 to 250,000 barrels in recent years.

The ramp is phased. Chevron is targeting a production increase of up to 50% by the end of 2028 and 600,000 barrels in 2031. Wirth said the expanded position reflects confidence in the country's deep resource potential and its capacity to compete for investment within the portfolio for decades.

Washington is named in the company's own framing. Wirth thanked the United States government, in particular the Department of Energy and Energy Secretary Chris Wright, for facilitating the conditions for further investment and growth.

The contrast with peers is the second half of the story. Since the removal of Nicolas Maduro earlier this year, Chevron was the only major oil producer to confirm to Trump its commitment to keep investing in the country, while ExxonMobil said the situation was "not investible," according to Forbes Argentina.

Chevron's exposure is long-dated. The company has been present in Venezuela since 1923, running extra-heavy crude projects through Petroindependencia and Petropiar in the Faja Petrolifera del Orinoco and operating Petroboscan in Zulia state, in the west of the country. It maintained operations without interruption, unlike other majors that left in the mid-2000s.

For an upstream sector where marginal supply increasingly clears well above USD 20 per barrel, the arithmetic behind the commitment is straightforward: a heavy-crude position with an established operator, expanded acreage, and revised fiscal and legal terms. The EFE report on the announcement was published on September 2, 2026 in the business section of Mexican daily El Financiero.

Chevron framed the capital as spread across five years to reach the new 600,000 barrel-per-day mark.