Can Venezuela’s Oil Industry Really Rebound?

There are signs that the crisis engulfing Venezuela’s shattered petroleum industry could start to ease. In a recent televised address, Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro stated that Venezuela was open for oil investment from the U.S. and around the world. That coupled with earlier plans to open the Latin American country’s state-controlled petroleum industry to private control of some petroleum projects has sparked a flurry of interest in the near-failed state.

These events have triggered considerable speculation that representatives of foreign energy companies are traveling to Caracas to explore the opportunities that exist in Venezuela’s broken energy sector. The petroleum-rich Latin American country is endowed with the world’s largest oil reserves, totaling 304 billion barrels, with many existing oilfields currently inactive because of PDVSA’s lack of resources. Those characteristics indicate there are considerable opportunities for foreign energy companies, especially if Maduro, as rumored, is willing to provide them with proprietary control of energy assets.

A Reuter’s January 2021 article highlighted that small domestic oilfield contractors were meeting with Venezuelan officials to discuss operating fields owned by national oil company PDVSA in exchange for receiving a share of the profits.

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Source: Oil Price