US’s Chevron, Italy’s Eni to expand oil projects in Venezuela

Energy firms sign multibillion-dollar deals in Caracas, days after Venezuela agreed to grant the US control of a fifth of its oil reserves.

US and Venezuela sign major oil deals as Washington expands influence in Caracas

Chevron and several other global energy companies have signed multibillion-dollar deals to boost Venezuela’s oil output at a ceremony in Caracas, overseen by interim President Delcy Rodriguez and United States Energy Secretary Chris Wright.

The deals on Wednesday are separate from a recently unveiled Caracas-Washington agreement that gives the US access to 17 Venezuelan oilfields, representing about a fifth of the country’s total reserves.

list 1 of 3 Delcy Rodriguez says Venezuela ‘retains sovereignty’ despite US oil deal

list 2 of 3 What are the implications of the US-Venezuela oil deal?

list 3 of 3 White House unveils more details of Trump’s Venezuela oil deal

Most of the new contracts relate to project expansions that have been under negotiation with Venezuela’s Oil Ministry and ⁠state oil company PDVSA since a sweeping oil reform approved in January following the US’s abduction of former President Nicolas Maduro.

Wright, who had travelled to Caracas to oversee the signing ceremony, said the deals signed by Venezuela with the US’s Chevron and GE Vernova, as well as Italy’s Eni, were “critical in starting this ball rolling of peace, opportunity, and prosperity” in the country.

“We are trying to work at what I call Trump-speed. [US] President [Donald] Trump didn’t want a nudge or a slow drift in a positive direction,” Wright said. “He wanted to see as fast as possible transformation in Venezuela.”

The new contracts will see Chevron and Eni ramp up their operations in Venezuela while gaining greater stakes in the oil fields.

Chevron, the US’s second-largest oil company and the top private oil producer in Venezuela, has valued its deal to develop two additional oil fields in the Orinoco Belt at $7bn, and the project’s output will more than double in five years.

Eni said it had gained exclusive rights to explore the giant Junin 5 oilfield.

US energy company GE Vernova, an offshoot of General Electric, meanwhile, will help repair Venezuela’s battered electricity grid.

US ‘not stealing Venezuelan oil’

The ceremony took place amid growing questions about Venezuela’s sovereignty following the larger Caracas-Washington deal, which grants a US-led company 100-year concessions over the 17 oil fields in the country.

Critics in both the US and Venezuela accuse Trump of holding the country for ransom after abducting Maduro in a raid and warning that Rodriguez could face a similar fate if she does not fall into line with Washington’s demands.

But Wright insisted that the US was not “stealing Venezuelan oil”.

“All we’re doing is taking an idle, underground asset that isn’t doing anything for Venezuelan people, and bringing the money, the technology to develop it,” he told reporters on Wednesday.

Wright added that the total oil output in Venezuela, which holds the world’s largest proven oil reserves, will reach 2 million barrels per day (bpd) by the end of the decade, up from 1.25 million bpd today.

That would still be far off Venezuela’s peak of more than 3 million bpd in the late 1990s.

Rodriguez, meanwhile, denied she was surrendering her country’s riches, saying that cutting the US in on Venezuela’s oil wealth is necessary to secure investment in the oil sector.

More oil “translates into more jobs, higher wages, better public services, hospitals, schools and food”, she said.

Rodriguez has estimated that Venezuela will make $209bn in profit from the deals over 25 years.

The pivotal role in the deal, played by fraud-accused Venezuelan businessman Alejandro Betancourt, has come under scrutiny. He was not seen at Wednesday’s ceremony.

Betancourt has been linked to a corruption scandal at state oil company PDVSA and runs North American Blue Energy Partners (NABEP), Venezuela’s second-largest private oil company, in which the US government is taking a 35 percent stake under the deal.

Wright on Wednesday defended NABEP’s “highly successful track record of producing large volumes of oil in Venezuela”, adding: “That’s a business partner you can believe in.”

The agreement is a major about-face for the “Chavismo” movement of late socialist firebrand Hugo Chavez, Maduro’s mentor, who nationalised Venezuela’s oil fields two decades ago on an anti-imperialist platform.

It has amplified fears that the Trump administration is entrenching former Maduro loyalists, like Rodriguez, who have shown no readiness to hold democratic elections eight months after Maduro’s overthrow.

Trump on Wednesday rebuffed calls from several Republican lawmakers for quick polls in Venezuela.

“I just don’t think they’re ready yet. You know, it’s very new. We took them out of a dictatorship, and we’re getting along great with the government,” he said.

Rodriguez took a similar line, saying there would be “an electoral process” when “Venezuela is ready”.

委内瑞拉同意将五分之一的石油储备控制权交给美国几天后，能源公司在加拉加斯签署了数十亿美元的交易。

美国和委内瑞拉签署重大石油协议，华盛顿在加拉加斯的影响力日益扩大。

在委内瑞拉临时总统德尔西·罗德里格斯和美国能源部长克里斯·赖特的见证下，雪佛龙和其他几家全球能源公司在加拉加斯签署了数十亿美元的协议，以提高委内瑞拉的石油产量。

周三达成的这些协议与最近公布的加拉加斯-华盛顿协议无关，该协议使美国能够进入委内瑞拉的 17 个油田，约占该国总储量的五分之一。

列表 1/3：德尔西·罗德里格斯称，尽管与美国达成石油协议，委内瑞拉仍“保留主权”。

列表 2/3：美国与委内瑞拉达成的石油协议有哪些影响？

白宫公布特朗普委内瑞拉石油协议更多细节（共3条，此为第3条）

大部分新合同都与项目扩建有关，这些项目扩建自今年 1 月美国绑架前总统尼古拉斯·马杜罗后批准的全面石油改革以来，一直在与委内瑞拉石油部和国家石油公司 PDVSA 进行谈判。

赖特前往加拉加斯监督签字仪式，他表示，委内瑞拉与美国雪佛龙公司和通用电气Vernova公司以及意大利埃尼公司签署的协议“对于开启该国的和平、机遇和繁荣至关重要”。

“我们正努力以我所谓的‘特朗普速度’推进工作。[美国]总统[唐纳德]·特朗普不希望看到委内瑞拉朝着积极的方向缓慢发展，”赖特说。“他希望看到委内瑞拉尽快实现转型。”

根据新合同，雪佛龙和埃尼将加大在委内瑞拉的业务投入，同时获得油田更大的股份。

美国第二大石油公司、委内瑞拉最大的私营石油生产商雪佛龙公司，已将其在奥里诺科油田开发另外两个油田的交易估值为 70 亿美元，该项目的产量将在五年内翻一番以上。

埃尼集团表示，已获得勘探巨型胡宁5号油田的独家权利。

与此同时，美国能源公司GE Vernova（通用电气旗下子公司）将帮助修复委内瑞拉受损的电网。

美国“没有窃取委内瑞拉石油”

在委内瑞拉与华盛顿达成一项更大的协议后，人们对委内瑞拉的主权提出了越来越多的质疑，该协议授予一家美国主导的公司对该国 17 个油田 100 年的特许权。此次仪式正是在这样的背景下举行的。

美国和委内瑞拉的批评人士都指责特朗普在突袭绑架马杜罗后挟持委内瑞拉，并警告说，如果罗德里格斯不服从华盛顿的要求，她可能会面临类似的命运。

但赖特坚称美国并没有“窃取委内瑞拉石油”。

“我们所做的，只是将一项闲置的、没有为委内瑞拉人民带来任何好处的地下资产，投入资金和技术来开发它，”他周三告诉记者。

赖特补充说，委内瑞拉拥有世界最大的已探明石油储量，到本十年末，该国石油总产量将达到每天 200 万桶，高于目前的每天 125 万桶。

但这仍然远远低于委内瑞拉在 20 世纪 90 年代末超过 300 万桶/日的峰值。

与此同时，罗德里格斯否认自己是在出卖国家的财富，并表示让美国分享委内瑞拉的石油财富对于确保石油行业的投资是必要的。

她表示，更多的石油“意味着更多的工作岗位、更高的工资、更好的公共服务、医院、学校和食品”。

罗德里格斯估计，委内瑞拉将在 25 年内从这些交易中获得 2090 亿美元的利润。

委内瑞拉商人亚历杭德罗·贝坦科特因涉嫌欺诈在这笔交易中扮演了关键角色，这一角色受到了密切关注。他没有出席周三的仪式。

贝坦库尔与委内瑞拉国家石油公司 (PDVSA) 的腐败丑闻有关，他经营着委内瑞拉第二大私营石油公司北美蓝色能源合作伙伴 (NABEP)，根据协议，美国政府将持有该公司 35% 的股份。

赖特周三为 NABEP 在委内瑞拉“成功开采大量石油的记录”辩护，并补充说：“这是一个值得信赖的商业伙伴。”

该协议对于已故社会主义激进分子乌戈·查韦斯（马杜罗的导师）的“查韦斯主义”运动来说是一次重大的180度大转弯。查韦斯在20年前以反帝国主义纲领为指导，将委内瑞拉的油田国有化。

这加剧了人们的担忧，即特朗普政府正在巩固像罗德里格斯这样的前马杜罗忠实拥护者的地位，这些人在马杜罗被推翻八个月后，仍未表现出举行民主选举的意愿。

周三，特朗普拒绝了多位共和党议员要求在委内瑞拉迅速举行民意调查的呼吁。

“我只是觉得他们还没准备好。你知道，这还是个新局面。我们把他们从独裁统治下解救出来，现在我们和政府相处得很好，”他说。

罗德里格斯也持类似观点，称当“委内瑞拉准备好了”时，就会有“选举进程”。