Following the US-led capture of Venezuela's President, the US President has announced that he would allow US oil companies to return to Venezuela to develop local crude oil reserves, while stressing that the US embargo on Venezuelan oil would remain in place. "US oil companies are preparing to invest billions in Venezuela’s oil industry", according to the press.
At the start of his second term in 2025, Trump revoked the oil licenses that had allowed international oil and gas companies to operate in Venezuela despite US sanctions. The only exception was granted to the US company Chevron, which was still prohibited from making payments to the Venezuelan government, until its licence was reversed in January 2025. In partnership with the state-owned company PDVSA and its affiliates, Chevron operates four oil fields in the country. Other US oil majors that were active in Venezuela in the early 2000s, notably ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips, left the country in 2007. As a result of the US embargo, Venezuela has been forced to sell its crude oil on the black market at steep discounts, mainly to Asian buyers. In addition, the US has imposed a total blockade on "sanctioned tankers" coming and going from Venezuela.
In December 2025, a US court greenlit the sale of shares of PDV Holding (a division from the Venezuelan oil group PDVSA that owns Citgo Petroleum) to Amber Energy. Citgo Petroleum is the seventh largest oil company in the US by refined volume and a subsidiary of state-owned company Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) since the 1980’s. It includes three refineries with a combined capacity of over 800 kb/d, over 40 terminals, and a network of pipelines crossing 23 US states.
Venezuela holds the largest proven oil reserves in the world, estimated at 47,385 Mt (around 347 Gbl). However, the development of these reserves, which mainly consist of heavy, sour oil that is harder to refine, is severely constrained by the country’s economic situation. Crude oil and NGL production fell by 77% between 2011 and 2020, before recovering at an average rate of 9%/year thereafter, reaching 53 Mt (around 1 mb/d) in 2024. Around two-thirds of production is exported (Enerdata Global Energy Research).
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