Restoring Venezuela’s oil production may require $100 billion — OilPrice
Restoring Venezuela’s oil industry may require about $100 billion in long-term financing. Under a scenario by analytics company Rystad Energy, production in the country could rise from approximately 1.25 million to 2.58 million barrels per day by 2035. OilPrice reports.
The largest of the announced projects is linked to private company North American Blue Energy Partners (NABEP). According to the publication, Venezuela’s new interim authorities granted it 100-year concessions for 17 oil fields with proven reserves of about 65 billion barrels. The White House called the agreement the largest oil deal in history.
NABEP, led by Venezuelan businessman Alejandro Betancourt, said it intends to rapidly expand operations at Lake Maracaibo and in the Orinoco Belt. The company’s near-term goal is to increase production to more than 1 million barrels per day.
Investments and drilling rigs
Rystad Energy cautioned that the $100 billion announced by NABEP represents a long-term financing need rather than a confirmed volume of near-term capital investment. The company also did not disclose a detailed financing structure. Analysts noted that they favor investment programs linked to proven operators and specific assets rather than large-scale plans requiring substantial external capital.
Under Rystad Energy’s optimistic scenario, oil production in Venezuela could increase to about 1.6 million barrels per day in 2028 and to 1.8 million barrels per day in 2030. This would require the number of active drilling rigs to rise to around 50 in 2028 and nearly 80 in 2030. As of August, only two active drilling rigs were operating in the country, according to Baker Hughes.
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New agreements
OilPrice writes that dealmaking involving oil production and service companies has intensified in Venezuela in recent weeks. Chevron pledged to invest more than $7 billion over the next five years and, according to the publication, has more than doubled its production in the country to about 600,000 barrels per day.
Continental Resources signed a memorandum of understanding with state oil company PDVSA on developing the Ayacucho 2 block in the Orinoco Oil Belt. The company is to become the operator of the block with a 100% stake; its resources are estimated at 30 billion barrels of oil in place.
Italy’s Eni entered into a strategic contract to become the operator of the large Junín-5 field in the Orinoco Belt. According to the cited data, the heavy oil field contains 35 billion barrels of certified oil in place and currently produces about 12,000 barrels per day. Halliburton and SLB also signed agreements on developing oil and gas projects and resuming drilling rig operations.
Rystad Energy emphasized that the pace of Venezuela’s production recovery will depend on the actual mobilization of capital, as well as the country’s ability to restore drilling operations, service capacity, and infrastructure. The first stage of the recovery could involve restarting mothballed projects and increasing production at existing fields. Further funds will be needed to repair infrastructure and build processing facilities and pipelines.
