US Energy Secretary Backs Chevron's Venezuela Expansion: USD 7 Billion, 600,000 b/d Target

US Energy Secretary Chris Wright stood in the Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas as Chevron signed agreements expanding its Venezuelan joint ventures, backing a plan to invest more than USD 7 billion over the next five years and lift output to roughly 600,000 barrels per day.

Chevron said the production target is more than double its 2026 level, with total production cost expected below USD 20 per barrel. Chief Executive Mike Wirth said the expansion reflected confidence in Venezuela's resource potential and aimed at low-cost growth.

Wirth credited the US Department of Energy and Secretary Wright with contributing to the process. Wright called it a historic day following the oil and energy agreements signed by American companies including Chevron and GE Vernova.

The signed agreements update the financial, commercial and legal terms of Chevron's joint ventures with Venezuela. Contracts covering Petroboscan, Petropiar and Petroindependencia, all operated jointly with state oil company PDVSA, were renewed to bring them into line with the new hydrocarbons law that took effect in January. The two sides also signed a comprehensive payment agreement covering the bonus owed for access rights to hydrocarbon reserves in the fields allocated to Petroindependencia.

Petroindependencia, in which Chevron holds 49%, received development rights to the adjacent Carabobo-1 and Carabobo-2-South-A fields in the Orinoco belt. Chevron's stake in the venture had been raised to 49% in April, when the Ayacucho 8 field attached to Petropiar was added. The company secured further rights over additional fields in the Orinoco belt.

Chevron operates in Orinoco extra-heavy crude through Petroindependencia and Petropiar, and in western Venezuela through Petroboscan. Its presence in the country dates to 1923.

Interim President Delcy Rodriguez, who received Wright at Miraflores, pointed to a memorandum signed on August 28 between Venezuela and the United States providing for extraction of 65 billion barrels of reserves in the fields concerned, and said she hoped it would benefit the American public. She said she expects mutual benefit for both countries.

Wright framed the pace as deliberate. "We are trying to move at the speed of light. President Trump did not want to move slowly, he wanted to act as fast as possible to transform Venezuela," he said. He added that Trump has a clear mission in the country: peace, freedom, new opportunities and prosperity.

The deals extend beyond Chevron. PDVSA signed a production-sharing contract and a site transfer protocol with Eni S.p.A. for operation of the Junin 5 block in the Orinoco oil belt. The state company also concluded a production partnership agreement with Primavera for the Budare-Elotes field in the east of the country. GE Vernova established a strategic partnership with PDVSA to renew the electrical infrastructure of oil facilities.

The Venezuelan government described the package as widening the scope of existing partnerships with Chevron and Eni to raise oil output and draw new investment into the sector. Venezuelan state television VTV carried the signing.

Chevron announced the expansion of its Venezuelan activities on September 2, according to Enerji Gunlugu. Enerji Haber and Cumhuriyet reported the Miraflores ceremony and the accompanying PDVSA agreements on September 3.