Chevron to Invest $7 Billion to Double Oil Production in Venezuela
15 sources across 9 countries · 1 of them is linked to a state
Who reported this
- The Guardian
- Financial Times
- Reuters
- CNN
- Associated Press
- Bloomberg
- Infobae
- La Nacion
- G1
- Folha de S.Paulo
- France 24
- Der Spiegel
- South China Morning Post
- Al Jazeera
- Business Day
What the colours mean
- Left
- Centre-left
- Centre
- Centre-right
- Right
- A hatched block means the outlet is affiliated with, or controlled by, a state.
Political lean describes where an outlet sits within the politics of its own country. It is never a position on a single global scale.
Political lean is comparable inside one country and not across them, which is why the bar groups by country first. Publicly funded broadcasters are not marked as state-linked.
The owner of each outlet is listed as a matter of record, not as a judgement about the outlet.
Chevron announced it will invest more than $7 billion over the next five years to double its oil production in Venezuela to approximately 600,000 barrels per day. The expansion includes new concessions in the Orinoco Belt, specifically the Carabobo 1 and Carabobo 2 Sur-A fields. Chevron CEO Mike Wirth stated that updated legal, fiscal, and commercial terms have provided the necessary security and confidence to increase investment. He noted that the cost of producing this oil is less than $20 per barrel.
This corporate expansion follows a broader bilateral agreement between the United States and Venezuela. Under the terms of the deal, the U.S. government will gain control of approximately 65 billion barrels of oil, which represents one fifth of Venezuela's proven reserves. The U.S. is establishing a private joint venture with North American Blue Energy Partners, a firm owned by Alejandro Betancourt, in which the Pentagon's Office of Strategic Capital will hold a 35 percent stake. U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright stated that Venezuela's total production could exceed 2 million barrels per day by the end of the decade and suggested that Venezuelan oil could be used to replenish U.S. strategic reserves.
The political context of the deal is marked by the capture of former President Nicolás Maduro by U.S. special forces on January 3, who was subsequently flown to the U.S. to face charges. Delcy Rodríguez now serves as the interim president. While the Venezuelan National Assembly and Defense Minister Gustavo González have endorsed the agreement as a path toward peace and prosperity, some critics have questioned the nature of the negotiations.
Outlets with a center-right lean generally framed the deal as a strategic victory for U.S. energy security and a catalyst for Venezuelan economic reconstruction. Center and center-left outlets focused more on the operational challenges of Venezuela's decrepit infrastructure and the controversial nature of the diplomacy. Some center-left reporting specifically described the arrangement as gunpoint diplomacy or a seizure of resources, while center-right sources emphasized the improved legal guarantees for investors.
How each side framed it
- Centre-left
- Highlighted the controversy surrounding the capture of Maduro and framed the deal as potentially predatory or coercive.
- Centre
- Focused on the corporate details of the investment and the strategic goals of the U.S. government.
- Centre-right
- Emphasized the economic benefits, the restoration of legal security for companies, and the strategic success of the Trump administration.
Sources
- Centre-left Al Jazeera: The US is gobbling up Venezuelan oil, but will it lower fuel prices?
- Centre Associated Press: US oil giant Chevron confirms it will expand operations in Venezuela - AP News
- Centre Bloomberg: Chevron CEO Says It's Now Safer to Invest in Venezuela
- Centre Bloomberg: Chevron CEO Wirth on Investing $7 Billion in Venezuela
- Centre-right Business Day: Chevron to invest $7bn in Venezuela to double oil output
- Centre-left CNN: Chevron pledges to double its Venezuelan oil production
- Centre-left Der Spiegel: Venezuela and the USA: "Trump sees the oil as war booty"
- Centre Financial Times: Chevron pledges $7bn to double its Venezuela oil production
- Centre Folha de S.Paulo: Chevron signs agreement to invest US$ 7 billion in Venezuela and double oil production by 2031
- Centre France 24: Venezuela: the Assembly approves the oil agreement with the United States
- Centre-left G1: After agreement, US oil company announces US$ 7 billion to expand production in Venezuela; expectation is to more than double extraction by 2030
- Centre-right Infobae: The Defense Minister of Venezuela endorses the oil agreement with the US: "It is not a subordination"
- Centre-right Infobae: Chevron praises security reinforcement to invest in Venezuela under the government of Rodríguez
- Centre-right La Nacion: Chevron announced that it will double its production in Venezuela after the agreement with the United States
- Centre Reuters: Chevron expands Venezuela presence with $7 billion plan to double output in five years - Reuters
- Centre-right South China Morning Post: US Chevron to expand Venezuela oil operations with US$7 billion plan
- Centre-left The Guardian: Trump ally defends Venezuela oil deal amid ‘gunpoint diplomacy’ criticism
100% of the statements in this article were traced back to the source articles listed above.