STATE OIL COMPANY · DOMINANT OPERATOR
PDVSA
Petróleos de Venezuela S.A. is the state oil company and the backbone of the country's external revenue. Its output, joint ventures and debt define any investor's exposure to the Venezuelan energy sector.
VE Pulses
09Venezuela opens the week on three fronts: Brazil at the table, a fight over its debt, and the U.S. in its gold mines
Last week the opening produced signatures; now it measures who governs it: whether the table with Brazil leaves deals, whether the debt is awarded on a process not by hand, and under what architecture —with the U.S. inside— the gold flows.
Shell signs Phase I of the Loran field and the debt restructuring already has a draft price
The new permit regime is already producing contracts in gas, debt and agriculture; what it does not yet produce is what would sustain them: a stable barrel, reserves that hold, and a standing judicial arbiter.
Washington rewrites the rules of Venezuela's oil and gold into a single framework, with an explicit veto on Chinese capital
The opening is no longer a collection of permits but a regime: wider than ever, administered in Washington and revocable with a single signature.
Venezuela's State seizes Bolívar's gold by force, 672 MW of idle hydropower restart under a U.S. license, and the bolívar holds on reserves
The record barrel funds Venezuela's recovery but buys no structure: the State reorders the gold rent by force, the power grid restarts only with a U.S. license, and the bolívar holds by spending reserves. Volume flows; the rest is the pending test.
The U.S. blockades Venezuela's sanctioned crude by sea and presses on its oil law, as a Middle East truce cheapens the barrel
Washington controls all four levers of Venezuela's oil revenue —cash, rules, route and now the price— so its record export volume decides less and less.
The State prepares to offer its assets through the Caracas Stock Exchange as global investment banks and the IMF move closer to Venezuela
The institutional capital and the mechanism to sell it state assets advance fast; the judicial arbiter that would give those contracts certainty is being recomposed this week with no guarantees of independence.
The top U.S. military officer lands in Caracas to back the transition, a Nasdaq SPAC lines up US$2.25 billion and the PDVSA-Crypto trial stays stuck
Venezuela's transition gains its strongest guarantee —the highest-ranking U.S. soldier in Caracas— and draws capital, but the money answering is still speculative and the institutions that should sustain it still do not work.
Venezuela Hydrocarbons speaks in Houston, DOJ charges Saab in Miami, Aeroméxico schedules Caracas
Houston, Miami and Mexico City concentrate Venezuelan activity today on the same axis — the Hydrocarbons Ministry at the AAPG, Saab in SDFL federal custody, Aeroméxico fixing October for the return to Maiquetía. Three documents the same day; the question now is which one produces a verifiable next step before June.
Chevron at 49%: first binding major expansion in the Rodríguez era
The Petroindependencia deal consolidates the heavy crude bet as the opposition formalizes its demand for a new electoral body and elections
Analysis
05Venezuela's restructuring opens with advisory, not with the exchange
Verdict: UNDER WATCH · Stable outlook. The 13 May announcement and General License 58 open price formation for sovereign and PDVSA bonds, but they only authorize advisory work. Recovery value will be set by the macroeconomic framework and the debt sustainability analysis expected in June, not by the announcement.
Repsol Returns to Venezuela: The Investment-Against-Debt Model and What It Means for ConocoPhillips' $12B
Repsol regains operational control of Petroquiriquire (40/60 with PDVSA), plans to increase output 50% in 12 months and triple it in three years despite $4.55B in outstanding debt. The deal includes new payment guarantees via crude exports.
The most counterintuitive trade of 2026: defaulted PDVSA bonds as a bet on diplomatic normalization
PDVSA 2020 bonds trade at 12-15 cents on the dollar. License 5V expires May 5. If restructuring happens, upside is 3-5x.
Tres escenarios para Venezuela H2 2026: qué pasa si las reformas se aceleran, se estancan, o colapsan
Verdict: UNDER OBSERVATION · Favorable outlook. Three months after Maduro's capture, Venezuela has produced more legal reforms than in the past decade. But oil majors call them inadequate, productivity is the hemisphere's lowest, and PDVSA's debt has no restructuring plan. This analysis evaluates three possible paths for the second half — and what each means for investors.
Licencia General 52: OFAC desbloquea PDVSA para empresas estadounidenses y redefine las reglas del petróleo venezolano
Verdict: FAVORABLE · Favorable outlook. GL 52 is the broadest authorization Washington has issued on Venezuela since sanctions were imposed. It allows established U.S. companies to operate directly with PDVSA without a specific license. Contracts under U.S. law, payments to Treasury, and exclusion of Russia, Iran, China, and Cuba. Venezuelan oil wasn't set free — it changed wardens.
Sector Briefs
06Chevron 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.
The bi-monetary economy grows double digits while the bolivar loses a quarter of its value
The macroeconomic outlook evaluated for the investor. GDP, inflation, exchange rate, budget and monetary policy.
Multidimensional assessment: political, regulatory, operational, fiscal, sanctions, legal, social and exchange rate
Multidimensional assessment: political, regulatory, operational, fiscal, sanctions, legal, social and FX.
OFAC Licenses
10GL 46C — Trade in Venezuelan-Origin Oil and Petrochemical Products
Authorizes an established U.S. entity to lift, export, sell, store, transport and refine Venezuelan-origin oil —and to import Venezuelan-origin petrochemical products into the U.S.— in transactions involving the Government of Venezuela and PdVSA, subject to U.S./allied law and forum and Treasury payment routing. Supersedes GL 46B.
GL 47A — Sale of U.S.-Origin Diluents to Venezuela
Authorizes the export, sale, supply and transport of U.S.-origin diluents to Venezuela in transactions involving the Government of Venezuela and PdVSA, subject to U.S./allied law and forum. Supersedes GL 47.
GL 48B — Supply of Goods and Services to Venezuela
Authorizes the supply from the U.S. or by a U.S. person of goods, technology, software or services for oil, gas and petrochemical exploration, development and production, and for electricity generation, transmission, storage and distribution in Venezuela. Supersedes GL 48A.
GL 52A — Transactions Involving Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A.
Authorizes an established U.S. entity to engage with PdVSA and its entities in transactions otherwise prohibited by E.O. 13884 and 13850, subject to U.S./allied law and forum and Treasury payment routing. Preserves the E.O. 13808 prohibitions on bonds and debt. Supersedes GL 52.
GL 58 — Services to the Government of Venezuela for Potential Debt Restructuring
Authorizes provision of legal, financial advisory, and consulting services to the Government of Venezuela, including PDVSA, in connection with potential debt restructuring. Does not authorize the restructuring itself, transfer, settlement, or direct negotiations between the Government of Venezuela and its creditors.
GL 5W — PDVSA 2020 8.5% Bond
Authorizes certain transactions related to the PDVSA 2020 8.5% bond on or after June 19, 2026. Supersedes GL 5V and extends the regime initiated with GL 5 (2019) protecting CITGO Holding from bondholder execution on collateral. The shortest extension in the series (45 days) signals Treasury coordination with the CITGO sale process in the Delaware court.
GL 52 — Specific Transactions Involving PDVSA
Authorizes specific transactions with PDVSA and its majority-owned subsidiaries necessary for the execution of the GL 46B/50A regime: settlement of legacy accounts receivable, pre-2019 contract settlement, transfers between authorized accounts.
GL 5T — PDVSA 2020 Bonds Authorization
Authorizes specific transactions involving the PDVSA 2020 bonds (collateralized by Citgo Holding shares) that would otherwise be prohibited by Section 1(a)(iii) of Executive Order 13835.
GL 8N — Servicing Authorizations for Designated Entities
Authorizes certain activities necessary for the safe and orderly maintenance of operations (safety, environmental, local payroll) in PDVSA and designated subsidiaries, without permitting new investment or operational expansion.
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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This page aggregates Vene Economist editorial coverage of this entity as reference for institutional investors. It does not constitute investment or legal advice.