OIL MAJOR · LEADING FOREIGN OPERATOR
Chevron
Chevron is the leading foreign operator in Venezuela, running joint ventures with PDVSA under OFAC authorization. Its license and volumes work as a gauge of how open the oil sector actually is.
VE Pulses
40PDVSA gives six to seven years to the million barrels NABEP calls near-term
Until now NABEP set the timeline for the million barrels; a PDVSA vice president has just given a much longer one, and the operator’s latest figure covers a single day.
Delcy Rodríguez orders state assets valued for sale or return to their former owners
In April, a commission was tasked with classifying the state’s holdings; since Thursday, those the state deems non-essential are being valued to be offered to private buyers or returned, with no list or timetable yet.
Caracas must pay first for GE Vernova to start repairing Corpoelec's power grid
Since the September agreement, the obstacle is no longer technical: engineering is done and contractors are lined up, but the company will not carry out work without being paid first, and the government has said nothing in public about when it will pay.
Venezuela's BCV and Finance Ministry bet on two-digit inflation in 2027 with no target for the bolívar
The target requires breaking 2026's pace, and the agreement rests it on two things Caracas does not control: oil revenue, held in custody by Washington, and foreign lending.
Machado returns to Caracas with no public guarantees from the government and outside the dialogue table
Until Saturday, the opposition leader was trying to return from Panama; since Sunday she is in Caracas, with a travel ban and a disqualification that, by reported accounts, remain in force, and outside a table that put off electoral council reform.
From 132,000 to 44,000: SENIAT cuts the list of special taxpayers that withhold VAT
Those who leave the list stop withholding the tax from their suppliers and file it once a month, not every two weeks. Fiscal printers, meanwhile, stopped being mandatory on Wednesday.
What comes first for Citgo: the Third Circuit ruling or the OFAC license Amber needs?
The judges heard Venezuela, PDVSA and Gold Reserve on Wednesday without setting a date to rule, and the $5.9 billion bid remains approved in the meantime.
Rubio wants Reliance to refine more Venezuelan crude, with Maduro-era sanctions still in place
The United States already takes more than half of the crude Venezuela exports; its secretary of state visits the owner of the world's largest refining complex today to get it to process more, and concedes there are prior sanctions to work through, without saying which.
Over wages of $5 a week, PDVSA workers idle boats on Lake Maracaibo
The crews that serve PDVSA on the lake, on wages their union puts at five dollars a week, joined the retirees' protests on Monday in the basin where the company wants 400,000 barrels a day before December.
Venezuelan crude halves its discount to Brent in two months
In July, the Venezuelan benchmark sold $16.61 below Brent; in September, $8.27. With output nearly flat, the month's gain came from price.
Calixto Ortega takes the IMF a plan for the bolívar to cover every domestic transaction in Venezuela
Before the Fund, the vice president for the economy ruled out dollarization. The plan published by the central bank leaves the dollar to foreign trade and sets two-digit inflation as the condition, with no date to reach it.
Washington declines to weigh in on Citgo, and Venezuela heads to the October 21 hearing without its support
Gold Reserve backed the pause only if Washington did too, and Washington abstained. The sale of Citgo's parent now hangs on the judges' ruling and on the OFAC license Amber is still waiting for.
The round of talks Washington announced for Wednesday the 14th puts the Supreme Court ahead of the electoral council
After two rounds in Caracas, Washington put the order of the negotiation in writing: first the 32 justices, by December; the overhaul of the electoral authority, in rounds that still have no date.
Delcy Rodríguez sets a year-end deadline for the law opening Corpoelec's power grid to private companies
The bill letting private companies into generation, transmission and distribution has been waiting for its second reading since June 2. Before the country's largest business federation, the acting president said it will pass before the year is out.
A ruptured gas line leaves Cardón, PDVSA's second-largest refinery, shut with no restart date
Cardón was already running without one crude unit and its catalytic cracker, idled in September for lack of feedstock; now all its plants are in emergency shutdown. PDVSA rules out major damage and says it has inventories, but sets no date to restart.
The State Department swears in the Maduro case that only Delcy Rodríguez can act for Venezuela
March's recognition rested on a statement and a speech by Trump. Since Friday the 2nd it rests on a sworn declaration, which prosecutors in New York are using to deny Maduro head-of-state immunity.
The United States took almost six of every ten barrels of oil Venezuela exported in September
Venezuela exported 9% less oil in September than in August, while trading houses pressed for bigger discounts to cover freight. Shipments fell to Europe and India and rose to the United States.
One Planta Centro unit in Carabobo carries almost half of Corpoelec's 1,300-megawatt plan
The state power company's plan adds 1,300 megawatts through December from existing units returning to service. It does not say how many of the 4,800 thermal megawatts the acting president set in August for year-end are already online.
GeoPark puts 2038 on Bare and leaves the heavy spending for after 2028
The $7 billion attached to the field in the headlines adds up capital and operating spending, not just investment. What the company gave this week is the pace: the 90,000-barrel-a-day target is set for 2038, and heavier spending comes after 2028.
Stripe backs dollar accounts for Venezuelans under a humanitarian OFAC license expiring October 23
Two apps offer users in Venezuela virtual accounts with US account numbers, backed by Bridge, Stripe's subsidiary, and by Lead Bank. UglyCash credited its return to the humanitarian channel opened after the June earthquake, and its contract limits deposits to that aid.
Corpoelec rations what it has, and Zulia waits until January 2027 for Termozulia units
The head of Corpoelec, the state power company, put the wait for a part for its plants at more than a year on Wednesday, with demand at its highest in nine years. Anyone planning 2027 in Venezuela does so with rationing inside the budget.
TotalEnergies signs with PDVSA without being one of the six companies Washington authorizes by name
The annex that names authorized operators in writing has not added a company since June. On Saturday one that is not on it signed at Miraflores, and no fields, amounts or timetable were disclosed.
Venezuelan crude reaches the United States at a record pace and Washington will not say what the Treasury holds
Last week it was 782,000 barrels a day, the largest volume of the year. What those cargoes pay is held in custody by Washington, and on Tuesday the man who holds it appeared before Congress without giving the balance.
Chevron will pay for Carabobo out of its joint ventures' cash, declaring a total cost under $20 a barrel
The September 2 release said how much it would invest and over what period. What Mike Wirth added on Friday says where the money comes from — whatever cash the three operating joint ventures generate, with none brought in from outside.
The signature for PDVSA changes in the Delaware case auctioning Citgo's parent
On May 11 the court record noted the removal of three Arnold & Porter attorneys. On Tuesday a one-partner Wilmington firm appeared for Petroleos de Venezuela. The sale the judge authorized has still not closed.
Eni replaces PDVSA at Junín-5: the field produces 5% of what was promised for 2018
Since 2010 the field was run by a joint venture with PDVSA holding 60% and the spending shared. The contract Eni signed on Wednesday takes it out of the operation and, on the terms January's law set, leaves the state carrying no debt: the operator is paid a percentage of metered barrels.
Selling Venezuelan coal without sanctions risk now means paying into an account the Treasury names
The mining licenses spoke of minerals and gold and named a single company, Minerven. The three issued on Wednesday add coal and Carbones del Zulia, the state firm that mines it in the Guasare basin in the country's west.
Washington reserves first call on every barrel from the seventeen fields
Until Friday the deal was a post on a social network. The document the White House published sets a veto over every board appointment, a fifth of output at production cost, and the right to buy the rest before anyone else.
Venezuelan crude is arriving at refineries already running at 97% of capacity
Until now the argument was how many barrels Venezuela can produce. U.S. imports of that crude doubled between February and May, and the missing margin is no longer at the wellhead: it is at the plant that processes it.
Five months separate "Maduro's inner circle" from "the highly respected Interim President"
The first phrase titles the action by which the U.S. Treasury sanctioned her in September 2018, alongside the then president’s wife. The second comes from Friday’s announcement. Between them, an administrative deletion from the list on April 1.
The detour on flights to Caracas ends on September 1, sixty-nine days on
What opens is not the damaged terminal but two modular halls with seven boarding gates between them. The main building, hit along with one of the runways, is being rebuilt separately and on another calendar.
Money paid up front for a Venezuelan home stops passing through the builder's hands
Until now the developer took the buyer's down payment and put it to work. The text passed on Friday routes it into a trust that releases funds only against construction progress certified by an independent engineer.
Washington clears the rebuilding of Venezuela's network and leaves the capital waiting on another license
Through Thursday the telecommunications license covered carrying traffic; since Friday it covers installing, repairing and operating the plant itself. Putting capital into it still needs a permit that does not exist yet.
Anyone signing a contract in Venezuela does not yet know which Supreme Tribunal will hear it
Three months of nominations are void and the committee that filters the candidates moves to 23 seats, 12 of them for civil society. Not one member has been named, and the declared target is still to replace the 32 justices before January.
The license it was missing: Washington clears India's state company ONGC to operate in Venezuela
ONGC now holds the permit it was missing to operate in Venezuela; what it still lacks is the assigned field, and that is not signed in Washington.
The IMF's first visit to Caracas in twenty years starts with the books, not with credit
A country whose books no one has reviewed since 2004 cannot receive structured funding; that the Fund starts with method and statistics says what is missing before any program exists.
No extension: on Tuesday each oil company decides whether the new fiscal regime pencils out
With the deadline firm, migrating turns from paperwork into arithmetic: at 20% to 35% by field type, each operator decides whether the return holds or keeps its rights without the fiscal benefit.
A multinational pays US$30 million for a Venezuelan factory, not for a promise of recovery
For the first time since the turn, a strategic buyer is paying for installed capacity and market in Venezuela, not for the right to develop them.
Refiners are buying crude straight from PDVSA again, cutting the trading houses out
Venezuela is selling its crude to the end buyer again instead of the intermediary — the most concrete measure of how far the risk of dealing with PDVSA has fallen.
Money is already betting on Venezuela's recovery before the real economy feels it
In Venezuela, private capital, the bond market and exchange-rate policy are all positioning on a recovery that hasn't happened yet: they value what they expect, not what exists.
Analysis
06Venezuela's oil reserves: the license, not the subsoil, sets a barrel's value
Chevron books no Venezuelan barrel as proved; the White House calls NABEP's 65 billion barrels proven, and the U.S. government holds 35% of the company's parent. The official 303.7 billion figure assumes a lower recovery than the U.S. Geological Survey. What sets each barrel's value is the rule it is counted under, and who controls it.
Oil in Venezuela: $76 billion buys 600,000 barrels a day or 3.5 million
The nearly $76 billion in investment over five years that Delcy Rodríguez announced on October 17, 2026 has no start date and no list of the 61 agreements, and it does not reconcile with the $100 billion of the U.S. deal. Measured against the cost per barrel a day of Chevron, NABEP and GeoPark, it buys between 0.6 and 3.5 million barrels a day; Zulia promises 30,000 more before December.
Venezuela's OFAC licenses: the Federal Register prints the version no longer in force
On September 11 OFAC took four Venezuela-program licenses to the Federal Register. Three had been superseded before they appeared in print, and the one covering Chevron, Repsol, Shell, BP, Eni and Maurel & Prom ran requiring U.S. law and a U.S. forum — exactly what the version in force stopped asking for on August 27.
Chevron at 49%: the volume play reshaping the Orinoco Belt
Chevron raised its stake in Petroindependencia to the legal ceiling of 49% and secured Block Ayacucho 8 rights in exchange for surrendering all offshore gas assets and its Maracaibo position. First binding expansion by a major under the Rodríguez administration.
Oil Majors Tell Washington What It Doesn't Want to Hear: Venezuela's Reform Is "Woefully Inadequate"
At CERAWeek Houston, the CEOs of ConocoPhillips and Chevron — the two most important companies for Venezuela's oil future — publicly stated that OFAC licenses are not enough. They need fiscal reform, legal certainty, and a debt repayment plan. Licenses open the door; the local framework determines if anyone walks through it.
GL 50A: The named license — 6 majors authorized for unrestricted operations in Venezuela's oil sector
OFAC named six companies in an annex: Chevron, BP, Eni, Repsol, Shell, and Maurel & Prom. For these companies and their subsidiaries, GL 50A authorizes all transactions related to oil and gas operations in Venezuela.
Sector Briefs
07Venezuela upstream October 2026: Merey made the quarter that production did not
Venezuela reported 1,206,000 barrels a day to OPEC for September, 5,000 more than in August, while Merey rose $16.93 to $93.75. PDVSA counts 61 signed agreements, and the first start-up declared to a regulator points to the end of 2026.
Venezuela upstream August 2026: the framework stopped being the question and the rate now decides
The Ministry of Hydrocarbons denied an extension of the contract migration deadline. Chevron declared 280,000 bpd in its joint ventures and confirmed it is negotiating fiscal terms. The United States absorbed ~786,000 bpd in July, the highest since early 2019.
Venezuela Upstream July 2026: LOH Regulation drops PDVSA (Gaceta 7,052), Repsol signs Horcón MoU, OFAC amends GL 46C-54A, Brent normalizes to $81
The first comprehensive Hydrocarbons Law regulation since 1943 opens upstream to privates without a mandatory joint venture; the VE Score eases from 94 to 84 on Brent's correction (May $104 → July $81), not regulatory deterioration.
Chevron Q1 revela 1–2% del CFO (cash flow operativo) en Venezuela; producción cruza 1.23M bpd y GL 5W señala coordinación con Citgo
Brief VE-ENERGY-UPSTREAM mayo 2026. El upstream entra en fase de ejecución contractual: exportaciones cruzan 1.23M bpd en abril (máximo en 7 años, +14% intermensual), Chevron en su call Q1 (1 may) confirma Venezuela = 1–2% del CFO (cash flow operativo) con cuenta por cobrar de $1.5B en amortización a 2027 y sin compromiso de capex incremental antes de clarificación fiscal. GL 5W (4 may) extiende protección bono PDVSA 2020 hasta 19 jun — extensión más corta en dos años, señal de coordinación Treasury con proceso judicial Citgo en Delaware. Repsol Petroquiriquire, Eni Junín-5 y Maurel & Prom operativos bajo GL 50A.
Production crosses 1 million bpd and majors sign: upstream closes Q1 with complete framework and binding power ceiling
VE-ENERGY-UPSTREAM April 2026 brief. Hydrocarbons reform passed (Jan 29), OFAC GL 52 (Mar 18), formal returns from Eni, Repsol and Chevron in April. Production 1.095M bpd, exports >1M for the first time in 6 months. India overtakes China as top buyer at 343K bpd. Revenues channeled to U.S. Treasury custody via EO 14373. The binding ceiling remains electrical (covered in VE-ENERGY-DOMESTICO).
Venezuelan power sector: $15–40B to light up a country Siemens and GE already inspected
VE-ENERGY April brief. GL 48A active, Wright in February, Siemens/GE inspections in March, Delcy announcement in April. The legal-enablement layer is closed; payment mechanism and power reform are not. The power constraint ceilings oil production at 1.2M bpd.
The oil opening in numbers: regulatory framework, production, OFAC licenses
The oil opening in numbers. Regulatory framework, production, OFAC licenses, and the players positioning themselves.
OFAC Licenses
02GL 50C — Oil or Gas Sector Operations of Listed Entities
Authorizes transactions related to oil or gas sector operations in Venezuela of the entities listed in the Annex and their subsidiaries —BP, Chevron, Eni, Maurel & Prom, Repsol and Shell, the same six as in June—, with Treasury routing of payments, taxes and royalties. As of August 27, 2026, the contract must only route disputes to the U.S., U.K., France, or Singapore. Supersedes GL 50B.
GL 41 — Authorizing Certain Transactions for Chevron in Venezuela
Original November 2022 license that allowed Chevron to resume operations in joint ventures with PDVSA (Petroboscán, Petropiar, Petroindependencia, Petroindependiente) and export the resulting crude to the U.S. Under the 2026 regime it has been superseded by GL 46/49/50 with broader scope covering multiple majors.
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Official sources
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