Chevron Commits Over USD 7 Billion in Venezuela After US Licences Revoked Then Waived

Chevron is expanding its Venezuelan operations with an investment package exceeding USD 7 billion, months after the Trump administration revoked the operating licences that had eased the crude embargo and then granted Chevron an exemption.

The embargo on Venezuelan crude was imposed in 2019 and loosened in 2023 through operating licences. Those licences were revoked in the first half of 2025, before Chevron secured a carve-out.

Petroindependencia, in which Chevron holds 49%, plans to invest more than USD 7 billion over the next five years, targeting output of roughly 600,000 barrels per day in the Orinoco area.

Chief Executive Mike Wirth told CNBC that the sum does not cover a single project and will be distributed across three of the company's joint ventures in Venezuela. Chevron said it has concluded agreements with Venezuelan authorities for all three entities, clearing the way for further investment and higher output.

Company data show Venezuelan production rising from about 240,000 barrels per day in January to about 270,000 barrels per day in July. Chevron puts that at roughly 15% growth since the start of the year.

Wirth said an increase of about 300,000 barrels per day within a few years would represent a considerable growth rate for the industry. He also said Chevron's history in Venezuela goes back more than a century and that widening its positions reflects confidence in the country's resource potential.

US Energy Secretary Chris Wright, in Caracas for meetings with local authorities, said Venezuelan oil production is expected to pass 2 million barrels per day by the end of this decade. Wright added that further deals will be announced by energy companies.

One is already public. Eni S.p.A. announced a new agreement with Venezuela naming the Italian company operator of the Junin 5 oil field. "Signing an oil agreement with Venezuela is the first step toward more development," said Eni Chief Executive Claudio Descalzi.

The scale of the resource base is not the constraint. Venezuela holds the largest oil reserves in the world, estimated at more than 300 billion barrels, while current output stands at about 1.2 million barrels per day. That is far below the historical peak of more than 3 million barrels per day.

Against that baseline, Wright's 2 million barrels per day projection implies roughly a doubling of current national output, and Chevron's own 600,000 barrels per day target for Petroindependencia would supply a substantial share of the gap. Chevron's current Venezuelan volumes of about 270,000 barrels per day sit well short of that mark.

The policy reversal is what changed the arithmetic. Licences that Washington withdrew in the first half of 2025 had been the mechanism easing the 2019 embargo, and the exemption Chevron subsequently obtained is the legal basis on which the USD 7 billion commitment now rests.