The U.S. energy giant, which stayed in the country after other Western companies left, will invest $7 billion in the country to more than double its production there.
Chevron plans to significantly expand its operations in Venezuela, the U.S. oil giant said on Wednesday, taking yet another step to broaden the U.S. sphere of influence in the South American country.
The Houston-based company, already Venezuela’s largest private oil producer, said it would more than double its production in the country over the next five years to 600,000 barrels a day. That represents over half of Venezuela’s current output.
Chevron, which is gaining access to new areas in the oil-rich Orinoco Belt region, plans to invest more than $7 billion in Venezuela in that period.
The company announced its plans days after President Trump said his administration was pursuing a highly unusual partnership with a different oil company that would give the U.S. government a direct hand in extracting oil on foreign soil.
The two deals are separate, but both advance Mr. Trump’s goal of exerting much more control over Venezuela’s energy industry after U.S. forces captured the country’s leader, Nicolás Maduro, in January.
“Our expanded position reflects our confidence in the country’s deep resource potential and its ability to compete for investment within our portfolio for decades,” Chevron’s chief executive, Mike Wirth, said in a statement.
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